My Huntsman Academia
by The Inkasters
Summary: Dreams can become reality, even if under some unlikely circumstances. This is the story about how Izuku Midoriya became the world's greatest Huntsman. Written by: gorilla fingers. Extensively Edited by: Shovern and Wind-Waker. Originally a Play-By-Post Quest written on SpaceBattles. Cover by: OnlineArmadillo and Shovern
1. Welcome to Beacon I

Long ago, two brothers of light and dark shaped the world of Remnant, both for good and for ill. All things were connected to this balance of creation and destruction between the two, most of all their joint creation, humanity. When the moon shattered, this force echoed throughout the realms of the brothers' creations and, too, shattered them. This old legend is considered to be early man's explanation for the phenomena in persons where, in a select group of the population, a person is incapable of manifesting their Aura. While no longer as commonly seen or as devastating to one's social standing as it was in the day when most humans had their Auras unlocked, it is still considered an odd and somewhat embarrassing condition to be known to have. To be 'born of the moon', or flat out 'Broken' if you want to be crude, is the colloquialism used to describe it.

 _Sorry kid, it's not gonna happen._

 _I'm the one to blame._

 _Do you really think they'd let someone Broken like you in when they've got me?_

 _HE'S THE COOLEST IN THE UNIVERSE!_

 _Most Grimm can't be beat unless you have Aura. So no, I honestly don't think you can become a Huntsman without it._

 _Kacchan!_

 _I'm sorry Izuku... I wish things could be different..._

 _..._

 _ **Young man. You too can become a hero.**_

* * *

... Oh wow, he must've dozed off. As he shook his head to force himself awake, he thought it was weird that the other prospective students milling about and the airship's engines hadn't managed to keep him from falling asleep.

Izuku Midoriya yawned as quietly as he could so as not to draw too much attention to himself while he tiredly rubbed at his eyes. He didn't get much sleep last night. I mean really, how could he? Ten long months of training had left him pretty much sore to the last inch of his bones. Heck, he was and is still surprised that he'd found any sort of comfortable position to sleep in the night before with how badly he stung all over... new Aura notwithstanding. That was the point of the entire training though, what made it necessary he supposed. He'd been born of the moon, born without the capability of producing an Aura, and so needed to train his body in preparation for it.

Now though? Now it was a different picture. Now, he felt his Aura rushing through him, relieving the tension through his body and somehow easing his poor muscles. Of course, this was only possible because of the strange Semblance he had so recently received. Izuku smiled warmly; thinking of his semblance only brought his attention back to the man who had given it to him.

Toshinori Yagi. The Greatest Huntsman alive, who had ever lived, and who ever might live. The Symbol of Peace and Hope whose fearless smile inspired anyone who saw it and banished the negative emotions the Grimm fed upon. Izuku's hero.

The man he'd met just ten short months ago and who had helped make Izuku's dreams possible. Yeah, at first he pretty much crushed his hopes and dreams into a fine powder with such efficiency that even his own mother's previous attempts now seemed lackluster, but well, he was being honest with what he thought at that moment. When he saw what Izuku was capable of... okay, not "capable" of but willing to do, Toshinori had taken him under his wing.

That hard work, ten months of Hell, had all been geared to make Izuku into the Huntsman that the young man had wanted to be; a hero who could save people and lift their spirits just by smiling. Because of whatever faith his hero had in him, he worked Izuku to the bone to ensure he'd finally see his dreams come true...

He stared down his fist, playing with his fingers as her again felt the wonder of his Aura wax and wane. Or, almost come true. The rest really was up to Izuku now. If he didn't impress at the Initiation, he was going to let him down. Like, really let him down. It seemed like he had a lot of hopes as it concerned his own legacy pinned on him.

...

Okay, so maybe it wasn't just the sore muscles that had kept him up last night. The expectations, the important legacy that Izuku now had to support through his own efforts… they kind of piled up, forming a boulder that had felt like it was about to crush Izuku's chest. What if he failed? What if he embarrassed himself completely? Would Toshinori still care about him? After all, what was the point of him having faith in Izuku if the green haired young man was just going to screw it up?

He sighed, and thrust his arms out in a stretch, and almost let out a pained yelp as he felt a small pop in his left arm. He was still in awe of how sore he was. Still… the pain was a good way of snapping him out of his own nervous thoughts. To give him a moment to think...

Though to be honest, he didn't know what to think really. Of course he was this sore, of course his body ached this badly. That was just how it was going to be, right? He hadn't been born normal, hadn't been born with the capacity to do what every other person on this ship could do. He had had to work this hard just to deserve a chance at seeing his dream come true.

'That ten months was just enough for me to get where I needed to be to inherit his Semblance and it was Hell... This really isn't going to be easy. Still, I rose up to the challenge before, right?. This was my dream I'm working for and, finally, I have a chance at it. Even if it's going to be hard. Even if it means that I had to work three times harder than anyone else to succeed! If that's what it takes, I'll do it!

'I'M GONNA BE A HERO!'

A smile ran across his face, a giddiness overcoming him. His hard work was what brought him here… and it'd be his hard work that would keep him moving forward. At least… that had been how Toshinori had put it.

" _Young Midoriya, someone once told me that there is a difference between being lucky and being deserving. The first is an accident, the other a reward. Never get the two confused_."

Though honestly, Izuku thought he was pretty darn luck to be here anyway. After all, that was the best word to describe being taken under Toshinori's wing in the first place. Now he just had to make sure he was deserving... and he would. No matter how much hard work he had to put into it.

HIs excitement had almost got the best of him as his right leg kicked out a bit, threatening to topple over one of his cases. With a bit of a panicked jerk he reached over and kept it from falling over, sighing in slight relief. Two cases and a bag; these contained his worldly possessions now. It had been so weird to just pack everything up from his little room in his family's apartment and see, save for most of the posters, furniture and toys that he'd decided he wasn't going to bring along, how little he actually owned. Some workout clothes, some 'normal' change of clothes and his notebooks, 'Huntsman Analysis For The Future' and 'Grimm Analysis For The Future'. Add in some toiletries and basic necessities that his mother had made sure he wasn't going to go without and that had been about it for the bag and the suitcase.

But that had left the other suitcase. Izuku patted it slightly as he nodded; while he was working out and making sure he passed well enough at your combat school, he didn't have much of a time for a job. He had got some help when it came to the... other gear that he'd be expected to have, at least in part, going to the most prestigious Hunter Academies in all of Remnant. For the rest, well, his family wasn't doing too bad for itself, between his mom and dad. Heck, Izuku had grown up with his own computer in the apartment. Between his own allowance and what his mom had been willing to kick in, he'd been able to put something together when he'd first gone to his primary Combat School, Birch Academy.

Toshinori's image had been so set in Izuku's mind when he started Combat School that he had done everything to model himself on the Hero. In particular, he had been inspired by Toshinori's Smashes, said to rip Grimm to shreds even when he missed by the wind generated by the strike. Izuku however knew this was false.

Toshinori never missed.

But in order for a kid without an Aura to reproduce something like that, he'd have to take a little round about way to get that kind of power. Of course, now he had One For All, the Semblance that Toshinori had passed down to him that had made this all possible, so the point had been made somewhat moot. Still, he cracked open the case and rubbed his hand over the weapon.

Unfolded they were pretty simple; armored gloves with thick bracers that, from certain angles, it could be told what they were covering up. There was a handle that was pulled into the bracer as well that, as part of its Mecha-Shift, he'd grab to help control the pace and rhythm of the pump shotguns he had attached to these weapons. Sure the setup made doing any kind of complex tasks with his hands nearly impossible but all Izuku had to do in that case was Mecha-Shift them back into their bracers.

The boots were even more simple; safeties were set up in the heels that he could trip to let the shotgun components loose. With a strong kick he'd activate the pumping mechanism and 'bang' there you had it.

Toshinori had been really amused when he'd gotten a look at them. Even though he called Izuku a fanboy, the younger man could see that on some level he was actually pretty flattered. He even said this worked out pretty well; the practice Izuku had over the years in mastering the blowback and recoil from the shotguns would lend some experience in dealing with One For All... though, and he'd made certain to underline this fact, the first times using it would still produce some nasty blowback considering he couldn't control it yet.

He'd gotten them fixed up and repainted by one of the smiths in his town. He figured that since now he was going to become a real Huntsman that he needed his weapons to look like those of a real Huntsman. He'd asked for them to be colored Forest Green, which just seemed to fit Him. After all, Izuku didn't want to hint too heavily at exactly where he'd gotten his Semblance.

The sound of the screen that had, previously, been playing news of a foiled heist stopped and caught Izuku's attention, causing him to snap the case shut. As he looked up...

"HOLY WOAH! Glynda Goodwitch?!" Reaching into his bag and pulling out Huntsman Analysis For The Future Vol 11. He flipped through the pages and yeah, there's no mistaking it, "that's Glynda Goodwitch!" Izuku'd heard she taught at Beacon but he didn't imagine that she'd actually be the one to greet the students.

"Though that shouldn't have been a surprise ImeanI'dheardthatGoodwitchhadbeeninvolvedwith thwartingtherobberyonthenewsfromlastnightanbecauseoffeatslikethisthatsherepeatedlypullsoffintheValeareashe'sactuallyaprettywell-respectedandmoderatelyfamousHuntress,nottomentionthepowerofherSemblance,Telekinesis,whichisprettycrazywhenyoufactorinthatnotonlycansheholdobjectsstillbutwithsomeapplicationofherAurashecanevenfixinanimateobjectsbackintoplaceplus,well,asmuchasshe'spopularforherstrengthanddemeanorasaHuntressthere'sobviouslyotherfactorslikehowdropdead-"

"DEKU, SHUT UP!"

His hands almost instinctively shot up to his mouth when he heard 'that' voice yell out. At this point it's become such an ingrained part of his lifestyle that he does it without thinking...

Both slapping his hands over his mouth and muttering out of control.

His green eyes chance a glance around at the rest of the people on board the ship and he rapidly realized two things. One was that everyone was looking at Him with slightly off looks and, two, was that... he had just missed pretty much everything Glynda had just said before her little video blinked out.

Great. Just... just great.

"Man, talk about word vomit. Hopefully I didn't get any on my shoes. Eh? Eh?" A groan quickly followed that poor attempt at a joke as he just sighed and lowered his head, the airbus coming to a halt. Okay, so maybe missing out on whatever important instructions were on Glynda's videos and then showing off his muttering to all the potential classmates before him even got off this airbus wasn't exactly a great first step to becoming a Huntsman. In fact, maybe it was super embarrassing and made him want to crawl inside his suitcase for a moment…

But...

But he wasn't going to let it stop him! He'd stood on his two feet with a burst of energy, grabbing his bag and two suitcases as he puffed chest out. Like he kept telling himself, he's going to be a hero! He's going to get off this bus and attend the Academy of his dreams; Beacon! Where heroic Huntsmen like Toshinori and Enji Todoroki graduated from to become the respected Huntsman they are now! Where he'd graduate and become a hero worthy of succeeding Toshinori! Where he'd make him and everyone who had faith in him proud... that was limited to just Toshinori and his mother right now, but still, PROUD! As he stepped off that airbus and took a look at Beacon Academy's grounds with its massive arches, towering buildings and almost fantastical appearance, he couldn't help but smile.

Today is the first da-

Trip.

... You know what, never mind. He could just die here. That would be fine too

He hit the ground face first with a bit of a thud. Really, he'd tripped and fallen over before, so he'd come to expect a certain sensation; a little bit of stinging pain that a little time would just let wear out on its own. What surprised him this time, however, was the utter lack of pain. Sure he still felt the concrete beneath his face rubbing coarsely against his skin as he lay against it but there's no pain; there's no sign that the skin broke or that he actually hurt himself! He was perfectly fine! His Aura tanked it all and, judging by okay he was feeling, he didn't even take an actual hit to it!

'Holy woah, this Aura stuff was amazing! How did I live without it before?!' He smiled as his potential faux-pas gave way to the fact that he didn't even hurt himself. He was still well on his way to having an amazing first-

"Come on! Let's go see the campus! This is Beacon we're talking about, the most presti-WAAAAH!"

In his moment of internal celebration, someone stepped on the back of his head, lost their footing and then promptly tripped and fell in front of him, landing flat on their face as well.

'Welp, this just became a conga line of embarrassment.'

"Oh crap! I'm so sorry about that! She tends to get really excited and just stopped looking where she was going! Here, come on you two." He let out a groan as he felt someone grab him by the shoulder. Whoever it was had helped him to his knees whereupon he shook his head and reached up to take their offered hand. His face was a bit red from the fall and being ground into the concrete by the misstep, but he tried to be good natured about it.

"N-No, it's okay... I really should've gotten up off the ground before anyone ran into me. I'm really... really... r-really." Izuku swallowed a rapidly developing lump in his throat as he saw who exactly it was that he caused to trip. Two young women one roughly his own age and the other... actually looking a year or two younger than him. They didn't seem to have bags, maybe they sent their things ahead to be taken care of by Beacon, and they're looking right at him. Immediately his face goes red and he loses what little ability to speak that he had, stumbling over his words as he tries to work out an apology. The girl in red seems to be as uncomfortable as he is, scratching at her arm slightly as she seems to move slightly closer to the blonde. The blonde in question seemed more amused than off-put, seeming to at least find this situation pretty funny.

"Oh hey, I recognize you now. Yeah, stood out a bit back there on the ship with that word vomit." If his face could've gone anymore red at that moment, it would have. The blonde girl just had a bit of a laugh as the girl with black... or red, black-red? Hair seemed to just awkwardly look off to the side. It seemed she wasn't exactly great with strangers.

He could sympathize.

"Your name's Deku, right? Well it's... good to meet you." The blonde couldn't help but chuckle as she reached over and placed a hand behind the girl in red's back, pushing her forward a bit. "I'm Yang Xiao Long and this is my dear sister, Ruby Rose. Come on Rubes, it's impolite to not at least say hi to the guy you stepped on."

"Yang... can we just... I'm really not."

"Well you se-" he stopped in mid-sentence. Those names… they sounded quite familiar.

'Rose? Xiao Long?' Izuku mentally flipped through his notebooks as he tried his best to recall, 'HOLY WOAH! Are these two related to Team STRQ!? That-NO Stop. Focus…Okay.'

Izuku was...known in his class to go off on nerd outs. Massive tangents describing Huntsman, Tactics, History and other tiny minueta that most people didn't know and didn't care about. Doing this now, to people he'd just met...well that wouldn't exactly make a good first impression. He put a clamp on that upcoming outburst, and looked forward.

"A-A-Actually... my name isn't Deku..." he managed to stammer out as he reached up to scratch the back of his head, lilac and silver eyes blinking slightly as Yang crossed her arms.

"Really? That one blond guy called you by it and you seemed to answer pretty quick." Yang asked, her head tilted to the side as Izuku sighed a bit.

"Well you see, it's..."

"Stupid Deku..." Izuku flinched slightly before turning around and see Kacchan approaching from behind, a sour look on his face. "Get out of my way before I set you on fire."

Immediately he hopped out of Kacchan's way, hands held slightly defensively as he nervously chuckled. "Oh hey good morning! Look, sorry about the airbus on the way over here, let's just get in here and do our best to-" He doesn't even let Izuku finish as he just strides right on by him, Yang and Ruby, the latter of whom nervously stepping to the side herself as his... friend? Bully? Rival? Walks on by.

The green haired young man released a sigh of relief as Kacchan just passes him by. Honestly, he hadn't bullied him nearly as much ever since Izuku ran in during the incident with the Ursa Major, but he's still been... well, Kacchan.

"A-A-Anyway-"

"It's okay. I get the picture." Yang seems a bit sour as she looks over her shoulder to watch Kacchan walk off, Ruby meanwhile having starred on ahead at Izuku as she appeared curious about something.

"Kacchan? Seems like a pretty weird name." The question snaps Izuku out of his own Kacchan-induced panic as he shook his head.

"Oh, it's not his name either... his name's Katsuki Bakugo and, w-well, I just call him Kacchan." At this both sisters seem to curiously tilt their heads to the side.

"... Seems a little weird to give your bully a funny nickname..." Ruby muttered to herself as Yang snerked slightly, clearly finding it a bit amusing.

"W-Well you see.. Kacchan and I used to be friends, but..."

But then he decided he was going to be a Huntsman, same as Izuku, and his parents went to have his Aura manifested. Meanwhile, he and everyone else found out Izuku was... Broken. It seemed like such a weird reason for a friendship to have fallen apart; one day Kacchan, while boisterous and very much the leader as always, was fine counting Izuku among his friends. The next… after coming back from a hike through the woods around Mountain Glenn, he didn't think of Izuku as a friend anymore.

"But... I dunno. Maybe he changed or... I dunno. Point is that somewhere along the way, we just stopped being friends and he..."

"Decided to be a bully instead." Yang folded her arms slightly as she frowned, a similar frown found on Ruby's face as she looks up to meet Izuku's eyes.

"So why do you keep calling him by his nickname then? I mean, I get that you used to be friends but..."

... Honestly, he'd never given it much thought. If he really had to sit down and give a solid answer, in the end, Kacchan is still one of the coolest people Izuku knew. He was driven and strong and his own Semblance, Izuku thought, was really, really cool. While Toshinori stood, and would always stand, at the pinnacle of what Izuku thought a Huntsmen should be and how they should act, there were always aspects of Kacchan's drive and self-confidence that he admired, even as he relentlessly bullied Izuku for being Broken. Maybe that was why he still called him by that old nickname or... or maybe he still wanted to be his friend. It was hard to say...

So instead of giving a solid answer he just chuckled and scratched at his mop of messy green hair, a wistful expression on his face.

"I dunno... maybe... maybe I-I'm a bit sentimental. He was one of my only friends and..." He really didn't want to sound lame by admitting that he basically had no friends after Kacchan decided to turn on him.

"I'm still not sure I understand but, if you say so." Ruby responds with a slight shrug of her shoulders, her sister just nodding slowly as she scratches at her chin a bit. That's alright. He barely understood it himself; he wouldn't readily expect others to get the very... odd dynamic that existed between him and Kaachan.

"A-Anyway... my name's actually Izuku Midoriya. I guess it's nice to meet both of you."

"You guess?" Yang asks with a bit of a grin as he floundered a bit.

"I-I mean you both seem really nice but, w-well, you really don't know how things are going to get off with people y-you meet by having them step on the back of your head and..." Yang's laughter cut him off from running his mouth anymore as she shook her head.

"No worries, I wasn't offended and I'm sure my darling little sister can sympathize. She's not so good with the socializing either."

"Yaaang!" Ruby bemoaned her sister's teasing especially after said sister reached up to pat Ruby on the head. Even though Izuku was an only child he could still sympathize with Ruby's embarrassment, though at least Yang seemed to mean well ,"It's not that I'm not good at socializing, I just... don't know anyone here except my sister." Yang grinned nice and wide as she pat Ruby's shoulder.

"Yeah; you see Izuku, my darling baby sis here actually managed to get the higher ups to notice how awesome she was and decided to drag her up from Signal Academy to come to Beacon two years early! As you can tell, my sis is the bee's knees."

'That really is impressive!' Izuku thought as he looked over at the younger girl with a sudden appreciation, 'Being a hunter is a dangerous career path and usually the regulations over age and how one advances along the career track are strictly regulated. To have made an exception for someone two years younger than either myself or Kacchan must've meant she had a lot of potential.'

"Can you please stop calling me that." At this point the discomfort that Izuku had previously guessed was Ruby just flat out not liking him around starts to become clear; she's probably just as nervous and afraid as he was... and embarrassed by her sister's attention.

"That really is impressive though," he said, almost without thinking. The two sisters turn their attention back to him as Yang grins.

"See Rubes, even complete strangers know it!" Ruby just groaned slightly as she shook her head, the blonde having turned her attention back to him. "So what about you? I'm guessing you're my age...though you're kind of on the short side so…" he just nodded to confirm; he was seventeen and… yeah, he was short. Being Broken all your life could do that a person. "Where're you from? How'd you end up here? Cause, not for nothing or anything, but you seem a bit... skittish? For this whole hunter thing, I mean."

Well she wasn't entirely wrong, but... but she wasn't entirely right either.

"W-Well... you see, I grew up in Mountain Glenn, a-a-and yeah, before you ask, that one." Both Ruby and Yang's mouth's snapped shut as he helpfully answered their question before they would even have a chance to ask it, "It's... kind of a whole different experience. Living somewhere that only exists, that's only still going because someone... a hero stepped up to save it."

It was the most widely told story in Remnant. Mountain Glenn had been on its last legs by the time that Toshinori showed up. The people had been forced into tunnel systems they'd had dug out for defense, the Vale Council had collapsed most of the tunnels leading directly to Vale itself. It had seemed like the Vale Governing Council had pretty much given up entirely on Mountain Glenn.

But then-

 _"Fear not citizens, hope has arrived! Because I am here!"_

The scars of Toshinori's battle against the Grimm were plain to see across the entire city. The tunnels that had once been the last line of defense, the potential tomb of an entire city, now were used solely to give people a way to get down to the railways that connected Mountain Glenn to Vale. When he was a child, he hadn't understood the full potential horror of what the people were about to go through, the desperation that must have eaten away at them.

No. What he had understood from watching that video countless times through was no less meaningful. That in a moment devoid of hope, a giant of a man with resounding laughter arrived and smiled for everyone who was too afraid to. He fought for those who'd already counted themselves out and who'd been counted out by everyone who knew the situation. Even if it wasn't his problem, he did what he felt his duty was as a Hunter and saved everyone.

And he did it with a smile on his face.

"Ever since I was a little kid... i-it's been my dream to become a Huntsman. My entire life, I've thought the coolest thing you could do was save people." As Izuku spoke he felt his insecurities melt away for a moment and a bright smile grace his features. A small, wimpy coward he may be, but when it came to his dreams...there was no doubt in his mind, "I want people to see my smiling face and feel safe. It's really all I ever wanted... so I had no choice; I had to come to Beacon. It's my dream!" He excitedly finished as be looked back. That sense of certainty and self-confidence begins to fade again, but not from anything done by either of the two young women.

Ruby looks like she practically has stars in her eyes while a wide grin stretches across Yang's face.

"OH MY GOSH, THAT'S SO COOL!" Whatever worries that Ruby Rose had about speaking with this boy before had melted away, "I wanted to be a Hunter my entire life too! Sure it wasn't cause I grew up where the second greatest Hunter first showed up, but well, I grew up with the absolute best one ever!" He flinched back slightly, Ruby's sudden burst of enthusiasm having been a bit much for him to handle. "It's why I was so excited about being accepted to Beacon early, right before I got nervous, but like you said, it's still my dream and it's really cool I get to be here!" He chuckled nervously; her enthusiasm obvious, to the point where Izuku thought for a moment that it might even surpass his own.

Only for a moment though.

He quickly gathered that once you manage to get Ruby going, it can be a bit hard to get her to stop. So he looked over to her sister for some help and... she was gone? When she noticed his odd look, Ruby turns her shoulder as well. The two think they can distantly see Yang as she ran off with a group of friends, a faint call of 'Well have fun with your friend Ruby, I'll see you at the Main Hall' could be heard.

"... I think my sister just ditched us."

"Y-Yeah..."

"... Do you know where the Main Hall actually is?"

"I-I was kind of hoping you would. I-I... kind of muttered over everything Ms. Goodwitch said so I don't even know what we're supposed to be doing..."

Crap.

He swallowed a small lump in his throat as he scratched the back of his head. His own inattention ended up getting the best of him this time and now neither he nor Ruby knew exactly where to go. Yang appeared to be a way off. That left only one option.

"I think we should try and see if anyone is still around here, and if they know where to go."

"Yeah, that sounds good," she said, shutting herself off slightly again. It took a moment of searching, but soon they spotted another person; a girl with long black hair with a black ribbon on her head. Before Izuku even had a chance to really say anything Ruby started running off toward her and he, after a moment's hesitation, followed.

'Man, what is today,' he began to contemplate everything that had already happened to him, 'I'm going to need to talk to another girl,' a slight blush, 'I'm really not good at that. I mean, I'm not sure I've ever actually completed a conversation with a g-'

The realization hits him like a sack of bricks.

'HOLY WOAH, I'VE BEEN TALKING TO GIRLS!'

Perhaps this wasn't the best thought to go into this conversation with because the mere thought that he, Izuku Midoriya, have successfully bridged the gap of talking to the fairer sex has immediately sent his face a bit red and twisted his tongue into knots. So much so that when Ruby finally got the girl's attention and she turned around to look at the two of them with a pair of amber eyes, he practically froze up.

"U-U-Uh... hi! I'm Izuku! Uhhh... nice to meet you!" Izuku's attempts to control his own stuttering by speaking in bursts seemed to have surprised both Ruby and this girl, both of whom stared at him incredulously.

'Oh Gods, this is going horribly! I just want directions, just ask her for directions!'

"L-L-Look, I just, I mean, w-w-we just saw you hanging out over here and I-I-I was wondering if you'd be so kind, i-i-if you'd maybe..." The girl's eyes seemed to be slowly going wide as her own impressions of where this conversation is going seemed to form in her head.

Izuku's attempts to put his foot in his mouth were thankfully cut off by Ruby as she stepped forward.

"Hey listen, sorry about that, Izuku here's... well he's kind of a nervous guy. We were just wondering if you knew where the Main Hall was. He was... well you were on the ship right, so he didn't hear what was going on and I've never been here!" The black haired girl opened and closed her mouth a couple times. Between Izuku's stuttering mess and Ruby's own very quick sentence, she seemed to have needed a moment to catch up. After a few seconds Izuku watched her look both Ruby and himself up and down, her amber eyes watching both of their faces carefully. After a moment she sighed and turns toward Ruby.

"Odd friend you seem to have gotten yourself here." Ruby blinked for a moment before she chuckled.

"Oh well we actually only just ran into each other. We're kind of just stuck without knowing our way around." Some of the initial nervousness Ruby showed when they first got introduced still seemed to be lingering, even if it's been lessened somewhat by their interactions. Moving on from that Ruby turned back to the girl. "Anyway, uh, he gave you his name, my name's Ruby. We could really use your help!" The black haired girl just thought to herself for a moment before she just nodded.

"I guess I'm on my way there anyway... and you don't seem like too much trouble at least." The black haired girl spared an odd glance at Izuku, which caused him to lock up a bit before she sighed. "Just follow me. The crowd went off this direction and it shouldn't be too hard to find the Main Hall." As she turned to lead the two off toward the Main Hall, she stopped and considers something, turning her head to look at both of them over her shoulder. "The name's Blake... nice to meet you." Ruby and him both sighed in relief, before he offered Ruby a very much appreciative thank you which was returned with a ready 'your welcome' before the three of them wandered off toward the Main Hall.

As the three all walked along, went by mostly in silence. Blake still seemed wary of Izuku from his little show from earlier, but she was hardly hostile. Though, she didn't seem like the talkative type; she hasn't offered up much to break the silence. Of course, neither had Izuku... though that's mostly because he had been pretty sure he'd messed all this up. Again. Ruby on the other hand seems to be fidgeting and, before long, she pulled out a folded up red piece of metal from her back.

"Sooo... I have this." She unfolds the bit of metal with a flick, the Mecha-Shift Weaponry slowly forming into a-

"HOLY WOAH! That's a High-Caliber-Sniper-Scythe!" Izuku's neck nearly snapped as he looked at the fully unfurled weapon.

"Got it in one!" Ruby seemed genuinely excited as she brought her weapon out, eyes sparkling as she hugged it. "This is my baby, Crescent Rose and you're right on the money there Izuku, she's a High-Caliber-Sniper Scythe!" Blake watched the pair with some disbelief, a surprised look on her face as she looked over to him.

"How did you even guess that? I don't even know what that thing could've been from looking at it." he can't help but smile as he drops his suitcase and bag before reaching into his other bag, pulling out the right Volume of Huntsman Analysis For The Future.

"The HCSS is one of the most powerful tools a Hunter can have at their disposal. Great at clearing away large number of Grimm in either of its Scythe forms and with the Sniper Rifle being able to nail targets from so far away, it's a great weapon! The only problem is that it's crazy hard to use and a bit expensive to maintain and upgrade but, once you have a handle on it, it's deadly." Blake and Ruby looked over his shoulder to see the prodigious amount of notes he'd taken. Blake seemed rather astonished while Ruby's eyes glimmered.

"Wow Izuku, you weren't kidding, being a Huntsman must really have been your dream if you took all these notes." Izuku sheepishly scratched the back of his head as he put the book away. "With notes that good, you must have a crazy amazing weapon stored away! Can I see it? Please?! What's her name?!"

"O-Oh... they're nothing really all that special compared to what you've got but... well, Emerald Gust are fine for me, I guess." Blake arched an eyebrow as she watched Izuku set down the case. Ruby, with an excited look at seeing a potentially new weapon, watches as he popped open the case and immediately set about setting the weapons up on his arms, leaving the boots inside of the case. When he settled them Izuku took a steady breath as he deactivated the safeties on the weapon, whereupon he gave a bit of a forceful shove with both arms.

Immediately the mechanisms within Emerald Gust tripped into action. Izuku opened his hands as best he could so that the handles from the underside of the gauntlet can slip right into his grip. They're just small enough that the fist he'd make won't break his fingers when he threw a punch but... well, before he actually got an Aura and got onto Toshinori's training program, he was too weak to actually handle the full brunt of the kickback from these. Next the pump shotgun itself slid into view as it curved right over his arm, almost like a small cannon. The entire color scheme fit together well with the name and, having fully exposed the machinery, he flipped the safeties back on.

"It's... well, it's just a pump shotgun integrated into some gauntlets and bracers and some armored boots. Nothing really all that fancy, just that whenever I punch-"

"The force of the blow will trip the shotgun's mechanisms, reloading them and firing them so that you can add a bit more bang to your punch." Ruby recited almost verbatim as he blinked slightly in surprise. he knew that his weapons were simple but he still didn't think they'd be that easy to pick apart. Perhaps noticing his slight dip in demeanor, Ruby chuckles as she waves him off. "Oh, don't worry I didn't just pick it up from looking. Yang's Ember Celica works very similarly. Though she didn't go for the gauntlet and bracer design, she went more for bracelets than what you did; says it makes it too hard for her to really grab onto things." Izuku nodded, knowing that as a weakness in his design. "But these do protect your hands really well! I bet you barely even feel any of the kickback from the mechanism or the brunt of the blow! Yang had to start wearing gloves because after a while even her Aura would get exhausted from protecting her hands from all the punches she'd throw! You circumvented that right there... and built in a pretty handy stabilizer to keep the recoil from throwing you off." He couldn't help but smile a bit as he listened to his weapons get complimented. Honestly, he'd made these partially to help feel like Toshinori; the blast of the shotgun giving him visions of performing his own 'Smashes' when he were younger. Everything else was just to compensate for him not having Aura and not being as strong as other kids in the program.

Though he kept that bit to himself.

"I'm guessing that the same's for the boots too?" Blake actually injects herself into the conversation to ask this but he just nod; this is his own field of comfort too. Not so much the weapons stuff, he barely knew anything about them really, but being a hunter and the tools of the trade.

"Yeah, it produces a similar effect for my kicks. Though I have to be a bit more careful with them... if I turn the safeties off on them, I better mean to use them, otherwise..."

"You might accidentally trip them." Blake finishes as she nods in understanding. "Not bad I guess, gives you more options... and I guess there are worse weapons for people who just want to get in and do damage."

Izuku nodded... in all honesty, that is the idea. He's not strong enough to go toe-to-toe with strong Grimm for an extended period, or at least he's pretty sure he isn't. If he can just get in one solid punch and finish them off… well that should be enough. At least until he got used to this whole Huntsman thing.

"What about you Blake, what kind of weapon do you have!? Does it have a name?!" Ruby asked, clearly having gotten pumped off of this talk of weapons. Blake seemed to think for a moment but it seemed Ruby's energy is infectious.

"I don't have it on me, but it does; Gambol Shroud. It's a... Variant Ballistic Chain Scythe. It's a Katana whose base can act as a pistol, with the sheath capable of acting as a cleaver... and when I wrap this ribbon around the katana and pistol component, I can make it into a kusarigama."

"Woah... that is SO COOL!" Ruby's energy practically vibrated out of her body as she spoke, Blake stepping back from the display though not without a small smile gracing her lips. It seems even she can't quite ignore her tool of the trade being greatly praised.

"That is pretty impressive. It'd pretty much let you engage from any range you wanted..." Izuku said to himself, his hand coming up to his lips. The only thing keeping him from having gone into one of his muttering spell is the fact that he don't have any of his Analysis notebooks right in front of him to write down notes on.

"That's... that's the plan, one hopes." Blake says with a bit of a sigh as she steps further back from Ruby. "We'd probably better hurry if we want to make it to the Main Hall in a timely manner." Izuku and Ruby snapped out of each of their states and nodded as they followed Blake again. For his part, He was just eager to get this day on track... though he couldn't say that it's been all bad all things considered.

* * *

 **A/N: So for those of you who don't peruse the thread over in Spacebattles, I've resumed work on BiU. However, with the fic getting close to its ending (15-25 chapters away) and with me wanting to spend as much time as I can on each chapter, I've decided that in order to make sure you guys have content while I'm working that I'd take on a couple editors in order to turn updates of my Quest over on Spacebattles, My Huntsman Academia, into the Fanfic you see before you.**

 **So thanks to Shovern and Wind-Waker for making this possible. Be sure to send them good wishes if you can, as they're good folk and pretty talented for getting so much work done.**

 **Hope you all enjoyed and that you all will enjoy this alongside BiU as it comes to a close.**


	2. Welcome to Beacon II

As the three of them entered Beacon's Main Hall they found the stage largely empty and most of the students just sitting around and socializing. Despite some initial panic about having potentially missed Ozpin's speech, two of the three were greatly relieved when a nearby student wondered aloud when this whole deal was going to get started. After letting out a sigh of relief, Ruby's silver eyes looked around the room and, eventually, locked down on her sister.

"Oh! There's Yang! Well listen I gotta go give her a piece of my mind for just ditching us! It was nice meeting you Blake, Izuku!" With that Ruby practically disappeared in the blink of an eye and reappeared beside her sister, immediately yelling at her.

"Huh?" Izuku looked back at where Ruby had been standing, before returning his attention to the bickering siblings, "Maybe that's her semblance? Maybe it's teleportation or itgreatlyincreasesherspeed?Eitherwaythat'dbeprettypowerfulifshe-"

"You're doing the mumbling thing again." Izuku slapped his hands over his mouth.

"Sorry!" He said through his hands as he look over at where the voice originated, as Blake just raised an eyebrow at him.

"You really are just a nervous guy, aren't you?" She then shrugged. "Well, I've done my good deed for the day. I'm going to go find some place to read before Ozpin gets set up. Later, I guess."

Izuku watched Blake walk off, grateful she had not commented further on his little trip. He let out a sigh of relief as he glanced around the Main Hall. A nervous pit formed in his stomach as he saw so many people, who all wanted to attend Beacon just like him. In all likelihood, one of these people were going to be his partner, or his teammates. Given that...well, maybe he should reach out and socialize.

...

Or maybe he could just hide in a corner until Ozpin came out to give his speech, that was an option too.

'Okay, okay, calm down man,' he began to survey the crowd again, 'So your... acquaintances-well they walked off and left you alone. No big deal, right? You can salvage this. I mean, it's not like you're terrible at introducing yourself to people! You can totally handle meeting someone else!'

He paused in thought for a second.

'I hope.'

He swallowed the lump in his throat once more, before he took stock of his surroundings and the people there. After a moment, he arrived at the conclusion that, aside from Kacchan, he really don't know anyone here.

'I guess it was really true; me and Kacchan really were the only people coming here to Beacon from our school,' he was filled with a mix of relief and trepidation. On the one hand, no one besides him had any idea he was...had been Broken. But then...it also meant he didn't really know anyone here at all. Oh sure, they all thought him a fool, but at least he knew them. The thought of meeting nothing but new people put a weird, nervous energy in his gut.

And… he might screw it up. Ruby and Blake had thought he was a weirdo… okay he kind of was. If Yang hadn't stuck around, or Ruby hadn't explained what he had been looking for, he probably would have messed this all up.

'I can make a good impression on people,' he declared in his mind, before slinking back down once again, 'At least...I'm pretty sure I can,' he looked back out at the crowd, 'Well, third time's the charm I guess?"

As his green eyes scoped around he finally stopped when he noticed the white haired girl from outside, though she seemed to have finally put her luggage away. Now that he had a closer view of her... Gods, was he really going to try to introduce himself to another girl? Another very pretty girl at that?

...

'Well... I guess so if the fact that my feet are carrying me over toward her is any indication.'

'Okay Izuku, you can do this. Just... just don't throw up, don't start stuttering like crazy, don't try to sound creepy and don't... don't... don't think too much about this! You can do this! You can totally do this!' Izuku finally swallowed the lump in his throat as he was only two yards away from the young woman. While his demeanor still held a lot of nervous energy that was readily apparent, it no longer looked like he was about to die of a heart attack. As the girl with light blue eyes watched him approach, he could see her quirk her eyebrow. Finally she sighed as she crossed her arms over her chest, a slight huff having followed the gesture.

"Yes, can I help you?" There was a certain guarded nature to her body language as she watched Izuku approach and, for a moment, Izuku had found himself wanting to buzz off. However, after having steeled himself, he just stood up as straight as he could and said-

"H-H... Hello. I'm... Izuku Midoriya. Nice to meet you!"

'There! A good, proper greeting! I barely even stuttered at all! Maybe I'm finally making progress at this whole socializing thing?' Izuku was practically shaking on the inside. Though he might've been a bit louder than he intended as, for a moment, the girl flinched back before she shook away her surprise.

"Er... Hello. Nice to meet you?" She seemed a bit perplexed and, for a moment, he's ready to panic again.

'Oh Gods, did I already mess up-'

"Like I asked, can I help you?" As she asked this he snapped himself out of his death spiral and blinked.

'Well... I don't want anything in particular. But I guess if i'm introducing myself...'

"Well... I guess it'd be nice to know who I'm meeting. That's... that's how this goes when you introduce yourself to a stranger, right?" He asked a bit nervously. For a moment he saw that the girl seemed genuinely surprised... but that quickly gave away to a rather amused laugh.

"Right. You don't know who I am. Sure. Now, can I help you?" She asked, a mix of annoyance and amusement in her voice, as if she'd simultaneously pleased and bothered that she saw through some kind of ruse.

As Izuku stood there and nervously fidgeted he saw her brow furrow. "You do know who I am... you have to. Otherwise, why are you here?"

Again, he just kind of stood there a bit nervously; the girl's rather forceful personality having pinned him down. As she looked him over, he saw her light blue eyes snap open a bit. "You. You actually don't know who I am?"

He just nodded head as she put her hands on her hips. "I'm Weiss Schnee?"

Izuku paused for a moment and brought his hand to his mouth as he thought.

'I really don't know who Weiss Schne...wait, Schnee...like the Schnee Dust Company. They're the biggest Dust producer on Remnant. They're pretty much the only reason the increased demand for more Dust by Huntsman has been met since Toshinori arrived,' He looked down at his case for Emerald Gust, 'I have some of their stuff on me right now,' he looked back at her, 'If she's a Schnee then she must at least be related to the company, right?'

"Well... no, I haven't heard of you. I'm sorry. I'm guessing you're part of the company though? Or related to the Schnee family?" Izuku had kept himself from laughing at seeing how absolutely 'stunned' the girl looked when he said that. It honestly was kind of funn-

"You... I... I'm the Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company!" She said, almost sounding indignant, as she looked Izuku dead in the eye.

Oh...

Oh.

Oooooooh.

'That would make her...the heiress to one of the biggest, most valuable and powerful companies in all of Remnant,' he still hadn't fully processed it, 'And I just walked right on up, talked to her like it was nothing and then proceeded to say that I didn't even know who she was. Right to her face.

'Ohhhh...craaaaaap.'

"Oh! That's... that's pretty cool."

'Pretty cool!' Izuku's brain practically screamed at him from within his skull, 'You're standing in front of someone who's the next in line to inherit perhaps the largest corporation in all of Remnant, whose actions have consequences all over the world, and the only way you can think to describe it is "pretty cool." My word how are you so bad at this!?'

Izuku's own disbelief at his words was probably only matched by Weiss', who's just stared at him with pretty substantial amount of disbelief.

'Come on, you have to have more than that to say, right?' his brain attempted to restart itself.

"Uh... I didn't know that. I just thought that... it'd be pretty nice to say hi? That how people make friends... or at least, I'm pretty sure that's how."

"... Are you for real?" Weiss asked, her head tilted to the side as if trying to get a better look at him, as if more visual information might have helped her solve the mystery of why he bothered to walk up and… well, bother her.

"I think so? I mean... err... sorry. I'm not too good with people," he sighed, really not happy with how things had went, " I don't exactly do this a lot... but, well, we're all going to school here for now to be hunters right? So I just thought... that we should get along, right?"

As he spoke, he saw Weiss Schnee's gaze narrow slightly before she twisted her head around. He saw her lock her gaze on a few people who didn't take much notice and, as she turned back to look at him, he could just barely make out her chewing on the far side of her lip. Eventually Weiss sighed slightly as she waved her hand.

"No... no you're right. I'm sorry. I'm not used to being some place where there's people who genuinely don't know who I am. I'm not terribly good with complete strangers either, I suppose." Despite having said that, Izuku felt like she had significantly sold herself short. She's been pretty proper this entire time and he didn't think she'd stammered or stuttered at all, even when she's been caught off her guard. She put her hands on her hips again. "So you're really just here to introduce yourself then? Nothing else?"

He nodded vigorously in response, not quite trusting himself to not put his foot in his mouth. Light blue eyes pierced into his green and, after a moment, he saw her offer a restrained, but still polite, smile.

"Well... Izuku Midoriya?" She asked to confirm, and he nodded, "It is... a pleasure to meet you." She seemed to search for the right word for this encounter and just seemed to default to a more plain one but, honestly, he perfectly fine with this!

Before either Izuku or Weiss could continue that string of thought, the sound of a microphone turning on snapped both of their attentions forward to the stage. There, plain for everyone to see, was one Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy. It was unmistakable; the cane, the silver head of hair, the glasses and just the general demeanor screamed everything he'd ever heard about the Headmaster of the most Prestigious Hunter Academy in all of Remnant. As he stared out across the hall, his eyes scanned the audience. After a moment, he began to speak.

"I'll… keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills and, when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose – direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step." As he spoke he practically stopped in place, his gaze locked forward as he addressed the crowd. Despite that and despite knowing he's likely just commanding attention by looking so... imposing, Izuku couldn't help an odd feeling that overtook him.

He couldn't help but feel that those eyes of his remain locked on a few key students for several moments... and then they locked on to Izuku himself.

Izuku then just shook his head, and decided to write that off as just nerves; his mind playing tricks on him while the Headmaster gave what he thought of as a very intense and inspirational speech. Of course, Beacon Academy could impart him with a great deal of knowledge and even some new skills he'd never held before... but like with One For All, it wouldn't matter if it was given to him. He'd have to work hard to actually be worthy of it; whether the 'it' in this case is One For All or knowledge.

'Without my own hard work, nothing the teachers here or Toshinori gives or teaches me will matter!' he stared up at Ozpin, a small smile developing, 'And I will work hard! After all, I already know my purpose, my direction… I've known it for years now,' for an instant, he thought he almost saw Toshinori himself looking down on him, '-and I've already had to work three times harder than anyone to be worthy of it! Doing what Ozpin asks of me here... that's an easy ask as far as I'm concerned!'

'I'm going to be a Huntsman! A her-'

His internal ramblings are interrupted when he swore he saw a spark of genuine amusement in Ozpin's gaze, before he moved on from Izuku.

"The Initiation Exam will begin tomorrow. For tonight, you all will be sleeping in the Main Hall. You are dismissed." With that Ozpin just walked off the stage. Izuku heard some muttering from other students about how that seemed like an odd speech or how it ran pretty short. Some even murmured that Ozpin probably phoned it in because he's had to give it so often now.

"He's right though. If we want to have a right to be here, we have to work hard. And that starts tomorrow..." He mumbled to himself, a smile on his face. That speech was-

"Well said." He froze up, suddenly realizing he'd let himself float off into his own little world while Weiss was still basically right next to him. He jumped in a bit of surprise as he tried to recompose himself from what he has to imagine was a pretty dorky looking moment. He was surprised to find that Weiss seems to be looking him over with an approving look. "Well it looks like I put my luggage off to the side for nothing. If you'll excuse me Izuku, I need to go procure it." He just nodded dumbly as Weiss walked off and, after he took a moment to compose himself again, then walked off towards the lockers. The person you'd dropped off your original luggage with had said that you'd be able to find it there.

* * *

It had been pretty late when everyone had arrived at Beacon, he reasoned to himself as he looked out at the setting sun. While Ozpin's speech hadn't run long, it had been scheduled pretty late in the day to allow as many students to arrive in time as possible. Izuku had come in pretty late himself because he had had to get here from Mountain Glenn. As he popped open the locker and found his suitcase and bags there, he smiled as he started to delve into it for his sleepwear for tonight. As he did so, he heard a couple guys close their own rocket lockers shut, wide grins on their faces as they jump up and down in place.

"Dudes, I can't believe it, we're going to be sleeping with the girls in the Main Hall tonight!"

'... What?'

"Yeah I was surprised too. Figured that they'd at least put some stuff to keep both sides from seeing each other but man, they're just letting it be tonight. Kinda surprised for such a fancy pants place like this."

'What?!'

"Yeah dude! This is our opportunity to show off for the ladies~. Maybe if we impress 'em enough we might just be looking to get ourselves some girlfriends from this. Now, tell me honestly, this shirt make me look buff?"

"You know it man. Come on, let's get out there."

' **... WHAT!?'**

'Okay, deep breaths Izuku, there's no way that's true right? They wouldn't just shove a bunch of teenage boys and girls into the same room and just leave it like that right?' He practically tiptoed back over to the entrance to the Entrance Hall and... and he felt himself pale.

No, there it was. Two sides, one side with most of the guys and the other side with most of the girls.

He would have said most because he definitely spotted some crossover.

He quickly ran back into the locker room and started sweating bullets.

'Okay, chill, there wasn't any reason to worry right? I mean, I have lots of changes of workout clothes. Sure it might look a little weird to go to sleep in long-sleeved pants and a long-sleeved sweatshirt but that isn't too unusual!' he placed his hands on his face, 'I can just say I get cold at night if anyone asks. It's better than potentially embarrassing myself."

Izuku had been keeping an eye open throughout most of the day and he swore all the girls in this school were drop dead gorgeous...

And most of the guys looked a lot better than he did too.

No one would want to s-

' _ **HOLD IT THERE YOU DAMN NERD!"**_ At that instant, Toshinori's voice rang in his ear, _**'Are you really going to back down this early?'**_

'But, but,' he spoke thought in response, 'theres alot of gi-'

' _ **HA HA! Do Not Worry My Boy!'**_ Toshinori cut him off with a great laugh, _**'I've seen your body, molded into a facsimile of my own. You've seen how impressive these muscles are. So why not show off some! It's time to show your classmates what you're really made of!'**_

His face went completely red, he looked back out towards the hall, and then began to think.

Well... he supposed that there's always going to be the chance that he'll room with some girls if he managed to get on a team. After all, teams are expected to live with each other in the same dorm rooms and they aren't separated by sex. I-It would probably be prudent to try to get used to these kind of living arrangements beforehand, right? After all, he really didn't want to sleep in his workout clothes every single night for the rest of his stay here at Beacon.

' _ **Right!'**_ mind Toshinori confirmed.

In fact, for a brief moment, Izuku felt unusually bold and even considered something a bit more extreme... maybe that's Toshinori's influence shining through? Either way he immediately thought better of it and slipped on his shorts and a t-shirt. They didn't fully expose him, which was good, but... yeah, it's a lot easier to tell what he has got going in these rather than his old school's uniform.

Hell, for a moment he even looked in mirror and smiled to himself; he's got a long way to go before he's anything like Toshinori or on his level in any way... but, well, he's made progress. And he worked hard for it.

He should be proud of it.

' _ **Absolutely correct Midoriya my Boy,'**_ Mind Toshinori laughed one last time, his voice fading into the background, _**'Now get out there, and show them what you're made of.'**_

He takes a deep breath, trying to prep himself. He's still clearly nervous about going through with his idea but... well, hey, he can't back out now.

Well he can but... but well, he shouldn't.

Jeez.

* * *

"I don't think dad would appreciate all the boys..."

"I know I do, rawr."

Izuku hadn't turned his head to face the sounds of Ruby's or Yang's voice as he heard them nearby. He'd psyched himself up to the point where he'd actually out here in just a t-shirt and shorts and he'd managed to pull through this little show without going absolutely red in the face from embarrassment... but it had taken a lot of focus.

He felt the eyes of a fair few girls on him, appreciating his past ten months worth of effort. A few giggles are in earshot as whispers rang out from the girl's side of the auditorium. He even knew that some of the guys on their side had nodded their heads in approval, a few "nice man's" being thrown his way as he walked by. Of course others just scoffed as they kept on trying to show themselves off for the girls. He's still being noticed, some girls even cooed at the odd mix of 'built hunter' and 'spooked little church mouse' he seemed to have pulled off.

Izuku thinks that's probably made him feel even more embarrassed than stepping out dressed like that in the first place.

Then again... that wasn't so bad. Or at least, it wasn't as uncomfortable as he had thought it would be while he had been panicked in the locker room, thinking he was about to get eaten by a horde of sharks and laughed off of campus... it could happen!

But...this was pretty good. He was far from the center of attention but... well, it had been an interesting experience. He'd NEVER have done something like this at his old school. He'd never have dressed up in a way that girls would be remotely interested in him... it's another way he'd changed over he's time with Toshinori, he supposed.

"Well hey there Izuku! Where were you hiding all that earlier!" Immediately his efforts to keep the red off his face fell through as Yang hollered over at him. That immediately caused him to jump a bit as he looked over in Yang and Ruby's direction, Ruby just hid her face in her pillow, embarrassed for and by her sister, while Yang was just laughed hysterically.

'Oh... oh they're dressed in sleepwear too. In fact, all the girls are.' His focus on keeping his gaze locked steady on ahead finally failed as he took notice of the fact that his earlier statement was right; pretty much every girl here at Beacon was gorgeous.

How was that even possible?!

He had gone back to looking on straight ahead, a few laughs and giggles came from the girls, and a few hardy guffaws from the guys, as he tried to maintain his composure. He realized that while it is getting late, the Main Hall had hardly hit 'lights out' yet. A lot of people were still up and about doing things. Some had been reading, others were talking and, yes, there were the aforementioned guys who were doing their best to try to attract a girl with all the grace of a barfly.

Not that some of them seemingly hadn't succeeded mind you, but still.

He wondered if he was up for trying to meet another person. The earlier meeting with Weiss really hadn't go too badly and Yang's friendly nature seemed to help ease him into a nice acquaintanceship with Ruby... who then did the same for him as it concerned Blake. Honestly, he had time and he wasn't 'too' tired, though bed had started to sound increasingly attractive.

On the one hand, he had not wanted to get surrounded by too many people. He was already uncomfortable as it is, no need to turn his already red face into a tomato. As he looked around for someone else to talk to, really wanting to try to continue building these connections so his time here at Beacon wouldn't be as unbearable as it was back in his old Combat School, he spotted a couple people who've broken off from everyone to be by themselves.

Blake seemed to be busy reading a book so he didn't want to bother her too much. There was this guy with Red and White hair who's sitting off by himself and, for a moment, he took a couple steps toward him. One look from him however shook Izuku a bit; he felt pretty intense. Not in an aggressive way but... he just seemed like he has a lot on his mind at the moment. Izuku laughed nervously before he backed off and looked for someone else to talk to.

He eventually spied the red haired girl from earlier in the day sitting off by herself. She's dressed in some pretty simple sleep attire, a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, and she seemed to be trying to make herself a bit scarce. If someone noticed her she'd nod and smile but there seems to be some hesitancy toward it, almost as if she was nervous about something. Eventually she noticed his approach... and probably took notice of the rather scarce way he'd dressed. He watched her put on as polite an expression as she can, a smile even accompanying it, but even his meager skills at socializing could tell that she was increasingly uncomfortable the closer he got.

Still, that seemed to be how most of these situations were starting so... hey, who knows, maybe he could change that.

"Uh... hello! I'm Izuku Midoriya." He said bolstered by the fact that compared to walking about in his sleepwear, just going off and talking to someone was much easier in comparison.

'Huh she seems almost as uncomfortable as I feel right now, that's... kind of reassuring.'

"Oh, hello. It's, er, nice to meet you." She's spoke in a somewhat stilted manner as she watched him, her green eyes peeled for some expected action as he just stood there. He waits for her to give her name in turn but she seems hesitate. She arched an eyebrow, as if waiting for him to make the next move.

"Err... so, what's your name?"

"... Pardon?"

"You know, your name? It's part of how greetings go right? I can't just keep calling you 'the red haired girl' in my head... can I? No, probably not..." He awkwardly admitted all this as the girl just blinked at him, tilting her head to the side curiously.

"I'm... my name is Pyrrha Nikos?"

"Oh, well, it's nice to meet you Pyrrha. I've just been introducing myself around because... well, we're all going to be students here right? Figured it'd be good if we could all get along." The line of reasoning flowed more freely from his mouth this time around than it had with Weiss, his experience over the day and the somewhat easier circumstances, compared to prancing around in ones sleepwear, making this a lot easier for him.

Pyrrha just blinked as she looked at him, tilting her head to the side. "Oh, you, you don't know who I am?"

'Oh Gods, did I mess up again?'

"Oh, oh no, should I? I'm sorry! I did this once before already with another student here! If I should, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean-"

"No, no, no, no! Nothing like that!" It's weird, despite how fervently she'd reacted to Izuku and how almost panicked she seemed by your reaction, he could almost swear that the corners of her lips had twisted up into a bit of a grin. "I-I mean... don't worry about it. It's nothing really all that important. So you were just introducing yourself? Well, Izuku Midoriya, it is very nice to meet you."

He smiled and nodded back. Honestly, she did seem very polite and now, for whatever reason, whatever discomfort she seemed to have felt had at least lessened a bit. Still, he wasn't going to lie and say he wasn't curious about what exactly it is he'd apparently missed about her. She seemed almost pleased that he didn't know about it, whatever it is, which seemed weirdly at odds with how Weiss reacted earlier today.

As Pyrrha tried to wave off the... he didn't know exactly but call it a 'thing' for now, Izuku pondered the possibility of trying to ask her about what she'd been talking about. As Izuku looked at her though, he could see that she was almost pleased that he didn't know. Maybe that was the source of her discomfort with him approaching her at first? Either way, Izuku thought about it and realized that it'd be rude to pry and, while he didn't know too much about her yet, Pyrrha had seemed like a nice person. There was no reason to go digging if she'd told him that it doesn't really matter, right?

"Okay, sure. If it isn't all that important then I won't be too bothered about it. That sound good?" He asked, sheepishly scratching the back of his head. The fact that Pyrrha looked positively ecstatic and gives him a firm nod told him that he probably made the right choice.

"Sounds very good. Thank you Izuku."She took a short pause before continuing. "Anyway It's rather admirable that you're going out of your way to speak to our fellow classmates. I can tell that it might not be... well..." Pyrrha scratched her cheek a bit as she thought of how best to phrase this, but he just chuckled and continued to scratch the back of his head.

"Not very good at it? Don't worry about it, I'm not. I didn't have a lot of interaction with people before I came here but... well, I figure if we all have an opportunity for a fresh start, might as well try to make it a good one, right?" Pyrrha nodded in agreement as a smile tugs at her lips.

"I agree... though that can be harder for some to achieve than others." She admitted as she looked around at the broader Main Hall and all the people in it. "So, have you given much thought to teams?" He tilted his head to the side. "You yourself said that you want to try to see if you can get along with the people here and, well, some of them may end up being your teammates by tomorrow. What are your... thoughts on the matter?" Pyrrha asked curiously as she tipped her head to the side. He brought a hand up to his mouth for a second as he took a careful second to consider this. 'I have met a lot of people today and, despite my own awkwardness, they all do seem very nice. Ruby, Yang, Blake, Weiss, Pyrrha... Kacchan.'

...

'Okay, maybe not Kacchan, but still, I do know him. And those are just the people I know so far; who knows what other kinds of cool people are here. Still, I can't exactly speculate based on folks you haven't met.'

He continued to paused for a moment as he took in Pyrrha's question. 'I thought it might've seemed a bit odd to be jumping the gun this far when I hadn't even been fully accepted into Beacon's program... but if Pyrrha's also given some thought to it, maybe it wasn't that odd?'

In which case...

"Hmmm, well, I mean, I guess I have..." As he said that he excused himself for a moment to go back to his locker. Upon returning he had a small stack of notebooks with him, various volumes of his Huntsman Analysis For The Future. Pyrrha blinked, clearly surprised by that as he cracked open one of the volumes. "Keep in mind that I've only really spoken with four people people here so far, besides you I mean, and one person I know from back home who doesn't like me... so I don't know a 'whole' lot of people. But that's fine; teams are four people total, and I don't really know any of you five well enough to say that I don't want you all on my team, so I'm basically fine with anyone I've met today." Pyrrha actually smiled a bit at that basic compliment, before he turned back to his books.

"That being said, there usually is an order for how partners and teams are put together in Hunter Academies. Usually there's a system of checks based upon a singular hunter's, or a pair of partner's, strengths and weaknesses that go into how teams are structured. Especially looking at the big Academies in Atlas and Mistral there's a general theme of creating teams that make up for each individual member's failings,takeforexampletherecentpartnerpairofShinjiNishiyaandYuTakeyama;YuhasaStrengthSemblancethatnotonlygreatlyincreasesherphysicalprowessbut,asasmallsideeffect,causesrowthinherbody,thismakeshergreatinclosequartersfightsandshedoeshaveweaponsonhandthatgiveherrange,butit'snotwhatshe'sgoodat,whileShinjiNishiyaontheotherhandismorerangefocused,evenusinghisSemblanceasameansofensnaringfoesawayfromhimorjustputtingsomeobstaclesinbetweenthemandhim,thetwotogethercoverfortheother'sweaknessesintheseregardsortoputallofthismoresimply,teamsarehighlystructuredinmostcases...whichiswhatmakesBeaconAcademyodd,yousee-"

"Izuku!"

He immediately went red in the face as he realized that he's been going off on one his usual muttering storms. He clasped his hands over his mouth and looked over to Pyrrha who, while looking a bit weirded out by his sudden dip into muttering Hell, had kept a small smile on her face.

"I appreciate all of this information, it sounds like you've given it a lot of thought but... maybe slow down a little bit?" She asked gently while he took a deep breath and nodded.

"Yeah, okay, sorry." he did his best to shake off the embarrassment as he turned back to his volumes and resumed flipping through it. "Anyway, like I said, Beacon's odd in that case because you don't see a lot of that similar solid structure. People like to point to Toshinori and Enji but they're more the exception than the rule. Far more often teams turn out like Team STRQ when it comes to how their partner pairs and whole teams are structured. The team was generally made up of people who just got into close range and stayed there; Taiyang Xiao Long was a brawler, Raven Branwen was amazing with a blade and while a lot of people think that Qrow Branwen's weapon could be classified as a high-caliber sniper scythe, truth is that it Mecha-Shifted into a shotgun or a sword, so he was generally close range all the way down. Even Summer Rose wasn't particularly known for keeping her distance, instead being remembered for 'Slaying' High Class Grimm."

"You normally wouldn't want this; people who can attack Grimm from far off are usually capable of picking off high-priority or dangerous targets before they get close up, while people who can generally fight toe-to-toe can keep Grimm off of those members of their team and innocent civilians. Not to mention how this mix can help in dealing with various criminals and other rogue elements. Despite all this, Team STRQ graduated at the top of their class and were generally considered the top team of their year of any Hunter's Academy. This isn't even an isolated incident; Beacon's earned its reputation by churning out top Hunters and teams of them, but the Hunters it does it with are usually considered odd compared to how other Academies structure things. They keep it a secret as to how they organize teams so no one can say for certain 'why' this happens... but, I dunno... it almost seems like it's completely random." He finished as he leaned back a bit, Pyrrha having seemed really surprised by that.

"Really? Well I mean, that can't be right? Beacon Academy's at the top of the system, putting out the most well-known and influential hunters of these past generations. Surely they couldn't accomplish that if they put the teams together by random chance?" Pyrrha asked, almost as if trying to force that to be the answer, as he just bit his knuckle a bit.

"I know, I know... but considering all the teams I have written down here, it's the only thing that makes sense without allowing for some 'mystery phenomena'. Beacon would only know as much as the Combat Schools would tell them, so it's not like they have some special knowledge about the kids coming into their school. And considering what they'd know, you'd figure they'd follow the same track as the other Hunter Academies... it'd be what makes the most logical sense. The fact that they don't and that their teams tend to be so skewed one way or the other most times... I dunno. I want to think it's something deeper too but the simplest answer given what we know is that it's just random chance."

Pyrrha actually took a moment to consider that point of view and, though he wrote it off, he swore there was a bit of a spark in her eyes as she turned back to him. "Well... I suppose letting the dice fall where they may wouldn't be such a bad thing." He chuckled nervously as he shrugged.

"I dunno about that. For all I know, random chance would end up with me being on a team with Kacchan... and that's a recipe for dysfunction." he joked before the conversation moved on.

"My goodness... you do know a lot about this." He blushed slightly as Pyrrha said that, scratching the back of his head nervously.

"Ever since I was a little kid, I've always dreamed of becoming a Huntsman. You know, be the kind of hero who can inspire people and keep them safe. So I've... kind of... sort of... obsessively took notes whenever I could to try and help me keep up with my peers." The red haired young woman nodded as he spoke; despite his expectations, she looked more impressed by that than put off, which his previous classmates had been...

Then again, his previous classmates had known he was "Broken" at the time, so to them it was weird and a waste of time.

"So, given all of this, how would you yourself structure a team out of the people you know?"

Izuku frowned a bit as he looked back at his notes. 'I... I'm not too sure of that myself. It's not like I'm completely clueless, heck, I just rounded off a lot of stuff that made up teams generally, even given Beacon's oddities. But, well, putting that information to good use was another thing entirely.'

He put his hand to his chin as he continued to think. 'Ruby had a HCSS, a real one, and seemed to have a Speed-Boosting Semblance if her sudden run over to Yang was any indication.'

'Ruby did say that Yang actually used a set of weapons similar to mine and was a brawler as well. So I would pretty much fit in here too, considering that I had a similar weapon to her with a similar skill-set to use it.'

'Blake's Gambol Shroud had a lot of potential ranges and uses given its multiple forms and how she can use her ribbon along with it to extend its range.'

'Weiss... er, well, you didn't get an opportunity to ask her about what she was good at. Though considering her family, maybe it involved Dust?'

'Then here was Kacchan but... I don't really think that me and Kacchan being on the same team would be good. Not that Kacchan isn't amazing, he is! His Semblance makes him absolutely deadly at close range and he's built his weapon to build upon that advantage and cover a few weaknesses... but, well, given how Kacchan really doesn't seem to like me, I doubt a team with the two of us on it would be very... functional.'

'And finally Pyrrha...'

"Oh, Pyrrha, I really don't know what you do or what you're good at. If you wouldn't mind, maybe you could fill me in?" Pyrrha gave a small 'oh' as she nodded. As Pyrrha spoke Izuku learned that she's got a similarly varied weapon set to Blake; her weapons, Miló and Akoúo̱, were a bit of a marvel of having multiple uses at their disposal. They could go from being a sword and shield combo, to being a bolt-action rifle to being a spear that could also served as a javelin. It gave her multiple weapons with multiple ways of inflicting harm at various ranges. He'd thought the javelin form wouldn't see a lot of use seeing as how that'd involve throwing her main weapon away but Pyrrha assured him she could bring both it and her shield back if they were thrown. She doesn't speak as to how, which is fair; the two of them were not actually on a team, so given that no one knows how initiation was expected to work, it'd put her at a disadvantage to tell him anything much.

Still, that was a good bit of information. He really couldn't think of anything too sophisticated without giving it a lot of thought... but after doing so, he came up with-

'Well, first is Kacchan... he's strong, really strong,' he remembered all the terrifying blasts that he had observed from his old friend, 'Probably the single strongest huntsman I know...publically at least. Toshinori obviously still outclassed him, but...Kaachan is incredibly strong. WIth his Semblance that can convert chunks of his Aura into explosions, he was pretty much always guaranteed to be.'

'And the way he combines it with his weapon shows what how smart he is too,' he remembered the first day of class at Birch where Kaachan had shown them off, 'Creating a set of gauntlets that would allow him to focus his semblance into long-range bursts was, in addition to Toshinori, what inspired Emerald Gust. They even double as extremely strong gauntlets for him to swing around in melee range. Any team that has Kacchan in it would immediately benefit from the sort of firepower he brings…'

'But he just... Kacchan was a leader,' Izuku nodded to himself, he remembered the many boys who followed his old friend around, 'But... not necessarily a good one,' he thought back to Kaachan barking orders, and tossing his things at other people, 'He got people to follow him because he was the best, because he was strong. Even to his friends he could yell and be sour with. Back home that might've been fine because Kacchan was at the top... but this was Beacon,' he looked at Pyrrha, something itching at the back of his head, 'Everyone was at the top…,' he stopped himself, 'well, not me, but still. This was a school for the most gifted potential Huntsmen and Huntresses.'

'I'm not sure Kaachan can just act like he did before,' he thought about the way Kaachan had reacted to every group he'd ever been assigned to, 'Kacchan isn't terribly good at following other people's orders and doesn't much like people who pushed back against him,' he thought of a smouldering notebook, 'That I've kept trying to be a Huntsman for so long...irked him. Either as a leader or as a member of a team, Kacchan is going to be an extremely volatile element. No matter how strong he was, that is going to be an issue.'

Which left him with five...

"Ruby would be almost totally necessary for any team made up of the people I've met so far. Her Sniper Scythe just brings too much long-range utility to a fight. That she's apparently got some kind of Speed Boosting Semblance on top of that means she can dart in and out of a skirmish with a lot of ease. That she's here two years early pretty much guarantees that she knows how to use it which, in combat, would immediately give her a big edge. The fact that she's a sister to Yang, who I'd put in second, just means that they'd synergize well; knowing each other's strengths and weaknesses and getting along pretty well. Yang's a close up brawler with a weapon similar to mine, so I can fathom her effectiveness in close range combat. She'd be able to cover for the rest of the team."

"Weiss is also pretty nice... but I don't know too much about what she can do in a fight. Because she's a Schnee I can only assume it has something to do with Dust, which would make her great at mid-range; she could bring a lot of different effects to the field just by throwing around concentrated amounts of Dust and who knows what else she'd be good with. Then there's Blake: her weapon is insanely multi-purposed and can pretty much be used at a wide-variety of ranges. Ruby definitely beats her out at long range but Blake can pretty much dip in and out of every other category. She also seems like she's a good person, so she'd be easy to get along with too."

"Then there's you... honestly, aside from Ruby, you could fit just about anywhere in here for the same reason that Blake can. The multiple ways your weapon can be used means that at any range outside of Ruby's extremely long range you'd be effective. You'd just bring a lot of versatility to a lot of situations which no one can really complain about. As much as I'd like to include Kacchan... he just doesn't fit so well into a team. Not because he isn't amazing, he is, but... well, he's not a great team player, I think. That's... that's what I think at least." he sheepishly scratched at his cheek as Pyrrha nodded along. Before he finished he notices she seemed to be waiting for something and, as he concluded, watched as she tilted her head to the side.

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"You didn't include yourself anywhere in that little analysis." He blinked slightly as Pyrrha brought this up, his mind quickly going back over his own analysis. 'Huh... she was right. I didn't include myself anywhere in that.' Though, he grinned a bit sheepishly as he looked off a bit, the reason why sitting in his head.

"Well, you asked how I'd put a team together and... that's how I'd do it. I tried to put together the best team I could think of and... well, that really didn't include me, I think." He scratched at the back of his head as he said this, which left Pyrrha blinking in some surprise.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but the same reason that I could be slotted in for anyone but Ruby could be used to put you in Yang's place, correct? If your weapon set is so similar." He conceded the point but felt the need to elaborate.

"I have a pretty good feeling that Yang's gonna be better and stronger than I am." She had the advantage after all; she's probably had an Aura for Gods knew how long. while he was still playing catch up. Sure, he worked three times harder in order to earn his place, but... it still didn't feel like he was there. He knew his wasn't the strongest or the fastest person here. Heck, for all he studied and knew about Huntsmen, he was fairly certain you weren't the smartest either. Plus, well, he was only here because Toshinori gave him a chance. He said that Izuku deserved One For All and that he earned it through his hard work and, hey, Toshinori was probably right... but that hadn't made One For All his.

And in his mind that didn't make his place at Beacon here _his_ either. As far as he was concerned until tomorrow, he was here because Toshinori saw potential in him and gave him a chance. Until he passed Initiation, this wasn't his place yet. Once he had, well, then he'd have earned his spot here. he'd have made his chance here his own. Then he could work as hard as he could on making himself better and catching up.

Until then... well, it still felt like he hadn't quite belonged.

"If I was going to make a team, I'd want it to be the best it could be. That's the only way we'd be able to keep people safe is if we have the best people out there saving them and inspiring them. Out of the people I met today... well, I know I'm not the best. So it wouldn't be best served by having me on it." Before Pyrrha could answer his point, he heard a voice ring out over the crowd.

"Could we all turn down the lights and quiet down? Some of us are trying to sleep." he recognized it as Weiss' voice and, while it sounded a little annoyed, it doesn't sound angry. There seemed to be a general hum of consensus that followed and, soon afterward, Izuku pushed himself up off the floor.

"Well I think I need to go ahead and turn in. Nice talking to you Pyrrha." She looked at him for a few seconds, a bit of a scrunch to her nose as if she had been thinking, before she smiled.

"Nice speaking with you as well Izuku. Good evening."

With that, he turned in for the night.

* * *

 **A/N: One of the interesting things about writing Quests is that element of player interactivity. It can make things a bit more unpredictable and fun, with characters, if things are being played well, being played in surprising but still very much 'them' ways. Still, writing this influence into a Fanfic can be a bit tricky. However, one of my editors, Wind-Waker, came up with the nifty notion of expanding on a bit of a running gag I had early on in the Quest, the idea of Toshinori Yagi being the voice of Izuku's conscience, as a way of explaining some of the more out there decisions Izuku would make. Not necessarily out of character, I feel the players have been great about managing Izuku as an MC, but just some of the decisions that might seem a bit odd for the little guy. This faded over time as you don't want to run a joke into the ground and, here, will fade as Izuku settles more into the personality that the Quest posters were running with.**


	3. Welcome to Beacon III

The next morning had been a bit of a rush for Izuku. Ten months of working on Toshinori's plan had pretty much conditioned him to wake up early and get a head start on his day and... well, considering how much work he still had to go, it seemed prudent to keep up with the routine. So he got up, quietly maneuvered around the students in the main hall so as not to risk waking them (since by the looks of it, it seemed like he was the only one up right then) and quickly changed into his workout clothes.

Running had felt... a lot different with Aura, he realized. He he hadn't been a slouch without it, by the end of the ten months he could pretty much sprint for almost a mile before easing into a hard jog. However, after having attained Aura...it felt almost comical that he had ever held that as being a 'good' point for his running. He feltl the energy of the Aura, his... or maybe Toshinori's, soul power through his muscles, keeping them refreshed and from falling to fatigue as he sprinted around campus. He kept at a hard pace in order to try to get some burn out of his morning run and, after a while, he eventually felt it. Eventually he noticed that someone else seemed to be out and running as well; an overweight man with grey hair and a mustache who ran even faster than he was around the campus. Izuku waved and the man waved back, saying something about the boy 'putting on a good show' or something like that before sprinting off. The man ended up lapping Izuku several times as eventually his own Aura couldn't prevent his muscles from feeling sore. It was a strange and wonderful feeling all wrapped up into one when he felt his Aura poured into his aching muscles, slowly but surely easing the soreness and helping them rebuild faster and stronger.

'Man, was this what I've been missing out on all these years?'

As Izuku came to a stop, finally exhausted after all that running, he was surprised to realize that he'd been at it for a few hours. He heard a message ring out over the intercom system signaling that breakfast had just broken out and, with a bit of a jump, he ran to get himself some food. According to the schedule for the days events he realized that it wouldn't be too long after 'breakfast' that they'd all be expected to go out to the meeting place for Beacon's Initiation. Izuku decided that it was probably a good idea to grab a quick breakfast and then sneak in a shower before the test proper began. He hadn't wanted to go to the test smelling like a sweaty sock, after all. He grabbed a change of clothes to bring with him to the shower... he'd rather not risk the possibility that there would already be people in the locker room when he was done. Having walked around in just his t-shirt and shorts had been more than enough for him; walking around in just a towel would've been a step too far. He decided to bring a change of workout clothes, just in case the test included some sort physical activity.

As Izuku exited the shower room, dressed in what he had brought and finishing off drying his wild head of green hair, he looked around the locker room and noticed that everyone seemed to be filtering in to get their change of clothes and gear. Thankfully it seems like most everyone had already changed, be still his beating heart, and it seemed like everyone was going to be taking their weapons just in case. Probably not a bad idea all things considered; even if the Initiation has no use for them, better to be prepared.

As he walked along to his locker, he noticed a few groups of people, and some individuals scattered off by themselves, around the locker room. They all had a bit of time before they had to go to the meeting place so Izuku decided that maybe hanging out wouldn't be a bad idea.

He slapped himself on the cheeks a couple of times trying his best to psyche himself up... and found that it didn't really work out all that well. Honestly, he had probably done more harm than good to his own nerves by pointing out what exactly it was he needed to do and how he could have messed it all up and how-

'Okay, that's the point.' He shook his head a bit and looked around, trying to decide on who to speak with. He saw a lot of faces that, by then, were familiar and still quite a few that weren't. Not surprising; considering all the students in the Main Hall the last evening, it had only made sense that he hadn't exactly had the time to get to know 'everyone' taking the Initiation. Still, seeing as how Yang and Ruby seemed to be going through their own issues at that moment, he decided to go look for some folks who were a little more... at ease. After a bit, he smiled as he saw Pyrrha and Weiss, the two in a small group with two guys he'd spotted around those past two days. Pyrrha had a polite smile on her face and Weiss had a polite, if slightly excited, grin on her features. As he approached, Izuku took notice of the fact that Weiss' excitement was... probably a little more heavy than he initially realized from back where he was standing. Meanwhile Pyrrha's polite smile while present seemed a bit... forced?

Before he could rethink actually approaching their group, Pyrrha spotted his approach and her face immediately split into a grin "Oh, Izuku! Hello! Good to see you!"

It was too late to back out at that point. So instead he just smiled nervously and waved back as he approached the group of four. Weiss seemed surprised by his sudden arrival and the two young men, one of them the blue haired young man with glasses and the other guy with red and white hair and, he suddenly noticed, a huge scar over the left side of his face, turned to see his approach.

"Ah, Miss Nikos, do you know this young man?" The guy with glasses opened, re-adjusting his spectacles as he turned to Izuku before... he didn't even know how to describe what glasses did next. His hand motions and posturing was actually a bit jarring at first as his movements caught Izuku a bit off guard. They hadn't been overly energetic and they were not random but... well, there was a surprising amount of 'oomph' behind each movement. "I had assumed that he was a fan that was approaching our conversation in order to bother you. Was I mistaken?" He said, having once again started the gesturing. The other guy with the scar just seemed to be watching Izuku carefully as Pyrrha Nikos shook her head.

"Oh no, not at all! We actually met last night; I can assure you he wouldn't do such a thing."

"Y-Yeah..." He stammered out a bit, caught slightly off-guard by the guy's wild gestures. "I just saw Pyrrha and Weiss and thought I'd come over, say hi and introduce myself to a couple more people... sorry if I'm interrupting."

"You... are interrupting a little, but I suppose I've gotten the meat of our discussion out of the way." Weiss responded, seeming a little flustered at first before smiling. "We were discussing the possibility of the four of us coming together to form a team." Izuku perked up a bit at that.

"Oh? That's pretty cool; I imagine you're pretty good with Dust Weiss and from what Pyrrha's told me she's a really versatile fighter." Indeed, his thoughts from the night before ran through his head... though, not knowing who the other two are had hampered his ability to judge how they'd fit in.

Weiss nodded, a bit amused. "I'd say that's underselling Pyrrha Nikos' level of skill. After all, she was the Mistral Regional Champion four years in a row."

He just kind of stared blankly as he slowly nodded. He tried to not seem like he was brushing off an accomplishment, winning any kind of championship was probably really impressive, but... well, he didn't actually know what the Mistral Regional was. Having seen the look on his face, Weiss' expression slowly dropped.

"You can't tell me you don't know what that is or who Pyrrha Nikos is." She said while glancing over to Pyrrha and seeing... well, a very odd expression on her face (for someone who wasn't having either herself or her accomplishments be recognized, she seemed oddly cheerful), he just shrugged at Weiss.

"She graduated at the top of her class at Sanctum Academy!"

"Oh wow, really? That's really impressive Pyrrha, Sanctum's supposed to be the top Primary Combat School in Mistral." Pyrrha nodded, that seeming like an accomplishment she was mildly proud of, before she sheepishly scratched the back of her head.

"A portion of my grades were helped by those... tournament wins and the fame that came with them, but I did work very hard to accomplish that." Izuku nodded his head as Pyrrha spoke, Weiss sighed a bit as she nodded.

"Jeez, the only thing you know much about is huntsmen stuff, isn't it?" The glasses wearing boy seemed mildly interested by that while the guy with the scar seemed... nervous? Maybe not the right word but he didn't seem eager about that bit of information.

"I see, very interesting. So you're well informed as to Hunters and their craft then?" The blue haired boy spoke with those odd gestures again but Izuku nodded your head.

"Yeah, I've made sure to study all of that pretty hard so I could be prepared for when I come to Beacon." The blue haired young man nodded as he re-adjusted his glasses, and while he seemed just as mechanical in his mannerisms, his voice had lost any of the animosity that previously existed.

"I see, a very wise course of actions. Preparation is a very key aspect of being a Huntsman, after all." The young man turned his head a bit toward the other young man before looking at Midoriya again. "Pardon us, we know your name thanks to Miss Nikos but I haven't introduced myself and neither has our other acquaintance here. I am Tenya Iida and this is-"

"Shoto Todoroki." The young man spoke for himself before Tenya could step in, seeming a bit bothered with having this bit of information brought forward.

Izuku's throat went dry almost immediately as his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets... okay, not really, but it felt pretty close! Tenya Iida, most likely of the Iida family, the famous group of engineers who over the past several decades have been making strides in Huntsmen tech up in Atlas! The same family that produced excellent Huntsmen, even before the profession was revitalized by Toshinori! And Shoto Todoroki... there was no way, it had to be 'that' Todoroki if Weiss was making a big deal out of the four of them forming a team. He had to be related to, and most likely the son of, Enji Todoroki, the second greatest Hunter currently living!

"H-H-Holy..."

 _ **'Hey fanboy, calm down, don't nerd out on me here!'**_ Once more Toshinori's voice rang out in his head, the will of his hero acting as his conscience as it slapped him upside the head mentally, which Izuku had been quick to shake off.

'Come on, this was way too cool! Two of the most prestigious Hunter families in all of Remnant represented here, in your class, at Beacon Academy! That way too awesome, after all, the Iida family-'

 _ **'I SAID KNOCK IT OFF!'**_ Izuku coughed into his fist as he finally regained his composure.

"Uh... woah, that's... that's pretty cool. It's great to meet you both!" Despite how hard he had tried to hold himself together, his enthusiasm was readily apparent to them still. Their reactions, however, were probably far more muted than what would have occurred if he did freak out as he had felt incoming; Shoto seemed a bit bothered with being so obviously recognized and while Tenya had seemed pretty proud of the recognition, but it wasn't as extreme as it might had been. Pyrrha, from her position behind the two, seemed to be nodding at Izuku in approval, a gesture quickly matched by Weiss Schnee. It would've been terribly impolite to just suddenly freak out in front of two acquaintances, after all, and not fanboying out had probably left a great deal of pressure off of Shoto's shoulders.

All in all, he considered that a success...

Though it had been becoming increasingly worrisome that somehow Toshinori had become the voice of his conscience. Ten months of following his workout plan to the letter would do that though...

After that display, the conversation returned to Weiss' previous topic. "At any rate, I assume that you can see now why this team, if made, would be formidable. Between my own combat skills and prowess with Dust and the Schnee Family Semblance, Pyrrha's combat skills and, as you said, versatile weapon set, the Iida genius when it comes to engineering hunter weapons, gear and armor and the pure prowess of the Todoroki line, we'd be an unstoppable force, easily the top of the class here at Beacon!" Weiss seemed to realize that she got a little over-excited as she said this as everyone else in the group had given her a slightly odd look. Except for Iida.

"Indeed! When I had heard this offer from Miss Schnee I too was quite intrigued. A group like this would be a very powerful team of Hunters, a lot of good work could be done if we did end up working together." It seemed as though the reason why Tenya hadn't been bothered was because, in his own way, he was excited about the prospect as well... or at least, his gestures seemed excited while his tone of voice maintained its very put together structure.

Though, having looked at Pyrrha and Shoto, he could tell that the former was... not exactly as thrilled as the other two were and that Shoto seemed more annoyed by the repeated mentions of his family. A small frown formed on Izuku's face after realizing this.

As Iida said that, Izuku couldn't help but bring his hand up to his lip again, a gesture he himself was starting to recognize as his thinking posture, as he took a moment to consider it.

"Well... I mean, maybe?" Tenya and Shoto seemed a bit surprised by this response before Izuku reached into the suitcase containing his weapons. He pulled out Huntsman Analysis For The Future Volume 13., at the time his latest and the one he tried to bring everywhere just in case he found something new to take notes on, and produced a pencil from one of his pockets. "Well, what can you two do? What are your powers and abilities?" Weiss, Iida and Shoto all seemed surprised by this gesture, having expected him to just follow up with their family's reputation in coming to an answer.

Only Pyrrha seemed to have expected this sort of response and, from what he could tell, she definitely approved.

"Ah, yes, of course. I suppose it would be odd to not ask that when thinking about our team dynamic." Tenya quickly straightened himself back out as he re-adjusted his glasses. "For myself, well, I follow the Iida model of Hunters quite faithfully; I've designed and seen crafted a set of armor that at several points is powered by Dust in various ways. As it has been with my brother and our father before him, so on, the main feature are engines placed in the back of the legs that works off of a combination of a combustion-engine run on Fire Dust in controlled quantities while keeping a Ice Dust radiator built in to ensure that it doesn't overheat."

Izuku did his best to recall his notes he'd previously taken on Tensei Iida, at the time the senior most Hunter in that family. As he worked on his notes on Tenya, the group of four leaned over Izuku's shoulder to look at what he had been doing. Tenya and Shoto seemed quite surprised, as does Weiss, while Pyrrha just watched from the back.

As ever, Izuku's art itself... wasn't great but it got the point across and the notes he had taken were thorough based on what he knew about the Iida family and what Tenya himself had told him about his skills.

"You have an Aura right? Any Semblance?" Tenya shook his head.

"I'm afraid not; while our family does produce a strong Aura, our line hasn't been one favorable to manifesting a Semblance. It's why we've made it our focus to enhance our abilities through our armor and technological prowess." Tenya adjusted his glasses after he saw Izuku nod and continue to jot down notes.

"... Ice Semblance. I'm capable of creating it with a very limited amount of Dust through my Aura. I also have significant control over it," Izuku actually paused in taking his notes, having finished with Tenya's and moved on to getting ready for Shoto, as he raised his head curiously. While Izuku had asked, he'd taken Shouto's silence as him declining to give information. The look he was giving Izuku was a bit odd as he recorded this information but he didn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Instead, Izuku asked more questions.

"Ice? Not fire?" Shoto seemed to have expected it but doesn't seem annoyed.

"I... can." It's clear he'd rather not talk about it...

Considering Izuku hadn't probed much into Pyrrha either, he just decided to put off a section to the side about how he 'might' have Enji's Semblance...

"Wait, a dual Semblance? Wow that's really lucky!" Again, it was as if he expected it though, this time, he didn't seem as nonplussed. He actually did seem rather annoyed.

"Yeah." That's all that was said as Izuku cautiously went back to his notes. The green-haired huntsman-to-be asked Shouto for a little bit more detail on how much ice he was able to create and how much Dust the process required, which turned out a lot for a little, before finishing off that section of his notes.

"My goodness, this is... quite prodigious! There's even notes here on things I didn't tell you fully about!" As Tenya said that, Izuku blushed a bit as he scratched his cheek, his eyes darting away from the suddenly quite enthusiastic young man.

"Well... given what you said, I thought I could recall some notes I'd taken on Tensei Iida before and use it to supplement." Tenya nodded quite enthusiastically as Izuku said this, Shoto just looked at his own page in the notebook with a bit of interest.

"... Wait, hold on, Volume 13.? You have twelve other volumes with information like this?" Weiss, from her position, had seen the cover of Izuku's notebook as she looked over at him with keen interest. He nodded again as he looked off to the side.

"Y-Yeah... growing up I wasn't exactly-" Fit to be a huntsman in any way shape or form because he was Broken, "-the strongest guy or the fastest... but I thought that if I studied hard and especially took note of how other Huntsmen did things, what practices worked and what strategies were effective, then maybe I could learn something that'd help me make up for that difference... still do, in a way." He admitted rather cautiously as-

"A fine way to prepare yourself for the career of being a Hunter!" He was a bit surprised when Tenya loudly declared that. "Learning as much as you can and attempting to apply the best of that knowledge is a fine way of making sure you're prepared for any situation! It shows a great deal of tenacity and dedication and a strong work ethic."

Oh wow, that really got him blushing. He never really heard anyone actually 'compliment' his practice of taking such prodigious notes. He was pretty well scoffed at before... but, again, back then he didn't even have an Aura or a semblance, so it made more sense. Still, to get praise...

"Indeed. You weren't kidding when you said you were working hard to be here." Weiss added approvingly.

-it was really something else.

"A-A-Anyway... given all of your individual talents, I do think you guys would be a pretty strong team. While Pyrrha's capabilities at way long range would be limited to her bolt-action rifle, it would provide you with options at that kind of a distance. She's additionally be able to join Weiss and Shoto at mid-range where your combined abilities with Dust would make for a lot of battlefield control, especially if you two worked in tandem. If Tenya's armor can stand up to a lot of punishment then especially with the mobility those leg engines would give him he would be able to do a lot in close-range skirmishes, along with Pyrrha when using her sword and shield combination. You all wouldn't lack for options, that's for certain." Izuku looked up with a small grin. "I... really don't do grading that often, you can never tell how a team will work till it's out there because of how individuals may act or react... but I'd say this could easily be a good team. I guess, maybe an 8 or 9 out of 10?"

"I think that is quite the reasonable analysis." Weiss said, clearly pleased with so much thought having been put behind her idea. Still, before she could continue, Pyrrha seemed to step forward a bit.

"You talk about us as individuals, Izuku and how we may act or react, how do you mean?" He looked to Pyrrha with a bit of an odd expression, frowning slightly as he scratched the side of his head with the pencil he produced.

"Well I mean what I say. Nothing about your individual skills tells me about how all these abilities would work in tandem. Maybe it'd be as smooth as silk like with a lot of other Beacon teams or maybe there's something I'm not seeing. Your family's reputations, your skills and how nice you all are can tell me a lot but... well, I can only really guess up until I see how you all work as individuals and in a team."

"... I agree." Shoto surprised everyone by speaking up, the half-and-half young man staring at Izuku even as he spoke to the rest of the group. "Assuming that we'd work well together or that we'd be formidable just off of reputation and our names alone assumes a lot based on a little. This is why we have an Initiation in the first place; so that our abilities as individuals and their merits can be tested before we're allowed to go on as Hunters-in-Training." Weiss seemed about ready to open up her mouth to counter... but she paused. She looked over to Izuku and he saw a bit of thought pass through her eyes. She sighed a bit as she reaches up to rub at her forehead.

"Yes... assuming something or going just off someone's family name and reputation... perhaps isn't the best way to go about things." Weiss almost seemed sheepish as she said this and Izuku recalled their conversation from the day before. He shrugged it off though; after all, he was pretty much just as excited as she seemed when he realized who Tenya and Shoto were.

"Hmmm, I can see the wisdom in this." Tenya relented as he re-adjusted his glasses. "Perhaps I myself was a bit... overeager. An oversight that I shall have to keep an eye out for in the future." Pyrrha nodded in ready agreement.

"I think that we should focus first on the Initiation... and just let the chips fall where they may." Before he could give his own two cents, an announcement rang out over the intercom system.

"Prospective Students, noon approaches. Please make your way to the cliffs overlooking the Emerald Forest for your Initiation Exam." Pyrrha smiled slightly as she closed her nearby locker.

"Sounds like we were all right to have our gear ready after all." She noted as the rest of the group nodded in agreement. As they made to depart Izuku informed them, and the rest of the acquaintances he had made, that he would be at the cliffs shortly as soon as he put on his own weapons.

As the room emptied out, it allowed him a moment to think... for all this talk of teams and how they would be organized, he hadn't given too much serious thought to how he would want his own team put together. He had said that he'd be fine with anyone who was nice and he could get along with but... well, surely it'd be nice to be on a team with people he knew? Or who knows, maybe the excitement of being around whole new folks appealed would appeal to him? After all, that's part of why he was at Beacon; to reinvent himself. To make himself the sort of person who could be a hero like Toshinori.

To be the kind of person he always dreamed. A Huntsman that could save people, and inspire them, with a smile on his face.

He was ripped from these thoughts as he realized he had been daydreaming. He needed to hurry if he was going to make it to the cliffs on time.

* * *

'Okay. Oooookay. Deep breaths Izuku, you got this. Today... today's the day. You're finally going to be a Huntsman... in-training, sure, but a Huntsman! This is it, all you have to do is pass whatever test this is and you'll be a hero!'

He slapped himself to try and steady his nerves as he stood on a... rather odd looking platform. When he and his fellow students had made their way out of the main Beacon campus and out towards the cliffs overlooking the Emerald Forest, he hadn't quite known what to expect. It had become more and more clear that the Initiation would involve no exam, such that he took in Combat School, and instead would be some kind of practical exercise. This had made him a wee bit nervous, considering the fact that he only actually had his Aura unlocked and One For All given to him a couple days ago, but still, that didn't matter. If this was what he needed to do, he'd do it! This wouldn't be enough to make him nervous on its own!

... What was enough was the fact that he and several other students were now lined up in front of Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch, the pair of seasoned Hunters evaluating all of them, while Izuku and his fellow students stood on slightly elevated platforms, almost like marble statues being evaluated by two collectors of fine art. Glynda... she seemed conflicted when she saw Izuku. She sent some kind of harsh look Ozpin's way before returning a look to Izuku, while still colored by her stoic nature, seemed oddly... sympathetic? Ozpin on the other hand just looked Izuku over, offering a small smile, before moving on. It was... weird, and it threatened to send his knees shaking again but Izuku managed to lock them into place.

Finally, Ozpin and Glynda stopped in the middle of the pack of students, still looking over all of the students, before Ozpin spoke up.

"For years, all of you have been training to become warriors, and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams." Glynda followed the Headmaster of the Academy, a tablet held in her arm as she scanned the small crowd of students. "Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... today."

Well... okay. That really wasn't unexpected, he guessed. I mean, it had been fairly clear that all of them would be getting partners and teammates once they passed Initiation. Yeah, he didn't really see what's to be worried-

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you work well." Ozpin took a slow sip of his coffee upon saying this, before he turned his attention back to them all. "That being said; the next person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

...

...

...

"WHAT!?" Surprisingly, Izuku had not been the only one to shout that out of surprise. Quite a few other students, including, he'd wager a guess, Ruby Rose, seemed to share his misgivings. He could faintly hear Pyrrha mutter 'Well what do you know, it is random...' somewhere down the line, while another girl told someone that she knew it all along. 'That. THAT is how the GREAT BEACON ACADEMY chooses partner pairs? That's even worse than it just being random! So what, if you just so happened to land next to someone you wouldn't get along well with you were just doomed to have a bad time here at Beacon?'

Nervously he looked down the line and spotted Kacchan... and Kacchan spotted him too.

If Kaachan could have made Izuku explode, Izuku was fairly certain he would've. He quickly decided to stop looking at him and looked back toward Ozpin.

"After you partner up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Now, while you will be monitored and graded along the way, the goal of your Initiation is to find an abandoned temple at the end of your path; within it are several relics. Each partner pair must choose one, guard it and return to the top of the cliff with it to successfully pass Initiation. As such, you aren't being graded on the number of Grimm you can kill. Destroy what stands in your way of course, they will kill you if you don't-" The matter of fact way Ozpin said that caused a nervous lump to form in Midoriya's throat, "-but don't let yourselves get bogged down. The Emerald Forest is quite large and dangerous... and you do have a time limit." Ozpin twirled his cane around and pointed it to the sun, set high in the sky above them. "Currently, it is noon. At sundown, the test will conclude... students who remain within the forest, relics in hand or not, will fail Beacon's examination. Instructors will not interfere in the exam and will only enter the forest once night has fallen to collect wayward students.

"Now, are there any questions?"

'Any questions?!' Izuku first asked in his mind, then screamed silently, 'ANY QUESTIONS?! Why is your school being run like this?! How do you not have massive lawsuits from parents year after year because of this!? HAS ANYONE ACTUALLY DIED?! ARE YOU BEING SERIOUS?! HOLY WOAH, WERE TOSHINORI AND ENJI REALLY JUST BLIND LUCK?! HOW ARE WE ALL EXPECTED TO GET DOWN THE-'

*Click-Click-CLUNK!*

Izuku was pulled from his mild panic attack by an unusual sound. He looked around for the origin of it, and looked down to his left, where he saw one of the platforms fling itself up to the sky… and the student who had been standing on it sail into the forest. He just stared at it for a moment… processing what he just saw.

'Oh… ,' he just… stared, 'Oh. Well, that was one question answered, at least.'

'... '

'WHAT?!'

"I'd suggest you come up with your landing strategy quick young man, you are coming up very soon." Izuku turned his gaze over to Ozpin as he heard platform after platform launch student after student into the Emerald Forest.

'Okay, okay!' he slammed his palms onto his cheeks, trying to reorient himself, 'You can do this! You can totally do this! Just... just calm down and think,' after a moment, he felt the panic… well not die, but at least subside ',Huntsmen and Huntresses do this kind of stuff all the time. Heck, you did a whole lot of physical activity in Combat School to prep for situations like these... granted they took it easy on you because hey, no Aura, but still! You just... just need to calm down and think.'

The world seemed to disappear, and for a second, he was back in control.

'Okay! It's okay! There's no need to panic! There's no need to panic! There's no need to-'

*Click-Click-*

'PANIC, NOW IS THE TIME TO-'

*CLUNK*

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Izuku was immediately sent flying through the air and all thoughts scattered from his mind. He had had numerous drills in Combat School, but none had ever been this intense!

Part of that was, he knew, not wanting to kill students but the other part was that he hadn't been able to handle it in his previous state, something like this would have cracked him open like an egg. Now here he was, his second day with Aura and attempting to get into Beacon, and he was soaring through the air like a bullet! He barely even had time to fully comprehend just how fast he was going up and out before he hit the peak of his arc, slowed down a bit...

'I don't think I was this high off the ground when I was on the airship,' He observed, almost enjoying the weightlessness.

… and then promptly began falling down that same arc toward the ground! As he looked through the air he spotted numerous fellow prospective students around him, all employing various strategies to soften their fall and hit the ground safely. And yet for all of that, he couldn't see how he could possibly slow down his own fall. He gripped his fist, not really wanting to wast-

*KRACK-KOW*

An all too familiar sound dragged him out of his panic and forced him to spin in the air to try and get a good look at it. After a couple failed attempts... he saw it. Yang Xiao Long had been falling towards the ground and, unlike him, did nothing to slow her momentum No, she was practically sky-diving toward the ground... and then he saw what the sound was before. Rearing her fists back, Yang fired out her shotgun bracers to... to...

Izuku's green eyes immediately went wide in realization.

She was using the recoil from her shotgun blasts in order to affect her momentum in the air and change her direction on the fly! Slowing herself down and making sure she was on course to land where she wanted! He immediately reached around his body, tripping the safeties on all four of his shotguns as he punched and kicked out in mid-air, Mecha-Shifting the mechanisms and shotguns into place as he did so. 'Alright! So... so maybe I've never done this before! Maybe someone else has more experience with it... but I'm pretty good with a Shotgun myself thanks to my training.'

And Yang just showed him how to use these...

'I CAN DO THIS!'

The first two shots were almost experimental: He threw his fists out in front if him in the hope that it would at least stop his spinning and let him actually think for a moment. One arm flailed uselessly to the side as it almost sent him sideways, but his other managed to do what he wanted... somewhat. Deciding that he had four shotguns for a reason, he decided to kick out both feet next. The shotgun mechanism triggered early on one, which threatened to send him tumbling head over heels again but his other shot fired true; His momentum and spin was reduced as he managed to kick out right in front of his trajectory arc, which pushed him away from it. It wouldn't be long before simple gravity put him right back at that speed so he kept going; forgoing going one limb at a time that point.

Izuku took careful aim and fired out all four of his limbs at once; his right arm was a bit off but the rest of his shots more than made up for it, slowing him down and softening his trajectory even further. Finally, with a great yell, he pulled back both his arms and both legs and threw them forward with a great deal of force. All four shotguns went off simultaneously in the same direction and, that time, he could actually stop to 'feel' what exactly he'd accomplished. He had managed to slow his momentum tremendously, but he was still falling pretty fast. If he were to hit the ground like that maybe, just maybe, with a good roll and his Aura he'd be able to absorb the hit without actually hurting himself but...

Before he could give that more thought, a whistling sound hit his ear. Looking toward the source, his eyes immediately went wide when he saw, out of nowhere...

"HOLY WOAH, WHERE IS THAT JAVELIN COMING FROM?!" He almost panicked and tried to throw himself through the air to avoid it before a thought hit him... the spear and it's color scheme, it...

Operating more on gut instinct than on rational thought, probably a result of all the adrenaline running through him at that moment, Izuku reached and grabbed for the spear. Perhaps if he could just grasp the shaft…

He caught it, and then found himself being pulled along by the spear's momentum and its trajectory rather than his own. He'd been a lot closer to the tree line than he had been at the top of his arc and, looking forward, he could see that the spear was carrying him toward a tree.

'If I'm right,' he thought, ' and Pyrrha did throw this, her intention was probably to help out by interrupting the fall to the ground and securing me to the tree,' he gritted his teeth as he tensed his body to absorb the upcoming shock of the stop as he heard the spear impact against the tree with a mighty 'thud'.

... Izuku hadn't even really felt it all that much in the end. His green eyes cracked open cautiously as he looked around and, before he knew it, a wide smile had plastered itself on his face! He was hanging from Pyrrha's spear, itself embedded in the tree quite firmly, just a couple dozen feet off the ground! He hadn't 'totally' landed yet... but... but...

"I did it!" He allowed yourself a minor celebration as he shouted out, almost delirious laughter ringing out as he hung from the spear. Looking out in the vague direction he thought the spear had come from, he shouted as best as he could, "THANK YOU!"

"... I'm sorry!..."

"No, really, thank you!" He looked down to the ground and take a breath. Now all there was to do was climb down... at this point he was kind of wishing he'd actually done a bit more of that, but hey, how hard could it be to climb down a normal tree? Before Izuku did so, he stopped, pondered there for a moment, then slapped his forehead before reactivating the safeties on his gauntlets and boots... trying to climb this thing would be for nothing if a wrong move triggered his shots and blew him off, after all.

He wrapped his legs around the trunk of the tree as best as he could and secured his hand. As soon as he let go of the spear to try and see if he had a secure grip his smile widened. He in fact did have a secure grip!

He reached a hand up and grab Pyrrha's spear and, after a bit of a struggle, he managed to pop it out of the tree. The additional weight had almost ended up ripping him from his tenuous grip on the tree but he let the weapon fall to the ground before it did. The spear managed to land tip first and firmly root itself, the drop having not been that far at all for something so sturdy. With that, he set about climbing down the tree with little rush; it hadn't been that far down to the ground and it wasn't long before he touched the ground. Izuku resisted the urge to lean over and kiss the ground after his harrowing journey through the air, but the urge was there.

'Okay,' he thought as he began to step away from the tree, 'I'll find Pyrrha and return her spear. Even if she has her own part-'

GRRRRRRRRRRRRR

He heard a was the only reason, he thought, that he ended up knowing something was coming for him. He gulped as the sound began to get louder, knowing from months of study exactly what that rather distinctive canine tone meant.

He turned around and saw them; three Beowolves.

'They must've followed the sounds I made,' Izuku almost felt like swearing. The three slowly stalked about him as all three glared hatefully with their glowing, red eyes. A breath caught in his throat...

'So this is it,' he felt his fist tighten, 'Aside from that fateful day… I've never actually seen a Grimm up close like this before... this... this is going to be my first fight against them,' and, to his own surprise, he felt his spine harden to steel, 'My first real chance to show that I can be a Huntsman!'

Izuku slowly, so as not to cause them to immediately charge at him, tripped the safeties on his shotguns before getting into a crouch, bringing his fists up into his stance as he stared each of the three monsters dead in the eyes. In the peripheral of his vision, he could tell he was deep in the Emerald Forest; a tree was to his back and several others surrounded this small clearing.

He clenched and unclenched his fists, taking a deep breath. It was barely noticeable, but it was there... he was faster than them. His training with Toshinori has at least ensured that. Still, he was outnumbered and while Beowolves might not be the strongest Grimm, they were still Grimm. They were still deadly...

He took a deep breath as you wriggled his fingers in his gauntlets, a plan forming in his mind. There was no need to rush for them; they would come to you. He tensed his body up, keeping his back to the tree to keep the Grimm from trying to swarm him. His right arm was cocked and ready to go, ready to punch the first Grimm that got close enough for him to do so.

He didn't have to wait long; young Grimm and young Beowolves especially have never been known for their patience. The trio of Grimm charged, claws at the ready as they dashed and looked to tear him to ribbons. He took a long, steadying breath as they approached.

'I can do this… I've been training your entire life for this!' Izuku looked forward, his eyes clear, 'This is my dream!'

"AAAAAGGGHHHHHHH!"

With those thoughts in mind Izuku roared with a mighty yell fierce enough to match the howls of the Beowolves as he reared a fist back and launched it forward. His aim was true and while the Beowolf attempted to sidestep it mid-charge, the beasts dodge was for naught as Izuku's fist collided with the center of its mass. The Beowolf was stopped near-dead in its track as, with that motion, the shotgun in his arm triggered, sending a blast of pellets into the form of the Grimm.

Despite the directness of the hit… it did not actually seem all that effective. But Izuku was not surprised. Weapons like guns were meant to cause grievous injury by piercing the skin and hitting vital organs, something the Grimm hadn't possessed. His shotgun pellets, while dangerous, didn't inflict the damage they could on a normal target. Still, they were capable of doing more than he was on his own, so it would have to be enough for now!

The Beowolves growled as they attempted to attack him back. The first, having been struck by his attack, missed wildly, the force of the blow having knocked it off balance. The third also misses, Izuku's move to attack its brethren having dodged him out of the arc of its attack. The second wolf, however, aimed its strike true and, despite Izuku's best attempt, Izuku couldn't dodge while he was so far extended. It struck him across the side and he almost made to scream in pain... but didn't. He could practically 'feel' it. He could feel his soul reach out to defend him from the blow, both entirely rebuffing some of the hit and then absorbing the rest. He felt just the slightest bit more winded from it, but...there was no pain.

'So this is what it means to have Aura,' he thought, and for a second, a slight giddiness appeared in his heart.

Still, having Aura wouldn't have meant anything if they keep getting hits on him! He had to put them down! He refused to die here! He once again reared back his fist and launched it forward, aiming a blow at the Beowolf he'd already damaged. The Grimm tried to dodge again but it just couldn't avoid the hit as Izuku pounded his fist into its chest, the shotgun once again roaring aloud as it fired right into the Grimm. Izuku saw the monstrous Beowolf stumble for a moment before it fell onto its back; unnatural as they are, enough punishment could even force a Grimm to blackout under the right amount of pressure.

Izuku saw... something in the other two Beowolves eyes. A glint of an emotion. Anger? Fury? Frustration? It was hard to tell with the Grimm. But one thing he knew for certain was that they both reared back, roared, and came at him with a sudden ferocity he hadn't been expecting. They attacked at once and while he tried to dodge one of their blows, its claws dug into his Aura again, far more violently than it had previously. He gritted his teeth as he felt further exhausted from the hit, but he kept his focus. As the other Grimm brought its paw around to strike at Izuku, he slapped it away at the last second, the attack going off to the side as he found yourself within the Grimm's guard.

The brawl, for that's all this fight between a young inexperienced graduate of a combat school and three juvenile Grimm could hope to be, raged on, the force of Izuku's yells and the howls of the Grimm lightly echoing through the nearby forest forest. Fists flew and claws attempted to slice into flesh as the battle continued. Izuku's next punch missed its mark completely, and it cost him dearly; the Grimm counterattack and reached down to rip at him. His Aura offers what protection it can and, thankfully, one of the Grimm claws barely manages to scratch it, while the other did significant harm. Izuku felt like half his strength from the beginning of the fight had been sapped, but he kept powering on regardless! He couldn't let them get to him! He had to hit them where it hurt!

The next two seconds were a blur, a whirling vortex of fur, fists, claws and his sweat as he danced around the Grimm and they danced around him. He manage to pull his head out of wherever it had been the previous second and connected his first punch into the second Beowolf. It howled loudly, even he was able to tell he did a lot there. For a moment, it even looked like it would collapse back with its brethren... but the monster persevered and came back to try to attack him. It almost did but he parried its blow, sending its claw careening into that of its brother's, which caused it to miss Izuku wildly. Not messing around he went in for another blow and found that it too hit true! That time the Grimm didn't merely collapse into unconsciousness; the fist tore through its torso and it began to dissolve.

The... the first Grimm he'd ever killed.

The first Grimm he had ever killed.

He'd done it.

He didn't have time to think on that as the third Beowolf immediately turned on him to try and strike him. He, however, managed to slap its paw away once again, grinding his teeth together as he prepared for the next flurry of blows. he stopped though; he had run out of shotgun shells in his gauntlets. However, that thought was only a momentary distraction; if he couldn't hit it from there, then he would just have to hit it with his legs!

Perhaps it was the fact that it was the last of the three that had come for him. Perhaps it was just the innate hatred that all Grimm had for humanity. But he swore, looking into that last Beowolf's eyes, he saw a searing, maddening hatred for him. It was going to kill him. If it was the last thing that monster ever did, it would kill him.

Boy, did it try. The first row of attacks was just a trade off; he had struck the Beowolf and it had struck back. He pounded it in the chest for damage that would've seriously harmed or injured most creatures, but this monster just took it. He felt its claws attempt to cut into his shoulder and, once more, His Aura was there to protect him. However, he felt like you were on some sort of brink... he was only just barely on the edge of exhaustion. If he took another hit, it wouldn't just be more of is Aura gone, it would leave his ability to continue the fight seriously limited. That fight had to end without this Beowolf being allowed to get another attack on him.

He moved in again and, once more, his kick was aimed true as he struck the Beowolf in the torso. He watched it stumble and he hoped beyond hope that that could be it, that the fight didn't have to drag on.

A guttural, angry roar told him otherwise as the Beowolf, seemingly filled with new energy, dived at him. He rapidly brought his leg back and sent his forearm up into the paw of the Beowolf, knocking it's claws away. He kicked again but it was off by the tiniest margins. he grunted through his teeth as he managed to flow through the kick, landing back on his feet in time to parry the next blow of the Grimm. He was gasping for breath then as he stared this monster in the face. He reared his leg back and, with a mighty blow, sent it crashing into the Grimm's chest, the roar of the shotgun in the boot soon following. A hole blew open in the body of the Grimm and both Izuku's and its eyes went wide. It stared at him, as if in utter disbelief, before it slowly but surely melted away. He was taking deep, rasping breaths as he stumbled around, his body feeling numb after the exertion he put it through.

He realized that he was missing one, of course. It wouldn't do to leave a Grimm around, even an unconscious one. Without much thought he stomped his boot into the Grimm's head, the blast of the shotgun taking care of it as the Grimm's body rapidly dissolved...

He actually chuckled a bit; that was the last bit of ammo in his boots and gloves. He would have to reload...

He had to reload.

Because he had done it.

He'd done it!

HE'D DONE IT!

HE KILLED THREE GRIMM BY HIMSELF!

He collapsed back against the trunk of the tree he had managed to hit with Pyrrha's spear and slowly slid down it, an almost delirious smile on his face as he looked at the dissolving bodies of the Grimm. He could feel a rush of emotions hit him all at once... it... it was an accomplishment. This was the work he dreamed of doing. Being a Huntsmen. A Hero!

And there, just then... he proved he could do it. Maybe nobody else saw him. Maybe no one else could congratulate him for what he did... maybe he really didn't prove to anyone that he could be the person he dreamed off. But there and then, he proved it to himself.

He really could do it.

He could be a Hero.

He felt the sting of tears in the corners of his eyes as he tried to compose himself. In that moment, he didn't even notice as the spear began to shake and shimmy on the ground before it floated up. He only really noticed when the spear flew up and away from him, into the hands of...

"Well, for someone who sold themselves so low in their own team placements, it seems you can take care of Grimm by yourself quite well." The bright green eyes of Pyrrha Nikos met his own as she smiled kindly and approvingly at him. And for the first time he could remember he heard a classmate regard him with pride.

"Partner."

* * *

 **A/N: So I think I'll be mostly using Author's Notes to help give context to events as they played out in the Quest proper; some of you might've noticed a few characters running around that Izuku didn't meet directly; in a structured narrative it might've been written that Izuku would've roughly run into everyone but, to help work into the Partner bit, I made it so that the players had a limited number of choices that they could use to talk to people across varying times in the day leading up to the exam so that they could either try to establish a relationship or build on one ahead of time.**

 **While the choice of partner, Pyrrha, was selected by the players, the rest were randomized... the results of which you'll all see next chapter. Needless to say, it was a hoot.**


	4. The Emerald Forest I

Having heard her utter the word 'Partner', knowing that he'd actually made it this far, Izuku couldn't help himself. A wide grin stretched across his face as he let his head fall back against the tree. He looked up to the sky. The energy flowing through his body, despite how exhausted he felt, was almost overwhelming. He threw his fist into the air, aimed directly at the sun shining down on him, and felt the first trickles of tears forming under his eyes.

"T-Thank you..."

' **Hold it there!'** The voice of Toshinori emerged once again from the back of his mind, ' **You can't cry at a moment like this. Certainly not in front of your new partner!'**

Izuku tried… he really tried. Like Toshinori told him, to cry after a victory like this was so… lame. To do so in front of the partner who he was going to spend the next four years of his life with day in and day out would have been doubly so.

But... well he never really stood a chance as rivers of tears fell from his eyes, Izuku's breath hitching and choking between the barks of joy filled laughter. In between his tears, he had enough sense to at least undo the mechanism on one of his gauntlets so he could rub his face. It must have been such a strange sight; someone crying their eyes out while also sporting the biggest, happiest smile they probably ever had on their face.

"I-I'm sorry…," he stammered out, his breath continuing to catch in his throat. He swallowed, and attempted to speak more clearly, "this probably isn't something you want to see from your partner, but…"

But when he finally managed to hold his tears back as he managed to bring his emotions back into check, he just found Pyrrha Nikos standing there patiently. She seemed amused of course, it'd be hard not to be, but she just shook her head, the same smile from earlier still there.

"Consider it nothing... this is your moment after all." With that she Mecha-Shifted Miló back into its short sword form, and then placed it on her back along with her shield. Izuku nodded, grateful for the understanding, as he took a long breath.

And then… well he did what had become second nature to him after all these years. He reached into one of his pockets, and pulled out the required Grimm Analysis For the Future notebook. When he felt that that pocket was empty, he reached into another pocket, and just before he could reach into the third, he slapped himself. He'd left those notes behind so that there was no chance all that work would be damaged.

'That's okay though,' he pushed himself up, still slightly shaky from the earlier fight, 'I can record all that later,' Eventually Izuku arrived on his feet and, after rubbing at his eyes one last time, he gave Pyrrha a grin.

"So... partner. I guess the plan from here on out is to get north to the ruins, right?" Pyrrha nodded in agreement as he tapped his chin, "Now let's see... I think I can get us some pretty good bearings on that, but some observation would help. Pyrrha, do you think you could get to the top of the tree and try to get a lookout for the ruins?"

"I can certainly try."

And try she most certainly did. With far more grace than Izuku had climbing down, Pyrrha had been pretty easily able to get to the top of the tree in little time at all. He saw her scout out the area a bit and, finding a suitable branch, set herself down on it as she switched Miló to its rifle form to look through the scope.

"I think I may have found something!" She called out from the top of the tree as Izuku looked up. "There's a few clearings around the area so it was hard to narrow it down, but there's one in particular that seems to connect to a set of ruins set into a cliff side... I think that might be our destination!"

"Can you give me a direction." He saw a vague nod from Pyrrha, it was a little hard to tell with how high up she is, as he saw her very purposefully point her rifle in the direction she's spotted the ruins.

Izuku tapped his chin as he took a gander up at the sky; as noon slowly passed and the sun began to drift down to its setting position. Between the position of the sun and Pyrrha's pointing he figured that the ruins she was pointing to were the correct ones; the end of her gun pointed north, give or take a few degrees. The problem was never going to be 'finding' north though, but rather maintaining it. Thick forests like the Emerald Forest were so treacherous for people unfamiliar with them to traverse not because of their own ability to ascertain directions, but to 'keep' going in that direction. Undergrowth, stray roots and the positioning of trees in the forest could force a traveler to lose orientation; any wrong step that ended up with them mistaking a direction for their desired course could send them going off in the wrong direction. From there, they'd have to stop, find their orientation again and hope that it didn't happen again...

Thankfully, Izuku had an advantage going for him. He really did just know his stuff; it had been ingrained in him for a long time. While Mountain Glenn was more of a town than it used to be, it was still considered somewhat rural due to how far out it was from the City of Vale proper. The wilderness wasn't all that far off from the very heart of the town and, on top of the misspent hours of his youth with Kacchan and the rest of his friends in the forest, exploring it had been the focus of the Combat School. All of this actually familiarized Izuku with how to manage moving around in environments like this. A well of surprising confidence erupted in the wannabe Huntsman; he actually felt like he could manage the journey up to the ruins.

"Pyrrha, about how far off would you say that they are from our position?" Pyrrha brought up her scope again and tried her best to judge it. It took a little bit of time for the two of them to judge the distance; Pyrrha didn't quite have the training herself to make an accurate guess, though she'd said it was at least five miles off. Izuku, decided to take a bit of a risk, climbed up the tree himself to give it a shot. It was a bit of a slow climb but he managed it and, after looking out across the Emerald Forest himself, Pyrrha even offered her scope to give him a better look, he managed a better estimate; ten miles off.

"Hmmm..." Izuku rubbed at his chin a bit as his eyes dipped across the forest... it was pretty thick with a few rolling hills, but the rolls were fairly gentle before they led up to the cliffs or the mountains. Heck, by the looks of it, the ruins themselves were on perfectly flat ground. Given his own knowledge of traveling the terrain, he thought he could actually manage this pretty reasonably. Izuku estimated that if he went at a full hard walk, he could probably get to the ruins in four hours. Of course, this would mean that he wouldn't be taking it easy and he'd be... be going through this forest in his current state... almost entirely exhausted. If he went slower he'd be able to recover a bit, but he definitely wouldn't make it to the ruins in time. He conferred with Pyrrha as the two tried to figure out how exactly to proceed.

"We need to get to the ruins quickly," Izuku said flat out, looking back at the sun. With ever millimeter the sun descended, he could feel his grasp on his dream slip away, "If we move at our full speed, we should be able to get there in about four hours plenty o-"

"Izuku," Pyrrha raised her hand, "You just had a big fight right back there. You must have used up quite a bit of your Aura," he remembered the claws tearing away at him coming ever so close to dealing really grievous damage, "I think we should go a bit easier. At least so you can recover a bit of your Aura."

"That," he did some calculations in his head, looking back up at the sky, "might work," he began to count, "If I go at a more leisurely pace for about two hours, then walk at full speed for three, we should get to where we need to go with about an…," he looked back at the sun, then nodded once more, "hour or so to spare."

"That sounds good."

"Hopefully," he continued, "We don't run into any more Grimm while I recharge. I don't want to be a burden and let you fight anything all on your own."

"Izuku," there was both exasperation and humor in her voice, "The way you fought those Grimm, I hardly think you would be a burden," she then smiled and placed her hand on his shoulder, "besides, you are my partner. It's our job to have each other's backs from now on, right?"

'Oh Goddess I'm going to cr-'

' **For Goodness Sake Boy! Have some pride!'**

Izuku managed to hold his tears this time, and simply put up a smile, "Yeah, yeah it is. Thanks Pyrrha."

Plan in hand, Izuku and Pyrrha climb down from the tree. He find that he had a rather remarkably easy time this go around, probably from how much practice he'd gotten in. It was his third time scaling the tree one way or the other, after all. He watched Pyrrha on her way down and it looked... troubling at best. A branch that the both of them had been using snapped under one of her feet and for a moment it looked like she was about to plummet down. However he could practically feel her extend her soul through her body to steady it, Pyrrha hung on by a thread before she settled herself back into a stable position. The rest of the climb down went on without issue.

"Okay, that was a little close." He muttered as he placed a hand to his chest, Pyrrha just chuckled slightly as he looked at her. "You just used your Aura, right? That's how you managed to catch yourself?" The red haired tournament fighter just nodded to herself as she dusted herself off.

"Indeed. I hadn't quite expected that but, well, that's why we have Aura I suppose." She watched him nervously chuckle as he scratched the back of his head, tilting her head to the side slightly as he did so. "Are you... not able to yet?"

"'Fraid not. I-" 'Haven't had Aura before two days ago, I have no clue what I'm doing,' "-haven't exactly gotten a lot of practice in with Aura. I tended to focus a bit more on my studies and such..." Pyrrha nodded her head understandingly.

"Well it certainly shows." An appreciative grin formed on Izukus face, the both of them quickly deciding to confer on what exactly the both of them were capable of. After all, if they were going to be partners, they might as well know that information going in.

As the two begin to go at his pace, he took a bit of a breath. He killed those three Beowolves and that was an accomplishment, but that's far from the end of his Initiation. The next step was to get to the ruins, grab their relic with Pyrrha and then get out of the Emerald Forest. If he did that then... then he was a Huntsman. He would have done Toshinori proud and he would have gotten another step closer to accomplishing his dream. There was a determined smile on his face as he treaded forward, confidence finally beginning to fill him. With Pyrrha as his partner and his own experience and knowledge... he thought they stood a far better chance of accomplishing that than he had before.

They were a good pair, as far as he'd been concerned. He had to wonder if this truly had been random, or if there was something to all this that Ozpin had planned...

* * *

He was Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy, Leader of a small circle of Conspirators and keeper of many, many, many secrets...

But today, it was all about the simple things in life. The things that made the day to day goings on of managing Beacon, the fate of the world and the lives of so many impressionable young minds just a little bit easier. These tasks were rewarding in and of themselves but, well, he found that even rewarding tasks can be a bit heavy on the shoulders without something simple to relieve that stress.

The first was the cup of coffee he was currently holding in his hand. Fine Vacuoan Brew, freshly ground and poured not even ten minutes prior. It was a rich flavor, he thought, just right and it never failed to dull even the most intense Qrow-induced migraine.

The second was the opening act of the Initiation Ritual. Yes, perhaps it was a bit cruel to some but, well, watching the reactions of the various students as he went through his spiel, talk about how they would die if they did not act with the utmost certainty and destroy everything in their way, and how they would not receive any teacher's aid... seeing the variety in the reactions, it made him smile. All in what usually turned out to be little more than a harmless joke; no student had died in Beacon's Initiation because Beacon's Initiation... well.

"I have to say, the boy was mighty impressive up until he started crying. Although I do suppose that even the greatest of men must be able to have their hearts on their sleeves every now and then."

It was probably the most closely watched Initiation out of all the major Academies, if he was being honest. He and Glynda, with their own scrolls unfolded and filled with the various video feeds from several dozen, if not hundreds, of angles throughout the forest. Port, Oobleck, Peach, Aizawa and Yamada kept just enough distance to stay out of sight, but close enough that any student who found themselves in... serious trouble was quickly and quietly escorted from the forest.

And then there was the new addition this year. The 'in case of emergency, Go Hero' button as it were.

"I am a bit confused, however. His Combat Scores that were sent over from his previous school in Mountain Glenn would suggest that he couldn't handle even a single Beowolf. It's... concerning that they missed the mark by so much." Glynda spoke softly from the side as she looked over Izuku Midoriya's data, while a snort of derision was heard over the line.

"You know how most of these Combat Schools run those tests. They don't actually send them out against Grimm, too 'dangerous'. Considering that the kid was in the same graduating class as Katsuki Bakugo, I wouldn't be surprised if his scores just got bumped down because he got stomped by a better student... it's irrational." A tired sounding voice sounded over the line as Ozpin nodded in quiet agreement.

Of course it also had to do with the fact that he had scrubbed any mention of the fact that the boy had previously had no Aura from the would not have been good to have that hanging over his head here at Beacon.

Though, that did bring him to the third thing, the third small, simple thing in life that he found quite enjoyable. He rewound his own video again and watched the look on that young man's face as he realized his accomplishment. The tears might have been a bit goofy, even he did admit... but they spoke to a sincere happiness, a joy the boy had. It was plain to see on his face just how much this moment meant to him...

Even beyond the other two, Ozpin thought moments like those were why he found it in himself to keep going.

"If nothing else, the boy is quite mentally adept most students facing the Grimm would panic and rush at them hoping to take them down with minimal effort by blindsiding them instead he fought-"

"Slow it down Oobleck, jeez!" Peach's voice rang out and interrupted the fast-talking-

"Doctor Oobleck, Professor Peach."

-Doctor, yes, coughed a bit before he resumed.

"At any rate, his use of terrain in the fight, keeping his back to the tree, also shows good judgement."

"Even managed to get partnered up with Pyrrha Nikos. Gotta say, this kid's got some luck!" A far louder and more energetic voice spoke up next, as the tired voice just scoffed again. Ozpin merely chuckled. Yes, luck. That's all it was wasn't it? Or at least, another name for what he believed was at play.

After all, not everyone could be assured of Destiny.

Though some could...

He walked forward to the third man joining him and Glynda on that cliff. He wouldn't be going in until things got desperate but he would if need be. After all, he had a personal stake in this. It was sometimes hard to believe that the man he saw regularly on the news and that shrunken shell are one in the same... but every day he found that, no, that was the truth of the matter.

"So Toshinori, your ward seems to have struck down his first group of Grimm. What do you think?" He took a long sip of coffee as he watched Toshinori's hands; repeatedly they pulled back the footage on his Scroll to look over the battle between Midoriya and the Beowolves. Ozpin watched as he opens his mouth and-

"Gods be damned Izuku... you were so close to looking cool there. Why'd you have to blow it by blubbering like that. In front of your partner no less..." It sounded frustrated and aggravated, like he was annoyed. However, the wide smile on his face gave the game away as Ozpin saw Toshinori watch the footage of his Successor again and again. He stopped at just the moment before the tears really started to fall, when Izuku punched his fist into the air with the widest smile that boy's face could probably manage.

"You know, I have to admit, you surprised me those ten months ago Toshinori." He saw the blond man turn his head to look at him, one of his eyebrows arched in such a way that he could more plainly see his blue eyes. "I had thought that you'd be coming to Beacon Academy in order to 'find' your Successor... I wasn't expecting a call at 8:00 in the evening telling me that I needed to make an arrangement 'for' your Successor to attend my school." Toshinori actually had have the decency to look a bit sheepish, though he laughed it off to show that he meant well.

"Sorry about that Oz, I know we had plans but... you needed to be there to understand it." That was probably true enough... though the news footage of the event still painted a very impressive picture, as had Toshinori's personal accounts. "The kid... the kid is something else Oz. Everything that embodies what it means to be a Huntsman... it's in him. I saw it then in a way I knew I wouldn't see it anywhere else. He wouldn't be the strongest young man to inherit One For All, I knew it... but there was no one else who'd carry the torch like he would. I'm confident of that."

"If he's managed to ignite such a fire in you again Toshinori, I can only imagine so." The muppet of a man scoffed a bit as he scratched the back of his head. Ozpin smiled as he took a drink of his cup of coffee; for so many years, ever since his battle with... 'him', Toshinori had seemed lost and without purpose. Fear had come to cloud his mind and paint his own picture of himself and his work as a Huntsman. The transformation between that man and the man Ozpin had worked with for these past ten months... the stark contrast couldn't be oversold. It was as if new life had been breathed into Toshinori.

The Symbol of Peace and Hope's smile seemed far more genuine then than it had for many years. Still, while all that was a romantic notion, it didn't stop the necessary facts; the boy was the Inheritor to One For All, one of the most powerful Semblances Ozpin knew about, one that was only getting stronger with each generation. He would be an important piece in the times to come. He needed to know how ready he was.

"Perhaps it is unfair for me to ask this question only two or so days after he's acquired his own Aura..." Ozpin began as Toshinori glanced over to look at him. "... But be straight with me Toshinori. In the ten months you've worked with him, how far along is he? How much of One For All can he manage?"

The silence between him and Toshinori was almost deafening as the shrunken man sighed and scratched at the back of his neck. "He can use 100% of One For All without his limbs flying off... but that's about all at this point." Ozpin couldn't help the quirk of his eyebrow as Toshinori admitted that. "I wish I had more time to work with him before he'd come to Beacon, a chance to shape his body further... but he needs the education and experience that this Academy can give him too much. He'll learn how to use One For All over time... but given what's on the horizon, he needed Beacon now." Ozpin could not help but nod slightly. The experience and knowledge that one could gain from his Academy was vast. Izuku would do well here, he suspected...

"It's just a shame. He'll have all this power but if he uses it now... he'll do such tremendous harm to himself." Toshinori nodded in agreement, but a determined look came over him.

"He'll manage to learn though. He'll get One For All under his control... even if he has to work three times as hard to do it... he will." Ozpin actually grinned a little bit.

"You sound very certain of that Toshinori."

"I've seen him do it already. I'm beyond certain he'll manage it." His gaze softened as the conversation slowly left the more dramatic topic, as both of them went back to watching the feed. A stray thought crossed his mind... and, well, it was true in his mind.

"... She'd be very proud of your decision, Toshinori." He saw the blond huntsmen tense up as he said that, taking a sip of his coffee before he continued. "You've picked a fine successor for One For All... I doubt she'd find a single complaint with this young man."

"... I wish I could agree Oz. I really do." Toshinori's smile disappeared as his eyes fell to the ground, his shoulders slumped. "But you and I both know how she felt about this whole Hunter thing at the end..." Ozpins eyes drifted a bit as he nodded, taking another drink. The two of them remained in companionable silence for the following few moments. As he was about to leave to rejoin Glynda, Toshinori raised his head. "Hey Oz... mind if I ask you something?"

"Go right ahead Toshinori." He motioned for him to continue.

"... Why do you still do the whole 'life or death' spiel thing? I understand that you get a kick out of spooking some of these kids and all, but... I dunno, isn't it getting a bit old at this point?" Ozpin actually chuckled as Toshinori said that, shaking his head as he looked over the Emerald Forest.

"Toshinori, while I do enjoy the... varied reactions that my speech can bring out of students, I don't do it for simple enjoyment. I find that raising stakes to such life-or-death levels... it tends to bring out what's really in people. It shows the true character of some who might shroud themselves in far more noble colors than what is true to their soul..." He glanced down to Toshinori's Scroll before he finished.

"For others, it's an opportunity; a chance to shine."

* * *

The first hour of his and Pyrrha's more leisurely pace actually passed by with little in the way of trouble. It was a close call at one point, however; during the latter part of the hour, he found that he nearly crossed paths with a group of Beowolves, though he hadn't been able to ascertain their numbers. Considering how exhausted he still was and that even Pyrrha burnt a bit of her own Aura to help with his landing, they both decided to do their best to pass them on by. they were surprisingly successful and soon the Beowolves were far behind them. The second hour went even longer without a meaningful interruption as the two continued at their strolling pace. By the end of the second hour, both he and Pyrrha felt completely recharged and ready to go.

Over the course of those two more leisurely hours, he and Pyrrha actually ended up talking a bit, coming to be more familiar with each other as partners. he asked questions about Mistral and what it was like to live there and she asked questions about Vale and, more specifically, the infamous Mountain Glenn. He tended to avoid questions about her fame or previous career, much to her own obvious pleasure, while explaining to her various things about 'The City Saved by Toshinori'. It was a lot of surface level information, not a lot of things either of them would be able to use, but it was a nice way of coming to understand how the other grew up. He could tell that Pyrrha was enjoying being able to speak so plainly about her home and where she came from and he? Well, he was just enjoying having a partner that he could get along with! It was a pretty big relief, all things told.

As the end of the second hour approached and the both of them prepared to move into a more full-blown march towards the ruins, they both heard something off in the distance; sounds of battle.

He couldn't quite make out what the sounds were, though their sheer volume betrayed where they came from, while Pyrrha raised an eyebrow.

"It's... gunshots, sounding like it's coming from a rather large one. Explosions too, so someone might be using Fire Dust in the fight. They must've run into some Grimm too, I can hear a rather loud roar." Pyrrha was able to narrow in on the location of the fight far more closely than him and pointed out the direction. There was a moment where he honestly thought about his decision, where he felt his throat dry.

But he quickly swallowed it as his eyes narrowed in determination.

"If there's other students fighting, then who knows what they're up against. We have to go help them!" Pyrrha at first seemed very surprised by that declaration and even more so by the determined edge to his gaze. Soon however that surprise melted away to a smile as she nodded in ready agreement.

"Of course, let's go!" He tripped the safeties on his shotgun bracers as they both broke into a sprint, Pyrrha retrieving her weapons from her back as she did so. As the two of them got closer and closer the gunshots and explosions suddenly died off, the sound of the battle ceasing almost as soon as they heard it kick off. Fearing the worst, that perhaps the Grimm involved in the fight had managed to overwhelm the two hunters, they kicked themselves in the ass and moved as fast as they could. As he approached the sound of the battle, a stray 'crack' from around a tree caught his attention and he prepared to swing his fist at the approaching threat.

Just as he thought, something came from behind the tree and raised a... large, metal bracer in the shape of a grena-

"KACCHAN?!

"DEKU!?"

Izuku and Bakugou both immediately threw off their punches as far from each other as possible, Izuku;s missing by a country mile and, thankfully, not triggering his blast while Kacchan nearly tripped over himself in his attempt to 'not' blow his old friend to bits. Pyrrha stopped suddenly as well, her own green eyes wide in surprise as she watched the two of them throw their punches spectacularly off course. As they turned on each other, he and Kacchan met eyes... and Kaachan's red orbs glared back at him.

"What the Hell are you doing here Deku? I would've expected you to run back with your tail between your legs by now." Izuku felt a nervous lump form in his throat as he speaks, but he shook his head.

"I-I-I heard, I mean, Pyrrha heard the sound of fighting and I thought that whoever it might be, you know, might need our help..." He felt his words slowly die on his lips as he said this, Kacchan's gaze narrowing at his words.

"So what? Thought you needed to come over here and save my ass Deku?" Deku's face went pale white as Kacchan spoke, he waved his hands in front of his face as he shook his head fervently.

"N-N-N-NO! That's not what I meant at all Kacchan, I just thought-"

"OH MY GOD, FRIENDLY HUMAN CONTACT!"

Izuku was suddenly knocked right off his feet as he was blindsided by a tackle, a blur of black and red hitting him on his sides as a pair of tiny arms wrapped around him. He looked down to see who it is, only to find a familiar pair of silver eyes looking back up at him.

"R-R-Ruby?!" His face went red at the close contact as he saw Ruby grab his shirt while she looked at him like he was a life raft in the middle of a storm.

"OHMYGODIZUKUI'MSOSORRYFOREVERTHINKINGTHATYOUMIGHTBEWEIRDIMEANISHOULDN'TJUDGEBECAUSEI'MWEIRDTOOANDAWKWARDKIDSSHOULDREALLYSTICKTOGETHERBUTIDIDN'TREALIZEHOWBADIMIGHT'VEMISJUDGEDYOUBEFOREIMETKATSUKIIMEANHE'SSUCHAJERKIMEANHEGOTUSONTHETRAILANDEVENFIGUREDOUTHOWFAROFFTHERUINSAREBUTHE'SBEENSOMEANABOUTITAND-"

"RUBY! Hold on a second!" Ruby's mile-a-minute speaking was cutoff as Izuku grabbed her by the shoulders to calm her down, his own green eyes darting between her and Kacchan as he starred on. "Wait... do you mean to say that... you and Kacchan... ARE PARTNERS!?"

* * *

'Okay! Gotta find Yang gotta find Yang... oh, but what if I can't find her? Okay, who else could I be partners with? Well, there's Blake, she seems really nice and she has a pretty cool weapon but... ooh, I don't know if I could carry a conversation with her on just that. She seems like the cool, quiet and mysterious type. There's Izuku, he seems nice enough... but he is just a little weird and stammery... though should I really judge? Plus his weapons are kind of like my sister's so I'd know what I was getting into. Ummm, I guess I'd be fine with any partner so long as they were nice...'

These were the thoughts going through Ruby Rose's mind as she ran through the Emerald Forest, desperately looking for a familiar, or at the very least a friendly, face that she could quickly partner up with. The fact that she'd be partnered up with the first person she made eye contact with had sent her mind reeling; what kind of a system was that!? What if she met up with someone she didn't like or who didn't like her? Or what if she met up with someone who just wasn't nice at all? What if she couldn't work with them? Would she really be stuck with a bad partner for four years if that were the case? It just seemed crazy! Yet, here she was, running as if her life depended on it... because in these next four years it very well could, as she looked around desperately for a good partner.

As her mind thought over all the prospective partners she could meet up with, one thought definitely ended up coming to the foreground. So long as the person was nice, she... she'd probably be fine, right? I mean, so long as she wasn't paired up with that mean old-

Katsuki Bakugo, aka Kacchan, aka the guy she had just run into at full speed, sending her falling flat on her butt and causing him to stumble back.

"Oi, watch where the Hell you're..." Katsuki's words died on his lips as he got a good look at the person who'd just run into him, Ruby having lifted her head up to see who she had run into at the exact same time.

And at that moment, their eyes met.

...

"OH YOU HAVE TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME?! I'M PARTNERS WITH THE RUNT?!"

"AAAAAAH! I'M PARTNERS WITH THE BULLY?!"

It wasn't necessarily a great first meeting.

"Oh, great, just my friggin' luck. You know, I was just thinking 'aside from Deku, who could be the worst fucking person I could possibly be partnered up with thanks to this stupid system Beacon turns out to run on'... and lo and behold, I run into the friggin' runtiest Huntress in the litter!" Ruby Rose had been taken aback when she had realized that she had made contact with this guy, this person who Izuku had... well, not exactly painted a great picture of and who didn't exactly present himself in a great manner. Still, as he continued to moan and complain, Ruby finally snapped forward, having taken offense.

"Hey, don't call me a runt, I'll have you know I drink my-"

"SHUT UP!"

"AAAAAAH!"

'Holy crap this guy is scary, is this what Izuku had to go through at his old school!? NO WONDER HE'S A NERVOUS WRECK! I'M SO SORRY IZUKU!'

Ruby's thoughts turned almost mournful after Katsuki Bakugo, in all of his explosive fury, turned on her with that terrifying look on his face, teeth barred and eyes full to the brim with a pissed off vim and vigor better fitting of a Beowolf. After a while the two managed to calm down a bit, Ruby by staying as FAR away from Katsuki as she could without getting out of his line of sight and Bakugo by just venting and raving to himself while little explosions formed around his hands. Eventually Katsuki took a deep, long breath as he turned to fix Ruby with an intense look, a grimace on his face.

"Alright... so you're my partner. Fine. I don't like it, damn well hate even, but that doesn't matter. I need to drag your ass across the finish line at the ruins to pass this Initiation, so that's what's going to happen." Ruby's cheeks puffed up again as the boy in front of her spoke so dismissively but he just turned as he started looking up one of the trees. "Now... gotta find out what's the right way to those damn ruins. Once we get on track, we can-"

"They're somewhere over that way." Bakugo turned on his heel to face Ruby as she spoke, the silver eyed young girl flinching slightly as she stood her ground. "I saw this huge clearing that had some stone structures in it while I was falling down here. It's gotta be the ruins... they're that way, North and a little to the west, but I couldn't make out how far off they were, exactly." Bakugo just glared at her for a moment before, with a burst of movement, he quickly climbed up one of the nearby trees. After a minute of scouting around in the direction Ruby pointed out, Kacchan dropped back down, fixing Ruby with that look of his again.

"They're about ten miles off. If we run, we'll probably make it in two hours, maybe three. Let's get-"

"Why bother running?" Bakugo glared back at her as she interrupted him but, with the air much more calm after Bakugo's initial outburst, Ruby just stood her ground as best she could. "If they're only that far off, then there's no point in wasting our energy with a run. The Grimm are in this forest too after all so if we waste our energy just trying to get there as fast as possible when we really don't have to... well, that'd be pretty silly."

If looks could kill, Ruby would be dead twice over... but there was something encouraging in this too.

Bakugo wasn't speaking up. He was staring at her and grinding his teeth as if to answer her but he didn't seem to be able to find one. When glares and angry looks didn't work to make Ruby change the facts of what she said... well, the explosive teen just threw his hands up in the air.

"Fine, whatever, let's just get going. Already pissed off being in this place..." With that, Katsuki Bakugo walked off in the direction of the ruins, Ruby Rose just sighing as she shook her head.

Well... these were going to be some... interesting...

Who was she kidding, next four years weren't looking too bright right now.

'Man… hopefully some of the others are having better luck… I wanted my partner to be my best friend or something. Suppose nobody can be that lucky…'

* * *

Without much of a flourish, Lie Ren landed gracefully on the forest floor, the King Taijitu collapsing into a heap just behind him. With a slight sigh and the dusting off of his hands, Ren stood tall, looking around for any sign of any of the other students... and one in particular. His magenta eyes so locked onto his surroundings that, for the briefest of moments, it passed by Ren's notice that the white head of the two-headed Grimm was slowly positioning itself to strike out at him, its fangs bared as the snake reared its head back. Just as Ren turned to face the Grimm one last time, an odd thing occurred; the Grimm, from the bottom up, slowly but surely began to freeze in spot. Ren watched in fascinated curiosity as the form of the white and black snake was slowly but surely covered in ice, the white head of the monstrosity wildly flailing about as it tried to resist the encroaching and inevitable death that it was faced with. Soon, though perhaps not soon enough for Ren's taste, the snake Grimm is completely frozen over, its red eyes still holding a semblance of its consciousness as the ice shined in the faint sunlight that managed to make its way into the clearing.

The sound of steady footsteps drew Ren's attention to the side where a red and white haired boy, a young man named Shoto if Ren was correct, walked into the clearing. The half and half young man looked at him with a somewhat blank expression that, had Ren been quite in the mood for jokes after his fight, would almost convince the magenta eyed young man that he was looking into a mirror.

"Thank you." It was a simple enough response and Ren was grateful; while he had the snake Grimm on the ropes for the fight, the introduction of the second head had been tiring. He had not wanted to waste a lot of his energy before the test even really began.

"You're welcome." Shoto had seen the battle from far enough off and, when he arrived, it was only natural he'd step in. "I suppose this makes us partners?" A curious tilt of his head, he hadn't met Ren before and Ren hadn't walked up to him to introduce himself in some hope of earning his favor.

"Y-Yes, I suppose it does." There's hesitation there, a moment where Ren's eyes glanced off to the side. Shoto's own eyes go slightly wide as he tilted his head to the side.

"Is this arrangement disagreeable to you." His even tone was almost enough to hide his surprise; most people would've jumped for joy to have the son of the Number Two Huntsman in their pocket as a partner.

"Not at all. Just was expecting someone else was all." Ren returned his gaze back to Shoto, expecting the young man to potentially take this almost dismissive attitude as a sleight, as if he hadn't been good enough. To Ren's barely visible surprise, Shoto instead returned to his even expression though, if one looked closely enough, there was a satisfied tilt at the corner of his lips.

"Then let us depart. I'm afraid I'm not terribly versed in navigating a forest myself."

"I shall handle that then. Follow me."

And so the most deep and manly of friendships was forged that day, the rock on which it had been made being composed primarily of talking as little to each other as humanly possible.

* * *

"WHAT?! You want some too?!"

Fantastic. Just great. First minute in this whole stupid forest and a pair of Ursa have already messed up her hair! Stupid, lousy, mangy animals, she'd turn them inside out and wear their guts for garters... I mean, she would if Grimm 'had' guts that could be made into garters...

'You know, the Grimm are surprisingly bold monsters considering how 'gutless' they are.'

Heh, Yang was definitely gonna save that one for later, that was pure gold. But that was beside the point; right now, she needed to get back to being nice and pissed about how those stupid Ursa had messed up her beautiful hair! Like this one, right in front of her! The dumb animal was just standing there, stiff as a board, probably frozen in fear at her fury and how easily she'd taken down the other one that had thought it could mess with her.

Before she could try to work in her gutless joke again, Yang was treated to a bit of a surprising sight; the Grimm just collapsed forward, falling face first on the ground as it slowly began to dissipate. Before Yang's eyes was the cause; a machete that had been buried deep into the unarmored portion of the back of the Grimm's neck. There were two things that were very odd about this machete; it's grip was... really, really odd. Like, she could imagine a normal pair of hands using it, don't get her wrong, but it didn't look like something she would see Ruby attach to Crescent Rose. The usual grip marks for fingers to wrap around were there but they wrapped all around the weapon and... went in a bit of a spiral in comparison.

The second odd thing was the long, stretch, pinkish bit of flesh that was wrapped around said grip. Probably should have led with that, Yang thought. She followed the line of flesh back to its source and was treated to quite the sight; it lead into the mouth of a young woman around her age with long, dark green hair and wide mouth, which had been opened to allow her... oh wow, her tongue? To come out and wrap around the end of the machete.

Neat, a frog Faunus.

"I could've taken him." Yang said with a bit of a grin as the frog Faunus in question nodded, her tongue immediately having pulled itself back toward her mouth. The end of it unwrapped from around the hilt of the machete as it approached her mouth, the young woman quickly snapping it out of the air and placing it in a hilt at her side as she nodded.

"I could tell, you looked like you were going to tear him in two. Still, figured that I'd want to make at least some kind of impression if we were gonna be partners, ribbit ribbit." Holy crap, she actually said ribbit? That was kind of adorable. The young woman easily leapt down to the forest floor to meet Yang face to face, her expression largely blank as her big old eyes met Yang's lilac ones. "Tsuyu Asui, though you can call me Tsu. If we're gonna be partners we might as well try to get along." Yang nodded in agreement with the sentiment; she could dig it.

"The name's Yang Xiao Long. Yang's fine." Yang grinned a bit as she looked to the dissolving form of the Grimm. "You know, for all the bluster these boys put up, they were pretty easy to knock down... though I really shouldn't be surprise. The Grimm are... gutless, after all. Eh, eh?" Yang smiled back at her partner as she gave her a nod. No better way to get off on the right foot in her opinion.

"... Ribbit."

*THWIIIP-WHACK!*

"OW!"

* * *

A few observations Blake Belladonna had made about her prospective partner. First off, appearances were deceiving. She didn't mean that in the usual hokey way of 'never judge a book by its cover' when it came to personality and such. Tenya Iida was clad in a rather large suit of armor for Initiation, his own version of what was his family's famous 'Ingenium' armor she was sure. Now, when Blake had first gotten a good look at it when he had stepped out onto the landing platform, she had been fairly certain she knew what fighting style the guy would be employing. The armor looked tough and looked like it could stand up to a lot of punishment and he'd probably use it, along with his Aura, to tank hits from the Grimm he'd come across before going in for some kind of kill; maybe his suit had some kind of built in gun? After all, for all the talk of the Iida Family's engineering skills and how 'fast' their suits were, she couldn't buy that something this big could possibly move all too fast. Still, she hadn't been entirely certain about that so when she had happened to come across him in the forest, she figured she'd sit in and observe to find out.

Well, turned out that suit was tough... but it wasn't being used to tank hits from the Grimm.

And it turned out it was exactly as fast as she'd heard about. Her wide amber eyes watched in fascination as Tenya Iida darted around the various Grimm that had tried to get the jump on him, his engines roaring as he sped about the clearing. One moment the Grimm would be on top of him as he finished off one of their own, the next he'd speed off, turn a corner, speed back and then kick one of them in the face, using his momentum to add strength to his hit. He was not the fastest thing Blake had ever seen and his combat mostly relied on the speed the suit could give him and the mobility and maneuverability that came with it...

'Still,' she paused to consider 'there were certainly worse things you could rely on in a fight.' That thought caused Blake to frown a bit; yeah, he wouldn't be a bad partner from a combat perspective. He could hold his own, clearly, and he could certainly tank some hits and take some attention that would allow Blake to do what she did best; sneak around and hit people... er, Grimm where they wouldn't expect her. It was everything else she that worried her; while the Iida family wasn't directly in with the Schnee Dust Company, the fact that their feats of engineering still required so much Dust pretty much made it impossible for them to not do business with the Schnees.

From there it pretty much made it impossible for them to not also be targets of the White Fang and to speak out against them. Now, Blake wasn't as... up in arms about speaking out against The Fang these days. Heck, wasn't that why she decided to hide out in Beacon?

Still, could she really see herself getting along with some Atlas stiff who'd probably view her as little more than garbage if he ever found out what she was?

As Tenya Iida easily finished off the remaining Grimm, she sighed to herself. Well, that was probably true of most students here at Beacon anyway. In for a penny, as they say...

He jumped a bit and turned in his fighting stance to face her when she poked at his shoulder after landing silently behind him. Pretty good reflexes and it spoke to his self control that, after having fought so many Grimm, he hadn't immediately clocked her out of surprise.

"Oh, greetings. Have you just arrived?" Blake flinched a bit as he said this. She probably should've jumped in to help earlier when she had been observing him now that she thought about it... but, well, she had wanted to see what the Iida was made of... and her own doubts as to whether a partnership could work with him had kept her from immediately jumping down.

"Er, no... I was... actually sitting up there on that branch watching your fight. I... I wanted to see how you'd do." While Tenya does relax a bit from his fighting stance, the straight-backed posture told her that he was still tense. Not exactly the best first impression she could make, but-

"Ah, yes, perfectly understandable! No need to jump into a partnership with someone unless you understand their capabilities!" Tenya wildly gestured from underneath his armor as he spoke, Blake slightly taken aback as he did so.

... What?

"Still, you were here this entire time? I have to say, you must be quite skilled or I was quite inattentive if I didn't manage to spot even in the midst of my battle. It speaks well of you... or perhaps it speaks of a failing on my own part to notice that I had someone observing me. Tell me, was my performance up to snuff?"

"W-What?" Blake asked, practically stunned into disbelief. "I mean, yes, yeah, you did great. That's... why I'm down here, after all." Tenya nodded in understanding, before he gestured to her.

"Your entrance and your ability to avoid my or the Grimm's detection is also quite intriguing. Yes, I believe this will work out just fine. Should I take off my helmet then? I'm afraid that while it's on we will not have technically made eye contact... though perhaps it is still within the spirit of the rule that having made eye contact through my helmet would still count."

...

'Is this guy for real?'

* * *

"URRRRAAAAAH!" Another wave of icy spikes erupted from the swing of her blade as they ran through the various Grimm, Weiss Schnee now thoroughly annoyed as she ran a hand through her hair. A half hour into this abysmal trek through the Emerald Forest and Weiss Schnee had found 'no one'. Not a single person; not Tenya Iida, Pyrrha Nikos or Shoto Todoroki. Not any of the other girls her age in attendance here at Beacon. Thankfully not that loud, abrasive, rude brute who had just pushed his way through Beacon Academy yesterday and today... heck, not even Izuku Midoriya. Weiss had been all alone, faced with several dozen Grimm and forced to take them on by herself. That wasn't so much the problem; Weiss Schnee was a decidedly deadly and dangerous young woman and she could handle some Beowolves. It was looking for a partner, anyone with whom she could pass the test with, that was irritating her...

That she also couldn't navigate this forest on her own also caused her considerable grief. With another annoyed grunt Weiss Schnee finished off the last of the Grimm that had congregated in this area, flourishing Myrtenaster as she did so. Well, at least this part of the Initiation would go right; she would show herself to be perfectly capable of fulfilling the 'kill Grimm' portions of a Huntress' duties. At the very least she could say she got 'that' out of the first half hour of this Initiation. As Weiss walked off ready to go looking for someone, 'anyone', to partner with she heard a slight echo in the forest; an odd groaning sound that reverberated back towards her. She rolled her eyes; it must've been an echo of the grunt and annoyed yells she had made during her fight. Heck, it sounded enough like them, albeit distorted by the echo, to be the case.

When she had heard this sound again, several minutes removed from when she herself had made those sounds... that was when she had gotten nervous. Weiss cautiously pulled out Myrtenaster, ready for another wave of Grimm to fall upon her to try and take her down. Really, she wasn't afraid; the Grimm in this forest, while certainly dangerous, had thus far proven incapable of truly threatening her so long as she had her blade and her Dust, the former of which was still in very fine shape and the latter of which she still had a good supply of. Still, she'd rather not waste so much of the latter before she had even truly begun getting on her way to the ruins. Weiss's eyes scanned the immediate vicinity, her body language tense as she awaited for whatever the beast was that had sounded like it was on the approach...

Not realizing until it was far too late that the beast had made its approach behind her.

"Urrrrraaaah!"

"AAAAAAAAAH!" Weiss damn near jumped out of her skin as she heard the sound from just behind her, having turned to face the beast with Mrytenaster in hand ready to slay the... not Grimm. Not a Grimm at all, in fact. An orange-haired girl who had fixed her with a very curious expression.

"Heeey... wait a minute. You aren't Ren. I mean, I probably should've been able to tell that but, well, I was making my approach through the tree line and the leaves are just so thick up there that I really couldn't see down at the ground too well. I just heard you making a sloth noise and I figured 'oh if that's anyone it has to be Ren, after all, only Ren knows about our secret signal to meet up'... but you knew the secret signal and you aren't Ren. I doubt you're a spy though, Renny and I were in a perfectly secure location when I gave him the idea to use a sloth noise to signal me... so there's only one other possible explanation." Weiss's light blue eyes just stared in barely concealed confusion at the orange haired young woman as she rambled this all off. Just when Weiss thought she stopped-

"YOU MUST BE A SLOTH ENTHUSIAST TOO! Oh my gosh, I thought I was the only one! It's crazy that I just so happen to meet someone else who knows what sloths sound like in the middle of Beacon's Initiation, I mean really, what are the odds of that? Super low I bet, though I really can't run those numbers right now! You know, I bet this is that crazy destiny stuff people talk about; I mean, it can't just happen to be that you were making a sloth noise just around the time I was passing by, no, that's too convenient! You and I must be destined to be partners! Oh this'll be great! We can talk about sloths and stuff while we walk around and try to find Ren! When we all get on a team together it'll be great! You and I can be good friends, but not best friends because Ren and I are best friends because we've been together for years, and that's just together not like, together-together, and-"

Weiss sighed as she put Myrtenaster away. She and this girl had made eye contact and, well, it seemed like she was her partner... perhaps not an ideal partner but a partner nonetheless. It was fine; she could still end up on a perfectly functional team and who knows, maybe this girl would be a strong asset herself. All Weiss would have to do was wait for her to stop talking...

Two hours later and Weiss realized, to her horror... that Nora Valkyrie would never stop talking.

Ever.


	5. The Emerald Forest II

'Okay, okay, okay,' Izuku's mind was still catching up to all the information he had been provided, 'So Kacchan and Ruby are on the same team together... oh Gods, Kacchan and Ruby are on the same team together.'

Izuku would readily own up to not knowing Ruby too, too well, but from what he had come to know about her from their interactions, she was a weapon nut who was almost as awkward as he was. Kacchan has probably been trying to step all over her! He needed to... to...

It was at that moment that Izuku finally realized something. He had been hugged by a girl.

A girl whose shoulder was still touching him.

...

"OOOH! SO YOU AND KACCHAN ARE TOGETHER- I DON'T MEAN IT LIKE THAT, I JUST MEANT THAT, OH, I'M SURE YOU TWO WILL BE GOOD PARTNERS, NOT THAT I DOUBTED THAT FOR A SECOND... SORRY!" Red faced and in a bit of a panic, he tried to back away from the situation a bit in order to collect himself. Ruby, a bit weirded out by the situation, backed off a bit and let him go, giving Izuku a slight moment to collect his breath. While she seemed puzzled by his reaction, Pyrrha coughed a bit into her fist to try to draw attention away from Izuku all the while he got his nerves back under control.

"What Izuku probably means, Ruby, is that he's wondering what happened? We came here after hearing the sounds of a fight." Ruby made a slight 'oh' with her mouth as stood up, dusting off her combat skirt as she did so.

"Okay... I guess I was talking a little fast there..."

"A little?" Bakugo scoffed from where he was standing, Ruby just stuck her tongue out at him before continuing.

"Well... as for what you heard, that'd be that over there." Ruby quickly pointed off to the side and, as Izuku and Pyrrha looked over, their eyes went a bit wide. Off to the side was the rapidly dissolving corpse of what looked to have been an Ursa; a pair of holes drilled into its torso on its side and one rather large crater dissolving in its chest. "It actually wasn't that hard to take care of-"

"I told you I didn't need you to help me, I had it under control." Ruby huffed as Katsuki spoke up, the silver eyed girl turning on Bakugo as she held her hands out.

"Not this again - we're partners now! You should at least make an effort to 'try' and get along!" Katsuki bristled at that, his hair standing on end as he glared back.

"And I said I didn't ask for a damn partner! Especially not some loud runt who should still be running around a combat school!"

"I am not a runt! I've drunk lots of milk and I'll have you know I'm a growing girl!" Ruby stomped her foot slightly before looking back to Izuku and Pyrrha, comical tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. "It's been like this for the last two hours! It's like, non-stop with this guy!" A slight growl from Katsuki caused Ruby to jump a bit, but the explosive blond just stood against his tree, eyeing everyone. "Anyway... when we met up, we both keyed into the general direction of the ruins immediately but Katsuki... well, he was able to figure out how far it was from where we were."

That... didn't surprise Izuku. Bakugo's had the exact same survival training that he had. It was a big part of the Combat School's training over in Mountain Glenn. Without the Walls of Vale to keep it safe, Mountain Glenn Huntsmen had to rely on knowing the land just as well, if not better, than the Grimm.

"I'm surprised we caught up to you two then..." Pyrrha glanced over to Bakugo and, well, he wasn't exactly surprised. Izuku had also figured that Katsuki would pretty much run off for the ruins as soon as possible and try to leave Ruby in the dust.

"That's what I wanted to do, but the runt here-"

"I had a better idea." Ruby interrupted, causing Katsuki to growl in frustration. "We knew where the ruins were and how far they were and we knew we could make it in good time. What's the point in hurrying and tiring ourselves out in case we run into Grimm... like we did! So there!" Ruby practically turned on her heels as she said that to Katsuki, the explosive young man just growling even more as his teeth started to do the thing...

But he doesn't bite. He seemed to just grunt in frustrated annoyance as he leaned back and glareed at the lot of them. Ruby's plan wasn't too different from Izuku's so it made a lot of sense to him. It must've made some amount of logical to Bakugo too.

"Whatever, the sooner we would've gotten out of here the better our score would've been at the end. But if the little kid here needed to go slow, whatever. Not like I can pass this bullshit test without dragging her across the finish line anyway."

"It just doesn't stop..." Ruby whined a bit as she shook her head and it was at about that moment when Izuku had finally calmed down enough to start thinking somewhat logically again. He stood up and, holding back his nerves, gave Ruby a reassuring pat on the back. Despite how awkward he felt, Ruby seemed to appreciate the gesture.

"Yeah I know how that feels." He heard Bakugo scoff in the background, but he continued on regardless. "You two just got done with a fight right? Take a moment to breath... oh, I know, have you met my partner yet?" He pointed over to Pyrrha, the red haired potential huntress just smiling as she waved over at Ruby who, in turn, waveed back. "Pyrrha, this is Ruby, one of the first people I met here in Beacon. Ruby, this is Pyrrha... she's got a weapon that can Mecha-Shift three times?" Izuku knew that Ruby was a bit of a weapon nut and, as far as he knew, such complex weapons were a rarity. He hoped that-

In a blur of red rose petals Ruby was no longer at his side and immediately popped in front of Pyrrha. "WOW, ARE YOU SERIOUS!?" She asked, Pyrrha seeming quite surprised by Ruby's burst of speed as she just slowly nods, the smile on her face slightly strained from the surprise.

"Why, yes." Pyrrha quickly drew Miló from its place on her back, presenting the weapon. Ruby practically cooed as she looked the weapon over as she and Pyrrha took a moment to discuss their weapons. While Ruby was certainly the more enthused of the pair, Pyrrha seemed more than willing to entertain the younger girl after having to deal with Katsuki. Speaking of, Izuku look over to Kacchan and he saw... an odd look on Bakugo's face. He looked at the trail of rose petals that Ruby left in her wake, a frustrated growl escaping his throat as he did so. Soon enough Kacchan caught Izuku's eyes on him, immediately turned to glare at his old friend.

"Got a problem Deku?"

"NO PROBLEM KACCHAN!" Izuku immediately held up his hands in a placating gesture, Katsuki just scoffing as he kicked off the tree.

"I'm surprised that you haven't ended up Grimm bait yet Deku. What, your partner swoop in to save your ass?" Izuku froze up a bit, the tone in Katsuki's voice obvious, as he shook his head.

"N-N-No! She didn't! I... I actually managed to kill Grimm by myself! Three of them! Beowolves sure, but three of them." Bakugo actually barked out a laugh but before he can go on to voice his disbelief-

"It's true. Izuku here managed to take down a pack of three on his own." Izuku grinned a bit as Pyrrha set in for a moment to support him, his partner giving him a nod as Bakugo looked over at her with furrowed brows. Whatever Katsuki was looking for in Pyrrha's face... Izuku didn't think he found it. Because after a moment Bakugo just scoffed and walked away.

"Whatever. If you all are done, we should get the Hell out of here. I'm already sick of this damn forest and this test. See you two at the ruins... or not, I wouldn't be surprised if Deku ends up dragging his feet." Before Izuku and Pyrrha could react, Ruby immediately turned to face Katsuki, a look of disbelief on her face.

"What?! Come on, the first friendly faces I've seen... I mean, we've seen in two hours and you just want to ditch them? You can't do this to meeee-us! If we traveled with them to the Ruins, we could definitely stay a lot safer. No way we'd be in danger of any Grimm then." Bakugo turned his head back to look at Ruby, a bit of a squint to his gaze.

"What, are you stupid or something? More people we have in a group the more likely it is the Grimm'll pick up on us just through our presence alone. The bastards have a sense for that; if we start to group up we'll only be giving more of a reason for them to group up. After that Ursa, I know I don't have anything to friggin' prove to Beacon, so I'm just ready to get the Hell out of here WITHOUT dealing with anymore shit."

'Without dealing with me,' Izuku imagined.

"I mean... yeah, that's true but... well, safety in numbers and..." Ruby immediately turned to both Izuku and Pyrrha, her silver eyes wide. "Please don't leave! I don't know if I can handle more of him being such a jerk! I don't think my poor little heart can take it!" Izuku could tell that Ruby was being overly dramatic to try to sell her point better... but he also knew that Katsuki was a lot for anyone to handle on their own. Especially if he didn't like you...

Pyrrha looked over to Izuku, seemingly waiting for his decision on the matter. Bakugo leveled his glared directly into Izuku's face. And Ruby's eyes…well...

Izuku really did try to resist the eyes but... well, Izuku was never one to turn down someone who was asking for help, he supposed. There was sense to what Bakugo was saying, of course, but... well, there was safety in numbers he supposed. More safety than there'd be risk in the four of them attracting Grimm, surely?

"Kacchan, she's right. We're all heading the same way anyway and... well, there is safety in numbers. We're all prospective hunters here, I'm sure we could handle a few extra Grimm that might be attracted." Izuku's words sounded sure to him but, as he looked at Katsukis reaction, he started to feel less and less sure. He saw him narrow his eyes before he finally scoffed.

"Going back to trying to hide under my coattails eh Deku? Well alright, if that's where you want to be so bad that's fine. If you aren't going to run off then I might as well be the hero here and get you out of this forest safe and sound. Maybe then you can finally screw off back to Mountain Glenn and stop being such an embarrassment." Despite how cocksure and proud Bakugo's words sounded, he heard the underlying frustration and anger. Izuku being around was... not going to play well for Bakugo. To say the very least. "Now come on; if this runt can keep up with me then you'd better be ready to move your ass Deku." He turned back toward the path to the ruins and began walking, a thick, nervous lump hanging in Izuku's throat as he watched the explosive teen walk off.

"... Jeez, what is his problem. He's acting like you killed his cat or something..." Ruby sighed as she placed her hands on her face, shaking her head. "Man... and I'm going to be his partner. How am I supposed to survive this..."

"... Kacchan respects strength a lot. If he thinks you're beneath him he'll treat you like it because... well, he was always the best where we came from. If you just be yourself and show off what got you into Beacon early in the first place... well, he'll have your back at least, even if he'll only do so because you being his partner makes it in his self-interest to see you to the finish line." Izuku did his best to give Ruby what advice he could, the silver eyed girl looking up to him with a grateful expression as she took a moment to think.

"... Thanks... and thanks for coming Izuku. I really do appreciate it. He's just so... grating! I don't know how you're still calling him such a friendly nickname!"

"I really still don't understand what you've done to earn such spite from him." Pyrrha commented afterward, shaking her head. Izuku looked forward to Katsuki's back, the explosive teen hunched over with his hands in his pockets as he grumbled under his breath.

"I wish I knew."

The next hour was absolutely miserable. The four all made good time on their march; between Izuku's and Bakugo's skills, they were able to traverse the Emerald Forest in quite good time. They easily made it another two and a half miles in the hour, bringing them ever closer to the ruins. Progress was good and it should've helped to lift spirits, especially considering everyone was more or less doing alright.

But no. Izuku's presence had the effect he'd feared; Katsuki's grew more and more irritated with him around. Izuku knew Kaachan didn't think he belong here and that he was wasting his and everyone's time and that he was ruining the reputation of their school, but for now he 'has' to put up with deku. Because his partner wanted him here and Izuku and his partner wanted him here. If he showed any sign of holding back as he had after the Ursa Major incident, that was melting away, Bakugo's barbs and outbursts more and more resembling those from their Combat School days. This, of course, was having a miserable impact on Izuku's own mood; despite knowing that he had gotten a chance to be here and that he could succeed, he couldn't help but feel Bakugo's barbs sink in. He was a guy Izuku had a lot of respect for and who he still recognized as a skilled and sometimes cool potential huntsman. Izuku looked up to him for a while, though nowhere near to the degree of Toshinori... to be back in this spot with him when it seemed that, after Izuku tried to help him, he was cooling off... it was disheartening.

Which, Izuku imagined, didn't do much for either Ruby's or Pyrrha's moods. He could see his partner giving him sympathetic looks with each barb that obviously hits and the glares she sent toward the back of Bakugo's head or that she met head on, a move that only caused him to scoff and mutter something about Izuku hiding under her skirt. While Ruby did continue to show her gratitude for Izuku being there, it was clear that his presence had also had an impact on Katsuki that she might've not seen coming. While Bakugo may have only been grating for her before... now he was downright hostile. Perhaps the only saving grace for her was that the hostility was all aimed at Izuku.

Though, he doubted that helped; she seemed to look guilty at this point because of it.

Maybe traveling with a person who hated his guts was the wrong move to make in The Emerald Forest but, before he could really consider that, it's too late.

They didn't even try to mask their approach. Even Izuku, as distracted as he was, managed to catch sight as eleven black shapes began to move through the forest and into the small clearing that he and the others had moved into. Beowolves, a very large pack of them, approached their group and snarled loudly as they all glared at each and every single one of them.

'We must've been a practical beacon of negative emotions to have drawn so many at once,' Izuku thought ruefully.

Everyone tensed as they realized that so many have come upon their group. Izuku tripped the safeties on his weapons as Ruby and Pyrrha unfold there. He watched as Bakugo growled under his breath; on one side, his gauntlet sliding down over his right hand, completely covering it. The other gauntlet stayed up, keeping his left hand out in the open. Everyone's ready but, looking at Ruby and Pyrrha, Izuku saw they were waiting for a game plan before anything.

"GET OUT OF MY WAY DEKU!" Izuku was bodily shoved out of the way as Bakugo immediately moved into the fray, his gaze focused in on the Beowolf nearest to him.

"DIE!" Bakugo screamed out as he practically jumped on the Beowolf, his left hand reared back into an open palm. The Beowolf was clearly taken off guard by the show of aggression on Kacchan's part and so it didn'teven have time to avoid the coming onslaught. Izuku saw the telltale sign of smoke form out of Katsuki's palm as his Aura begins to concentrate there, the smell of burning... something in the air as he set his gaze on his first 'victim' for this combat. Before his hand even impacted the Beowolf, Izuku saw it; the telltale discharge of Bakugo's semblance as it explodes outward towards the Beowolf, the beast howling in pain as it stumbles back. Its fur was rapidly ignited by the heat and fire of the explosion and before the creature could even think to counter it collapsed onto its back, completely out cold and doomed to slowly burn to death before it dissolved into nothing.

Izuku admitted to a sense of panic that overtook him as Kacchan just bull-rushed forward toward the Beowolves. There's more than enough there to completely surround him and, as much as Izuku knew Bakugo hated him, Izuku didn't want to see him surrounded and brutally slaughtered by a bunch of Grimm. Before he could start articulating his vision, however, a storm of rose petals suddenly forms beside him as Ruby disappeared from sight, seemingly teleporting through the air as she re-appeared behind the next nearest Grimm. The Beowolf, however, caught sight of the trail of rose petals she left and followed them right back to her, right in time to see the girl rear back her over sized scythe with a determined gaze.

It having seen her attack coming didn't do much for the Beowolf, however. However little Ruby might seem, she was a Huntress and she did have an Aura and clearly a strong one. She brought her giant weapon forward, the famously deadly Sniper-Scythe easily rending through the Beowolf's neck and separating its head from its shoulder. Its neck stump and its head began to dissolve immediately as the rest of the Grimm's form stumbled forward onto the ground. However, with a weapon of that size Izuku knew that Ruby would have to take time to ready it again before she can swing it, precious seconds that she might not have with so many Grimm around.

Pyrrha looked to him and he nodded; he didn't have much time, but he could come up with something he was sure.

"The Beowolves are going to try to surround us as best they can with their numbers, they don't have the actual strength to take us down in a straight fight. If you and I stay back to back they can't surround us... but we need to be able to draw some of their attention to us so that they don't just fall in and around Kacchan and Ruby!" He called out to Pyrrha, the red head nodding softly as she smiled.

"I do believe I have an idea to draw their attention. You fall in behind me, I'll make them see us." Pyrrha twirled her spear in her hand as she picked out her target, her green eyes narrowing as she began to move forward. It was a quick pace, though one Izuku could tell had been specifically slowed down to his level, as Pyrrha dashed through the underbrush of the forest and reared her arm back, her spear poised for a toss. It was... well, the only word he could think for it is graceful. Pyrrha lobed the spear at just the right moment, Miló practically singing through the air as the deadly weapon arced towards its prey. The Beowolf turned its head at the last moment to see the spear approach, only for that action to be it's last. The spear struck the Beowolf dead in the snout, piercing straight on through to its throat and sliding cleanly through the back of its head. No blood or gore was spilled but the display showed the deadly accuracy of Pyrrha's aim. The Beowolf fell to its knees and began to dissolve immediately, the life already gone from its eyes the moment the spear pierced it. The other Beowolves chanced a look around at their opponent and Pyrrha, in that moment, banged her fist against her shield lightly as she nodded towards the hulking wolf-creatures.

Izuku took a long, hard moment to gawk before he eventually snapped himself out of it and moved to immediately fall in behind Pyrrha. The Beowolves seem to realize how much danger they were in almost immediately; the young group of four had managed to easily kill three of their number within such a short period of time. For them, numbers alone would not suffice, they needed to bring their rage and their blood lust to the fray. Izuku watched as the eight remaining Beowolves howled to the Heavens and, with little more fanfare then that, charge the four of them in packs of two.

For Bakugo, the task of dodging out of the way of one Beowolf was simple as its claw goes wildly off course. The other was far more on point but Izuku watched as Katsuki brought his other hand around and batted away the blow just enough for it to sail over his head. For Ruby, it seemed her own innate speed was trouble enough for the Grimm to deal with as the Beowolves find it hard to pin her down at all, missing wildly with their swings. As four approached Izuku and Pyrrha two jumped for each of them and the results was almost simultaneous; Pyrrha ducked out of the way of one wild blow while blocking the next on the face of her shield while Izuku ducked his own wild blow and parried away another set of claws. For now, they were all untouched.

His eyes couldn't help but drift to everyone else as the battle continued to rage on. Ruby was the first to respond to the Grimm's threat and he watched as she, again, disappeared in a storm of rose petals, reappearing three feet back. While the effectiveness of this move was lost on Izuku for a moment he watched as Ruby repositioned Crescent Rose so that it was ready for another swing, a determined look in her eyes as she stared the two Beowolves hot on her heels down. Kacchan seemed to be having something of a hard time landing a hit that time around; despite a solid wind up, the Beowolf dodged his right hook and Katsuki's explosion goes off uselessly off to the side of it, the explosive teen just growling in frustration as he glared up at the beast.

Pyrrha continued to amaze as, from the corner of his green eyes, he see a black glow envelop Miló from its position just behind the dissolving Grimm corpse. Seemingly out of nothing Miló floated into the air and, with little fanfare, rapidly returned to Pyrrha's grasp. Immediately the former tournament fighter turned on the two Grimm in front of her and picked her target. She darted out from behind her shield to rapidly stab at one of the Grimm, puncturing into its face and causing it to howl in horrible, horrible pain. Still, the monster did not fall as its brethren had, instead turning its hateful gaze back on Pyrrha when it had recovered.

Then there was Izuku; he took a deep breath, one that had centered him time and time again against those previous three Beowolves, as he clenched his fists. With a roar he ducked down and into one of the Beowolf's guards, successfully landed a punch into its gut. With a mighty bang his shotgun sung out, blowing its pellets into the creature's core. It wasn't effective, same as last time, but it would do in this fight.

The Grimm turn on them all and... suddenly, Ruby's strategy made sense in Izuku's mind. The Grimm were, once more, forced to move up to her in order to try and attack her and their effort went a way towards throwing off their aim; their swipes missed wildly as Ruby just barely had to duck between them. Kacchan likewise dodged and parried deftly, avoiding a blow meant for his chest and parrying another that had been meant to tear out his side there. Pyrrha continued to do her work and... well, Izuku continued to just gape a bit. Effortlessly she blocked another set of claws with her shield and, twisting her spear around from its stabbing position she brought it up to slap away the swipe of another of the Beowolves. These people really were just incredible.

Which left Izuku. The two Grimm in front of him seemed to be quite... determined to land a hit on him. Both of their aims were true to his form but, with a great deal of effort, he managed to slap one's attack away... his attempt to dodge the other, however, left him feeling the familiar feeling of his Aura reaching out to protect him. It was a harsh, harsh blow, one that would've left him reeling if he took it on directly without Aura, but this one only slightly exhausted him.

He bit his lip in frustration, 'After I wasted so much of Pyrrha's time allowing me to rest, this is how I repay her?'

He was determined to at least knock down one of these Grimm bastards in the next row. Izuku heard a pair of scoffs coming from Ruby's and Bakugo's side of the fight, though they varied wildly in tone; one is more of light annoyance and feminine... the other was the precursor to a very angry, very loud yell. Ruby tried her best to swing with Crescent Rose and, while her aim was true, the reflexes of the Grimm in front of her were far more true. Ruby's silver eyes narrowed as she again disappeared in a storm of rose petals and fell back a few yards, content to continue her dance with the Beowolves.

"WOULD YOU BOTH JUST DIE ALREADY!" Bakugo, meanwhile, sounded apocalyptic. Izuku saw his muscles tense as the teen seemed to be drawing on every reserved bit of strength he could. Kacchan swung forward with his open palm and this time, with the Beowolves having left themselves open after their daring attacks, Kacchan was easily able to land a hit. The explosion roared as the Beowolf, like its brethren, was engulfed in flame, collapsing down onto a heap on the ground, doomed to burn to death. However, Kacchan was far from done; Izuku saw him clench his hand into a closed fist and, with a guttural roar, swing it back and then release the full force of his blow into the gut of the second Beowolf on him. While there was no grand explosion like before, Kacchan's Semblance still triggerd, causing a small number of minor explosions to rocket out across the Beowolf's torso. It didn't take severe damage, but still, it hadn't looked pleasant.

Pyrrha continued her fine dance with her two foes, having deflected one's attack earlier, she used the wide opening it granted her to, once again, shove her spear into its face. That time was enough and the Beowolf began to dissolve, the red head nodding in approval as she turned her gaze to the second.

Izuku swung again himself and, again, he found purchase... but the blows just didn't seem to be doing much!

'I know I can! I know I can hurt these things! I've done it before but... I don't know!,' he clenched his fingers together, 'My fists just aren't finding the right purchase!' Still, he could tell that the Beowolf he'd struck twice now stumbled for a moment, threatening to fall over, before it straightened out and roared again as it turned its attention back on him.

For Pyrrha and Bakugo, the counter-attacks were obvious and rather easily avoided, same as before. A glancing blow off of Pyrrha's shield and a powerful slap away with Kacchan's arms. It was Izuku and Ruby who suffered or, in her case, very nearly suffered. One Beowolf just flat out missed thanks to having to move up to attack her... but the second was far more on point. Far, far more on point. The blow it swung at her was a direct one, threatening one of the major arteries in her torso with its swing. Izuku watched, wide-eyed in horror, as the block connected... but, nothing happened. Not even the tell-tale sign of someone grunting in effort at the blow. It was as if Ruby's Aura was strong enough to just shrug off the hit entirely.

'That was... that's pretty amazing.'

It was also his excuse for as to why he failed to be able to avoid the next two attacks from the Beowolves that had set themselves upon him. His green eyes went wide as he tried to dodge one hit and parry the other but... it seemed like the effort was going to be in vain! He didn't close his eyes though! He stared straight on at his foes, these enemies of mankind... if they're going to dig their claws into him, they were going to see that he was still determined to stop them!

Perhaps that was why he ended up seeing it. A black glow that surrounded both gauntlets of Emerald Gust. With a force he had barely any control over, his arms swung out with a strength that he could barely manage on his own! He watched as his gauntlets reached up and deftly deflected one of the Beowolves' claws, sending it hurtling away from him. He still failed to dodge the other hit but, compared to the one that would've landed, it seemed minor at best, Izuku barely even felt the blow against his Aura. He had seen that black glow before... Pyrrha told him about it herself when the pair had become partners. He chanced a look behind him and in that moment his green eyes meet a pair of friendly green eyes... though they look uncertain. As if worried she may have overstepped some boundary.

"Are you alright?" Even Izuku could tell that the question was as much asking if he was fine with what she'd done as much as it was after his condition...

He hoped that the wide smile he gave back to her was enough to assuage her worries. "I am... thank you." He barely contained himself, it was a battle after all, but the fact that she bothered to help at all... it hit him right in the core. The smile that she returned was no small thing either.

"Anytime. Now... show them what you're made of, partner." With a wordless nod, they both returned to their respective opponents, his own confidence and determination rising in the face of the effort his partner put in to help him.

He felt the tempo of the dance slowly coming to a crawl. As Bakugo lands another hit on a Beowolf and ignited it, though this time with far less flare, the Beowolf seemed to stumble around but barely kept itself on its feet. Ruby dipped away and readied Crescent Rose, ready to make the next blow count. Pyrrha, as ever, landed her spear and it struck true, dropping the second Beowolf and her third of the fight, the monster dissolving at her feet. Izuku gave a loud roar of his own as he reared his fist back and then sent it flying into the gut of his enemy, impacting the Beowolf he'd been pounding away at once more. This time, his effort ended up sending the beast falling! The Beowolf stumbled back, its eyes dimmed and brighten for a moment before, finally, it fell unconscious! It would be easy enough to finish off once the battle was over but, for now, he turned his attention to the last one in front of him, the monster baring its fangs at the Hunstman-to-be as it howled loudly.

Pyrrha herself was finally allowed a moment to breath as both the Beowolves that had attempted to assault her had fallen, meanwhile Ruby and Katsuki continued their respective dances. Ruby, with a great deal of grace, ducked out of the way of a potential strike against her, Crescent Rose still held at the ready as she glared back at her foes. Bakugo continued to just slap away blow after blow and, despite victory seeming imminent, he still seemed frustrated that this third Beowolf he was getting ready to kill hadn't just submitted to him and died yet. Izuku, on the other hand, soon found that his last Beowolf was again on the mark while he himself was just barely off-beat, unable to bring his gauntlets up in time to parry on his own. Luckily, he felt the tell-tale tug of Polarity as Pyrrha shifted his gauntlets up to block the hit. Both of their green eyes meet again and then nodded in unison... they would both be dealing with this last one before going to help Ruby.

The ending moments of the battle were perhaps a bit anti-climactic but suited the skill of the three people Izuku was with. Ruby sliced out with Crescent Rose and, this time, the Beowolf failed to dodge her assault and, once again, a Beowolf head was sent flying by Ruby Rose as the body of the beast began to dissolve. Bakugo himself seemed done burning energy on big explosions, especially against a Beowolf that seemed barely on its feet. Instead he lashed out with his fists twice, each time finding their mark, and just pummeled the beast to death, a few tiny explosions joining in to cause the monster to dissolve. Pyrrha, with a graceful turn, quickly jabbed Miló forward, finding her mark with ease and causing the Beowolf to dissolve.

Izuku saw a slightly awkward look crosses Pyrrha's face as she looked to him, almost apologetic. However he quickly laughed it off; he'd already proven himself capable before and, even this fight, he had managed to down one of his foes. Pyrrha was his partner... the two were going to be working together for a long time now. If he got bent out of shape just because she wanted to help then, well... then he probably wouldn't have accepted Toshinori's aid in the first place.

Izuku wasn't a proud guy to begin with and, in a life-or-death situation, he didn't find a lot of room for that. Besides, he'd done worse to try to help someone in that kind of situation. Speaking of, as they cleaned up the last Beowolf, Kacchan turned to see Ruby in a bit of a deadly dance with the last one. It was clear that Ruby was readying Crescent Rose for one last swing and that she intended to end this fight with the Beowolf like she had with the previous two; by lobbing off its head. Kacchan actually crossed his arms and waited and Ruby didn't disappoint; as the Beowolf created an opening by overextending itself, desperate to land at least one hit on the little girl, Ruby arched forward and swung Crescent Rose...

Only for it to barely nick the beast's neck.

The silence at that moment was almost deafening as all just kind of stared at the proceeding. The only one who wasn't was the growling Beowolf which was readying itself for another attack.

"OH WOULD YOU JUST FUCKING DIE ALREADY!"

It wouldn't be the only thing growling and roaring. Immediately Bakugo just shot forward and drove one of his fists into the back of the beast, causing it to howl in pain as a little explosion tore into its back. Ruby watched, a slight glimmer of an amused grin on her lips, as the three of them watched Kacchan just yell and shout at this one last Beowolf, cussing it out as he just beat the tar of out if it. Honestly, Izuku almost felt bad for the Beowolf at the end of it, as its last swing missed by a wide margin and Kacchan just kept punching it into the dirt.

Honestly, if not for the fact that it would draw Bakugo's attention, Izuku thought that he, Pyrrha and Ruby would almost be ready to laugh at this display. Still, soon enough, this last Beowolf began to dissolve as well, along with the others that Kacchan had set ablaze before. That should've been a celebratory atmosphere. The calm after a raging battle. They all had won and Izuku'd been the only one to take a hit, and even then it hadn't been too bad. He wasn't anywhere near as bad off as he had been during his first fight...

But something felt... off. Something that made him shiver in his boots. He followed the trail of this feeling, as do Ruby and Pyrrha... and the three of them found Katsuki staring right at Izuku, his teeth still set on edge and his eyes narrowed at him. He frowned deeply at Deku as he turned his body to face Izuku full on.

'What?' Izuku thought, mildly confused, ' I know I did something this fight, or maybe it was because I took a hit at all, or whatever Bakugo would be upset about, but I can't see why he seems this... this…'

'I took a hit.'

"Hey, Deku..." Kacchan muttered under his breath, his gaze intensifying.

Izuku took a hit from a Beowolf head on... and absorbed it without taking actual damage.

Of all the people who he could've shown his Aura to...

It had to be the one person who knew what he really was.

"Nice Aura you have there..."

He felt his features immediately pale as Bakugo slowly approached him.

"Tell me... was it funny? Did you get a good laugh while you made me look like a fool?! Did you, you bastard?!"

For a moment he froze up. This was it. This was the moment where Katsuki finally took his hand and blew Izuku's head off. He could see him flex one of his hands already, small trails of smoke flowing through them. This was... he was going surprisingly slowly for being so angry. He'd seen Bakugo angry before; he'd usually charge in without a second thought and just start creaming the person. He had just now done it with the Grimm. Looking up at Bakugo's face he could see the fury but there's conflict there. Conflict that only grows further when Pyrrha stepped forward in front of Izuku.

"What exactly are you doin' Red? Trying to get in my damn way?" Bakugo growled out at Pyrrha, though Izuku's partner seemed resolute as she stared at him dead on.

"I'm just here to make sure that you don't do anything that might attract more and greater Grimm and for you to let Izuku have his piece." Pyrrha's words allowed Izuku to relax for a moment and, it seemed, Kacchan just ground his teeth together before he straightened himself out.

"There's nothing to talk about. Deku... that rat bastard had everyone believing that he had no Aura. He's been holding it back this entire time and-"

"No Kacchan!" Bakugo actually stopped as he looked over at Izuku, his green eyes going wide with panic as his momentary outburst drew attention back to him. "Listen, Kacchan... I didn't lie to anyone! For the longest time my family and I honestly thought I couldn't manifest Aura! That wasn't a lie! We just... we just didn't know." He put a hand to his chest as he took a deep breath. "The problem was that... that I just had a very weak Soul. Normal examinations and practices couldn't get it to manifest an Aura... I needed help..."

Hey, these were all 'technically' true after all. Izuku did have a very weak Soul... in that he was Broken and 'couldn't' manifest Aura. And he did need help to manifest it... from Toshinori and One For All.

"And... and I'm still weaker than you Kacchan. That isn't a lie or a joke either. You're still strong and confident and... everything I haven't been. That I couldn't have been... but... but I'm strong enough now!" Izuku gestured to the Beowolf that he had knocked unconscious and then cleaned up with Pyrrha, the dissolving corpse a testament to his battle with it. "I have an Aura, even if it's a weak one! I have the strength to be a Huntsman now! That's... that's what I meant back at Mountain Glenn Kacchan! That's why I said I wouldn't let you stop me from coming here! I have a right to be here now! I can be a Huntsmen, and I've proved it enough times to myself and here and now..."

Bakugo just tightened his fists, so much so that he imagined that if he weren't wearing gloves that his fingernails would have pierced through the skin of his palm. It wasn't his fists that told the story of what was going on in his mind however... it was the eyes. Bakugo's red orbs darted around the area, from Izuku to the Grimm to his partner. There was a sort of chaos behind them, a mounting frustration and irritation that seemed ready to explode at any given moment.

It did... but the explosions were centered around Katsuki's hands as he let out a loud yell. A little bit of tension was released but, in the end, Bakugo still seemed heavily on edge.

"That's some bullshit Deku! You... AAAARGH!" For good measure Bakugo let loose a large explosion from his hands. "Fine!" Immediately Kacchan turned on his heels and began to storm off, the action of such surprise to everyone that it took Ruby a moment to recognize what's happening.

"Wait! Where are you going?! You can't just-"

"This bastard is pissing me off! I didn't want him to come with us! I didn't want his help! I didn't NEED his help! I've never needed his help! I didn't back when everyone thought he was a Broken loser and I don't need it now that he actually has Aura! If I spend another moment around here with that bastard... ARGH! Red's right, I'm, this is... it's just attracting more fucking pain in the ass Grimm! So whatever! Deku thinks he's good enough to be a Huntsman? That he's good enough to keep poking his nose where he's not wanted! Fine! But I don't need to stick around and get looked down on for it! I'm not going to keep drawing the fucking Grimm to us! Cause no matter what you think Deku, you're not better than me! You've never been better than me!" Bakugo turned back forward and continues walking. "Stay with them if that's what you want so bad you runt, but I'm getting to those fucking ruins and then out of this damn forest!" With that, Bakugo stormed off, leaving a significantly quieter clearing behind. It was a long moment before anyone either moved or spoke, everyone just kind of shocked by what had transpired. Izuku was just shocked that he actually didn't end up getting punched out by Kacchan, while the others just seemed surprised by the information that just hit the air.

Still, it isn't long before Izuku saw Ruby bite her lip, her silver eyes darting back and forth for a moment before she sighed.

"Well... he's a jerk. A big, stupid one... but we aren't passing this test unless we do it together." Ruby folded Crescent Rose back up and put it on her hip, looking back over at Izuku and Pyrrha. She smiled gratefully and nodded her head. "I really appreciate that you guys came along... and I'm sorry. I'm really sorry... if I'd known that you two-"

"It's okay, it's not your fault." Izuku honestly felt kind of numb when he said it. "I don't understand. I've never thought I was better than Kacchan. Just the opposite... he's always been a lot more courageous than I've been. A lot more confident... and he was always stronger than me. Still is. In a weird way, I still look up to him as part of what being a strong Hunter's about... I don't understand."

"I think it's safe to say that's true for everyone..." Pyrrha commented idly as she rested a hand on his shoulder. Ruby nodded in ready agreement before she took a deep breath and slapped herself on the cheeks.

"Well, wish me luck! See you guys at the ruins!" She seemed confident enough that they'd all meet up again and as Izuku and Pyrrha nodded their ascent, she sped off; not at the super speeds that Izuku was readily familiar with but fast enough. Izuku really did wish her luck.

'Kacchan's not easy for anyone to deal with, even if they've known him for years… it's just so hard to know what's in his head…'

* * *

Katsuki Bakugo. Best damn student to come out in the history of Mountain Glenn's Combat School and, as far as he was concerned, the next in line to be the greatest Huntsman in the world. The man who would follow after Toshinori Yagi.

And he never needed anyone's help.

 _"Hey, are you okay? That could've been bad if you hit your head..."_

He never asked for anyone's help.

 _"Kacchan... I couldn't just stand there and watch you die!"_

He never wanted anyone's help.

 _"Kacchan, she's right. We're all heading the same way anyway and... well, there are safety in numbers."_

Especially not from people who were beneath him. People who looked at him and decided that yes, "he" needed their help. Because "he" was beneath "them". Whether they had power or not. Katsuki Bakugo, the guy with one of the most powerful Semblances that damn School had ever seen... needing help from a loser like Izuku Midoriya. Deku. He gripped his hands together into tight fists, wisps of smoke fuming out from between his fingers. Despite his efforts to extinguish his own fuse, he couldn't help coming back to being pissed off at that bastard. He knew that, to the Grimm, he might as well be a lighthouse right now. Continuing to be this fucking pissed wasn't going to do him any good with passing this test.

But, hey, no one ever said that he was easy to cool off once he got going.

"Dammit... whatever. I just need to get back on track. Once I get out of these damn woods I can get back on track..." He took a deep breath as he raised his head to get a better look around, peering through the canopy to get as good a look at the sun as he could...

It's only then that it dawned on him; he was actually lost. He, of all people, was lost.

'IDIOT! You let yourself get so wrapped up in all this bullshit concerning Deku, that you actually somehow managed to get lost in some Podunk woods! Great, just fucking fantastic, what could've been next?!'

"There you are!" He was snapped from his own frustration as he turned to face his partner. "I was looking for you on the trail to the ruins but... well, I didn't see any sign of you. So I looked around a bit and... well, you're pretty easy to find. Not a lot of folks who leave a trail smelling like a gas fire." He narrowed his eyes as she spoke; he'd gotten pretty far off before she followed him...

'... must've been that Semblance of hers.'

'That fuckin' Semblance of hers…'

"So you got on the trail of the ruins, runt?" Her cheeks puffed out in annoyance but, he just quickly waved his hand. "Then what the Hell are you standing around for? Come on, time's wasting."

"Hey wait a minute! You can't just run off, tell me that you don't even care if I stick around or not and then just... wait. Are you..." The girl stopped for a moment to tilt her head to the side and he could "feel" the annoyance bubbling up in him. It wasn't until a moment later that a smirk came up on her face. "Did you... get lost? Are you saying you need my-"

"Finish that sentence and I promise you that after we pass this test I'll set you on fire."

'Fuuuuck. The fucking runt is just smirking at me,' and then she turned on her heels and pointed out the direction, leading the way. Her smile transformed into something so smug that Bakugo almost hated it as much as Izuku. Almost.

"Keep up if you can."

But it was getting there.

A few things ran through his mind as they walked, 'As much as this little runt annoys me... I do need her. I can't pass this test without her and attending Beacon is the 'only' way Im going to become the best Huntsman. It's something I need. Whatever level of pissed off was running through me before with Deku shouldn't have distracted me from that…'

The next were the thoughts that had surrounded him for most of his stay here at Beacon proper so far... and through his time in the Emerald Forest so far.

'The runt has a powerful semblance. She also wields a HCSS with a great deal of efficiency and skill... most of those cuts were clean. Shoto Todoroki, the son of the second great huntsmen and Toshinori Yagi's former partner, Enji, was also in attendance here at Beacon. And that girl, red, who was partnered with Deku... she stared me down like she hadn't even needed to worry about what I could do to her.'

All of this swirled around in his head as he stewed in his own thoughts, all the while Ruby Rose seemed quite pleased with herself.

* * *

 **A/N: Something I didn't note last time; so the point of the players having the chance to meet all the characters in Quest and to talk to them was to allow the Questers to build a rapport with characters of their choosing, allowing them to potentially pick out a partner later if all went well. To that end, the Questers chose to partner up with Pyrrha...**

 **Every other partner pair, on the other hand, was randomly rolled. Yes, all these other partner pairs were just happenstance.**

 **This won't be the last time something this fortuitous happened with random rolls either.**


	6. The Emerald Forest III

It wasn't long before Izuku and Pyrrha managed to get themselves back on track. While the conversation between the two of them did feel a little more restrained after what happened with Bakugou, the feeling in the air was a bit lighter. There was no doubt in Izuku's mind that Ruby and Kacchan would make it to the ruins... they were both extremely skilled and strong. That battle showed him that more than well enough. He just sighed as he scratched the back of his head. The last hour had been absolutely miserable... but he felt that they were already halfway through the journey.

'Heck, if we stay on course we'll probably reach the ruins in around about two hours,' he thought things seemed to be looking up.

It would not last long.

At that moment, Izuku and Pyrrha felt the ground shake, and could hear the distinct sound of wood being stretched and snapping under heavy force. The two looked around for a moment, desperately trying to pinpoint exactly where that sound was coming from, the hugeness of it mixed with the natural echo of the forest only further amplified its effect. Suddenly, Izuku saw it. Ordinarily it'd be hard to see much of anything in that forest with how thick the tree line was. Heck, that was how the Beowolves had managed to maneuver so close to their group so often... but this time, it was easy to see.

After all, when something flies up and above the tree canopy and begins soaring through the air, it usually is easy to spot.

"I... Is that what I think it is?"

"Yeah... that's... that's an old Nevermore." A loud caw resounded through the forest as the large Grimm beat its wings, soaring up into the sky. Even from so many miles away, the large avian Grimm was readily seen. If Izuku had to guess, it was just a little under four miles from their position. He didn't know why it was getting up now, perhaps it was the presence of so many students in the forest, but he tried to assure himself that nothing bad was going to happen here. After all, it could just be that the giant Nevermore was waking up from its slumber due to the ruckus. It wasn't like anyone actually accidentally stumbled-

They heard it cry before they saw it start to fly circles in the sky, doing its best to maneuver around the canopy of the forest as it... Oh God.

"It's following something." Izuku muttered aloud as he stared on at the scene. The Nevermore was on the move... it was dangerous to be in this Forest now.

And it was dangerous to be whoever was being hunted... hunted by this giant Grimm.

'Was anyone here actually capable of fighting something like that?' his mind raced, thinking of the hunters he had seen in action, 'Would Kacchan even be able to handle a Grimm of that size…'

"Izuku... I know the plan was for us to walk to the ruins but... but this just got big. We need to run and we need to get out." Pyrrha's words rung in his ears as he stared at the Grimm. His mind flashed to ten months ago... when a similarly horrifying monster had Bakugou in its grasp, its claws dug into his shoulder and pinning him to the ground.

"Izuku, we need to run!"

'Well... she said run...'

"Izuku!"

Somewhere deep inside him, there was a voice screaming that she was right.

'This is too big for us,' he thought, 'I only got my Aura two days ago. We can't possibly take on a Grimm this big and this old... heck, I can't even tell how old this Nevermore is potentially. They usually don't actually make it to adulthood because of how weak they are when they're born. Even those that make it to be as big as a normal person are pretty frail. For this one to have gotten big enough that it was a large, black blot in the sky even from miles off... it has to be old.'

'It has to be dangerous.'

'There's no shame in running away from something like this. After all, I'm not a hero yet. I haven't mastered One For All yet. I haven't even been accepted into Beacon yet.'

'I'm not a real Huntsman yet…'

"I know."

It's all he can really say. He knew that what Pyrrha was saying was what made the most sense rationally.

And yet there he went, sprinting off towards the Nevermore, a terrified expression on his face and a dawning horror on hers as she saw him take off.

"Izuku!"

"I know you're right! I know we should run... but that thing, it's circling something! It's looking for people... and we can't just leave them to it!"

'After all, it was like Toshinori said…'

' _ **It's a Huntsman's job to run toward danger,'**_ his hero's voice spoke from the back of Izuku's mind, _**'To risk everything to save people. It's the true essence of the job. When an innocent voice cries out, we rise to the call!'**_

He knew that Pyrrha would in no way be wrong to make a break for the ruins, to leave him to what most people would consider a suicidal charge...And he was glad when, an instant later, he heard her footsteps quickly fall in behind his. As he ran, he desperately tried to contain the tears that threatened to well out.

"So... what's the plan?" She asked, sounding somewhat nervous, as he pushed his body as hard as it could go. Ten months of training and newly infused Aura pushed his body to limits he didn't even know existed within him, all the while keeping his eyes on the Giant Nevermore as it circled in the sky, cawing out as it swooped... before rising back up into the sky, a loud shriek accompanying the gesture.

"The plan is we find whatever it's chasing... and hope that they're still okay by the time we arrive. When we figure out who we're working with... well, we'll make a plan then." He knew it probably didn't sound reassuring that he didn't have much of a plan going into this... but... he supposed there was one option.

One For All.

Izuku swallowed a nervous lump in his throat as it came to mind. Toshinori had been clear; the ten months of training had gotten Izuku far but there was no way his body was anywhere near ready to handle the kind of backlash One For All could send back through him. He wouldn't die or lose all his limbs... but it wouldn't be pretty. Toshinori didn't go into specifics, he suspected because his hero didn't want to completely keep Izuku from using it if he needed to... but the threat of what could happen was clear enough. Still as he heard the caw from so far in the sky above him, he couldn't help but wonder which was be the bigger threat to life and limb at this point.

It's took almost a quarter of an hour of running but eventually the Nevermore's position was close enough to their own that he could start to make out the fine details of the creature... and boy did he wish he couldn't. This thing was big for a Nevermore alright. It had definitely had time to grow up into this beast that flew above Izuku and Pyrrha. Panic momentarily set in on Izuku as he saw the creature begin to dive again; no, not now, not when they'd only just arrived. The arc was sharp as it dove for the forest canopy, whatever it was looking for clearly in its line of sight. He knew enough about Nevermore's to know what was next; the big ones especially like to launch their feathers off their body in order to try to pin in or, worse, pin down their prey. Judging by the opening of its wings, he'd think it-

A sudden roar of a pair of engines surged throughout the nearby forest as Izuku and Pyrrha flinched, eyes immediately darting towards the source of the noise. The Nevermore, likewise, seemed to screech in annoyance and arc back up in the air, not having released its payload of feathers. Though Izuku could only hazard a guess, he'd wager that whatever it was aiming for in that moment had likely quickly moved out of its line of sight. Pyrrha brought up her rifle and took careful aim but, with the Nevermore moving as fast as it was and with the altitude it was gaining, her attempt would be a potshot at its gut at best.

"Even if you aimed for the torso, Grimm are homogeneous. Your bullet wouldn't have much of an effect unless you aimed for the head." Pyrrha nodded as she switched her rifle back, for now. The roar of engines was still loud and ongoing in this part of the woods.

"If I had to wager a guess, I'd say that's our fellow would be student..." Pyrrha muttered and he nodded in agreement, his mind already racing for the identity of the student in question before either of them noticed him burning through the underbrush not even twenty yards away.

After all, there's only one student here Izuku knew of that would have access to Dust-Powered engines as part of their gear.

"Tenya!" He screamed over the sound of the engines, the helmeted visage of the Ingenium Armor turning toward Izuku.

"Izuku? Izuku Midoriya! Pyrrha Nikos as well?!" The response, first uncertain and then a mix of oddly relieved and worried met them as the flames gave out on the back engines of the armor, Tenya slowly grinding to a halt as the two approached the armored would-be Huntsman. "What are you two doing here?! Haven't you see the creature haunting the sky? The Nevermore could easily spot you two and then you'd be in terrible danger! You should've made a run for the ruins!" Despite this, Izuku could tell that Tenya was at the same time relieved to see a friendly face... or, well, that's what Izuku could tell about his gesturing. His voice was as stern and consistent as ever and the helmet made it hard to read his facial expression.

"We know... but... well, we couldn't just leave someone to deal with this thing on their own!" He declared unabashedly, to which Pyrrha nodded her full ascent. Tenya's body language flinched back for a second before, after a moment to recover, he bowed his head slightly.

"I suppose I shouldn't be turning my nose up at those who would potentially aid myself and my partner so readily. Thank you both... I apologize if my first reaction seemed ungrateful." There was a surprising unity between the tone of his words and his body's gesturing this time; still and open mixed with the appreciation that resonated in his words. Honestly, it made Izuku smile a bit.

"Speaking of, where is your partner? I haven't seen them." Tenya nodded his head vigorously and, before long, he's back to gesturing.

"This was part of our initial plan for dealing with the Nevermore; while the creature is quite fast in the air, Wind-Dust powered engines in the legs of my armor give me access to short bursts of great speed on the ground. Great enough that I can bait the Nevermore into attempting to dive for me before I speed off out of its line of vision... though, I'm afraid that my armor makes it quite easy for the bird of prey to spot me once again. In addition... well, the sudden change in direction and momentum that comes with these bursts of speeds leave my already ill-acquainted sense of direction with this region all the more out of position. I'm afraid I would get quite lost if left to my own devices. My partner suggested that she'd keep us on track through the forest, dipping in to put me back in the right direction before disappearing within the canopy again to stay out of the Nevermore's sight. Given that this would allow me to do my own work with avoiding the Nevermore and keep her in a safe position to keep us moving to the ruins, I thought this was a very suitable plan." Izuku nodded along slowly; the plan did make a lot of sense, given what the Nevermore would've been capable of, still...

"Your partner has to be pretty good at keeping out of sight for her to continually avoid being spotted out by the Nevermore."

"Eh, it's a bit of an acquired skill is all. Nothing that special." The three turned their heads up toward the canopy of the forest, Izuku's green eyes going wide with surprise and recognition as he spotted a, at least somewhat, familiar pair of amber eyes looking down at them.

"Blake!"

"Gotta admit, didn't think the first person I'd see after Tenya here would be you Izuku... but I won't complain." Her eyes turn toward Pyrrha as she raised an eyebrow. "Guessing your his partner?"

"Hello!" Pyrrha waved back as Blake nodded, before looking back toward Tenya.

"Anyway, the ruins aren't that far off from here; if we keep up this dead sprint, we should arrive within the hour... though, I think our plan might require a bit of changing now that these two are here." He blinked for a moment as Blake spoke, before a moment of realization hits him.

"Wait, so Blake, you and Tenya?"

"Indeed... while I would likely be able to carry you two with me for a while, the additional strain it would put on my engines and their current supply of Dust would likely falter before we hit the ruins." Tenya's helmet dipped to the side as he shakes his head. "My apologies; it was my own carelessness that caused the Nevermore to-"

"Not this again..." Blake shook her head as she looked over to Izuku and Pyrrha. "Tenya's 'carelessness' was that he didn't notice this thing sitting a couple miles away from us before it decided to wake up... and that the first thing it happened to spot was his armor. He's insisting that he should've seen this coming."

"Why of course! Izuku here earlier showed what good can be done for a Huntsman when he takes preparation and foreknowledge seriously! That I was not ready to account for such an occurrence in this test was a failing on my part."

"... I mean, Tenya, I'm not-"

"Trust me, it's better that you just leave it. He's... a bit incorrigible." Blake shook her head as she looked back up to the Nevermore which had, again, begun circling in the sky. "We should probably come up with whatever plan's going to get us to the ruins and quick. Won't be long before we're spotted out again."

"As much as I hate to say it... I think we have to fight it. The thing's too fast in the air for Pyrrha or I to have a realistic chance of running away from it ourselves, and it can spot us pretty well in the canopy as well... and I'd rather not test the limits of what you have left in your engine unless we have to Tenya." The blue haired young man nodded underneath his helm, his agreement unspoken. "Our best bet is to somehow clip it's wings and get it on the ground level... once there I think we stand a much stronger chance of going toe to toe with it. We don't have the sort of Dust or abilities that can forcibly pin it to the ground from down here... so we'll have to get someone up there."

"We only have one shot at this; the Nevermore's Grimm Anatomy means that any attempt by us to try to hit it with our guns or an impaling weapon isn't going to do nearly enough to break through... who knows how tough this Nevermore's feathers are with how old it is. The fact that there's technically nothing under there for those types of hits to disrupt... it means that if we really want to have a chance of crippling it, we need to cut it and cut it deep." He nodded as he looked around, Pyrrha most obviously having taken his words to heart most; if anyone was going to have a chance at crippling the Nevermore, it was her. "Tenya and I will distract it by continuing to draw it into diving us. When it gets low enough, we need you to get up there and clip its wings... it looks like it'd trying to maintain a distance of around a story or two above the treeline. It's trying to get its own best shot in... that's when we have to go for it."

"My Semblance might be able to help with that... I can create a shadow clone that we can jump off of mid-air. I can probably get her a bit more distance myself by acting as another platform... but we'd need something else to really get her up there." Blake muttered as she rubbed her chin. The idea sounded good, but like she said, they needed something a little more to get her into the proper position.

"My shield." Pyrrha relays, pulling Akoúo̱ from her back. "I can use my Semblance to give have it stay in the air above me. Once I jump from Blake, I'd be able to use it as a stepping stone in order to reach the Nevermore's wing." Blake nodded quickly as she reached a hand out.

"You'll follow in after my own jumps... I'll throw the shield up and then you can use it from there." Pyrrha nodded in agreement as she quickly handed the somewhat large shield to Blake, who turned back to Izuku.

"The plan after that is that you guys'll land somewhere quick while the Nevermore falls to the ground. Tenya and I will run up to you and start the fight, keeping it busy while you guys get back on solid ground and get everything back in order. We'll join up and finish it off afterward." Everyone nodded; the plan was sound enough to the group and for the gathered would-be hunters, it certainly beat trying to outrun the flying monster. With a mighty caw the Nevermore made its presence known again, the group looking back up to see it as it began to circle again.

"And if it looks like we 'can't' kill this thing by ourselves after all?" Blake asked, a slightly grim tone in her voice as Izuku take a shuddering breath.

"Then we make do with the fact that we got it down onto the ground in the first place and run for the ruins. Hopefully we'll get there before it can even think of getting airborne again. Once we do we can hopefully meet up with everyone else and, from there, we can work as a group to take it out. Hopefully there'll be folks there who're a little more suited to taking on a thing like this than us." Izuku admitted, somewhat sheepishly, as the others responded with quick affirmation. It's the best plan he had at the moment. If it went through, then they'd all just have to hope their legs could carry them.

Izuku could only imagine that the Nevermore was scanning the forest beneath it quite carefully for its prey. He and Tenya, the pair of you not even attempting to hide so as to help with this part of the plan, were readily found. Thankfully it seemed like it missed Pyrrha and Blake or, at the very least, it was more interested in the prey that was readily presenting itself to it rather than the prey that was hiding itself. With a mighty 'caw' the Nevermore gave one more circle and then began to dive. Izuku and Tenya ran for a bit to try to guide the trajectory of its dive, trying to give Pyrrha and Blake that perfect moment they needed to pull the plan off. Izuku barely spotted them himself amidst the canopy, the pair of them ducked down on the tallest branch they can find that will still hide them as they watched the Nevermore dive.

It's a sight to behold, he thought. Blake's the first one up off the branch, launching herself with a grace that even dwarfs what he had seen Pyrrha manage. From this distance he couldn't tell but, with a slight breath to hone her focus, a solid copy of Blake was formed right beneath her feet, Blake setting her feet on top of the copy of herself and propelling herself up even higher. At the height of her jump Blake tossed Akoúo̱ into the air, the shield spinning just a handful of feet away from the Nevermore as it dived. Pyrrha was soon to follow; though she initially seemed hesitant and, indeed, her leap into the air at first seemed like it was doomed to lose momentum before she could reach Blake's clone, a quickly tuck and roll gave her back enough control of her rise to see to it that she reached the first clone. With her own step she propeled herself up toward Blake who, then, cupped her hands together and set them underneath Pyrrha's feet. As Pyrrha jumped and Blake Belladonna threw her, Pyrrha was sent rocketing to her shield. She drew Miló next and, with a glare of determination, activated her Semblance. In the blink of an eye a black aura surrounded her shield, steadying the piece of metal in the air as Pyrrha took a solid step onto it.

The Nevermore, so dead set on Izuku and Tenya, hadn't even noticed Pyrrha and Blake. And now there she was; right behind it and its beating wings. She had even managed to position herself right behind where the weakest point would be; if she could cut there, if she could cut with just enough force... that would be enough to cripple it. And that would bring the avian monster crashing down to the ground.

Izuku held his breath as Pyrrha gave a mighty shout, two-handing Miló as she swung it down into the Giant Nevermore's wing.

He could hear it from even down here. The slicing of flesh as the Mecha-Shift weapon was driven into the meat of the Giant Nevermore. He could imagine the smile that formed on Pyrrha's face, it would've had to match his. She had met her mark and met it true! She had struck the Nevermore dead on!

But while the beating of the creature's wings halted, it hadn't become erratic and uncontrollable. Izuku watched in horror as the Nevermore's head cranes over, slowly but surely, until it's red eyes had Pyrrha in their sight. Pyrrha, hanging on by a bare thread with her blade as she looked back into the Elder Grimm's gaze, her own green eyes going wide in realization.

It hadn't been enough.

The Nevermore reached its wings back as far as they could go, the force of it being enough to knock Pyrrha loose from them. The creature had found a new target and one that it took personal offense to; a target that had managed to get up on it and attack its form. The creature screeched and and hollered horrifically as it gave a mighty beat of its wings, the beast trying to stop itself in mid-air, to halt its momentum, and quickly turn to face this foolish prey.

Something happened though. Something that the great old beast hadn't seen coming; with a geyser of black fluid, the creature's wing spasms from its wound, the gigantic Nevermore cawing out as it's movements in the air became erratic. For a brief moment Izuku dared to hope that it'll crash to the ground, that they all could collect Pyrrha before that creature could take back to the sky again and get out of there. But no... the creature's momentum stalled thanks to its wound but it was eventually able to force itself back into a glide, its red eye still on Pyrrha as she began to drop. It wouldn't let the opportunity pass it by... he could tell just by looking at it that as soon as it was able, it would turn on Pyrrha and try to tear her apart...

And she was stuck in the air.

Alone. Black was already been falling back towards the ground, the black haired young woman finding it easy enough to grab onto a tree branch to cease her fall. He saw her point Gambol Shroud's pistol up towards the Nevermore and, for a moment, he thought she might even dare to make the shot... but she hesitated.

She hesitated because if she missed, she could hit Pyrrha... and she's already got a world of trouble on her plate.

'Pyrrha's up there…,' the world stopped for a moment, 'because of my plan. I risked my partner's life, on this plan. I risked it instead of my own...because of the power that I can't cont-…'

...

"Tenya... get me up there, right now." The armored young man's head snapped over to Izuku, and the green Huntsman fanboy was sure that underneath that helm was a wide-eyed and disbelieving expression.

"Izuku! You can't possibly be serious! I couldn't just-"

"Get me up there or I'll get up there myself!"

Izuku's turned his head towards Tenya and... he could only imagine how he looked in that moment. Desperate? Terrified? He couldn't say for certain.

Whatever it is he saw, Izuku was surprised that it caused him to grab his hand as the engines roared to life.

"Then allow me to give you a hand." And soon enough Izuku was moving faster than he had ever thought he would in his life. This, this was the speed that the Iida family was famous for... or at least, a fraction of it. Tenya secured his hold on Izuku further, his hand clawing up to wrap around Izuku's bicep as Izuku's does the same. Both of their eyes are locked on tight to the Grimm as they rushed forward. Before long, Iida gave a loud roar and, with a mighty kick, jumped into the air, the force of his engines carrying him up as he did so. With a shout, and with the momentum of this behind both of them, Tenya tossed Izuku forward, Izuku's own muscles clenching to meet Tenya mid way as he pushed along with him. Izuku was sent rocking forward as he heard the sounds of Tenya's engines kicking off jump behind him, the stalwart student ducking quickly as he begun a hasty fall back to the ground.

As Izuku rocketed up he watched as Pyrrha tried to land one more desperate hit on the Nevermore's wing, but this one barely even clipped it; whatever that last swing had been was probably damn near the best he could hope for. Pyrrha's gaze turned round, likely expecting to try and find Izuku and Tenya on the ground... her green eyes went wide, shocked, as her eyes met his, only for Izuku to rocket past her toward the Giant Nevermore.

'Come on,' Izuku readied his fist, cocking it to lay into the great bird, 'Come on!' he searched deep within himself for the power that had so recently received.

...

'It feels... warm,' the energy that was rising from his core overwhelmed him at first. Soon it began to flow into his right arm, all the while, he kept his eyes locked on his target. He was getting closer, and he was starting to feel the wind flow over his skin as he approached.

'But,' he thought, 'I thought I had my long workout clothes on?'

There were sounds in the background, Pyrrha screaming, the engines sputtering as Tenya adjusted himself back to the ground, the background woosh of the Nevermore's wings flapping. But all of this had been so much white noise to Izuku's ears. All that mattered now was the power flowing into his fist. A power that he honestly couldn't describe. It's not his, and he can't control it, it almost feels like his arm is beginning to come apart at the seems, but…

'If I can just knock this thing down for long enough that it doesn't get to them,' the power was not his, but right now it was all he had, 'if I can just make up for my stupid plan putting them in danger, that'll be enoough. That is my job. That is my responsibility! That is the only way to be the Huntsman I need to be!'

In that moment he saw a flash of Toshinori in his mind, his ever present smile beaming forward. Izuku heard his parting advice... and for some reason, here and now, it resonated with him like it never had before.

' _ **SO CLENCH YOUR BUTT CHEEKS, KID!'**_

'... and yell this from the DEPTHS OF YOUR HEART!'

" **SMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!** "

The explosion of wind wasn't like what he felt the day Toshinori appeared in his life. It wasn't as strong as the punch that had saved both Izuku and Bakugou and changed the weather on his account...

But Gods, it was still so intense. Izuku was practically thrown back by the impact after his fist landed on the Nevermore's torso. His green eyes tried to focus in on it, tried to find the enemy he had just devastated... only to realize, as the darkness around began to plummet away in large globs, that he could see the Nevermore _everywhere_. It's feathers had been blown all about the area and the body of the beast itself, rapidly dissolving as it plummeted towards the earth, was in about a dozen different pieces.

He didn't even need to look to know that Pyrrha was just 'staring' at him. Heck, he was fairly certain he even felt Tenya's and Blake's eyes on him too as he just floated there in the air for a moment.

"You…"

"What?"

"How?"

'Oh, that's right,' he suddenly felt the weightlessness that had so defined the past few seconds give way to the pull of gravity, 'I'm falling to my death.'

Before the scream could even tear itself from his throat he felt something impact him in the air. A quick glance around showed a wildly whipping waist-length ponytail as he heard the telltale signs of Pyrrha Nikos shifting her weapon into another form. She reached her arm out, coiled it around his waist, and before he even knew what was happening, Izuku found himself in the secure grip of his partner.

A loud 'bang' was audible shortly after and Izuku screamed for just a moment out of surprise. He and Pyrrha were soon carried by a strong momentum towards a nearby tree and, with a solid 'thud', Miló once again secured his position onto a tree.

It was that kind of day, it seemed.

He blinked a bit as he realized that the only reason he wasn't still falling was that Pyrrha still had a very solid grip on him. Turning his head up his green eyes met hers, wide with a mix of awe and stunned shock.

"Izuku... what, how, what did you do?"

"I... my Semblance is dangerous to use." The adrenaline was slowly starting to stop pumping through his body, allowing him a chance to actually gather his thoughts and think about his response. "I didn't want to use it but... you were in trouble. After following my plan! How could I leave my partner in the crossfire like that?" He took a few breaths as the panic finally left his system and he realized... the both of them were going to be alright. Because he had used One For All to destroy that Giant Grimm... in one punch!

Still, they weren't the only ones there. Izuku turned away from Pyrrha, who looked oddly touched at his sentiment, as he turned his head back to the ground. "Hey! Are you guys okay!?"

"... Are... are 'we' okay? Izuku! You just... and then the Nevermore... you're asking if we're okay?" Tenya seemed about ten different kinds of stunned if his body language was anything to go by, meanwhile Blake from her own tree branch just nodded, her ribbon moving in the breeze.

"What about you? You said your Semblance was dangerous... what did you mean?" Izuku blinked a couple times. It was a bit surprising that she could hear him from all the way over there but, then again, he had pretty much been yelling just then. This seemed to snap Pyrrha out of her own fog as she looked down at him.

"Yes, Izuku, what exactly did... you... GODS IZUKU, YOUR ARM!"

He turned his own eyes to look down at his arm and... holy woah. He didn't know quite what to expect when Toshinori warned him about One For All back lashing against him while in his current state but, seeing it now, he fully understood why he warned him ahead of time. His gauntlet hid most of the damage, but he realized that if his hand looked anywhere near as busted up as the knuckles of his gauntlet, then it probably didn't look all that good. The fact that his arm from all the way up at his shoulder down to where his hand disappeared into his gauntlet is bruised a light purple didn't raise much confidence either. Cautiously he reached a hand over to his gauntlet and slipped it off to confirm that the damage went all the way down.

He winced and sucked in air as he did so, the lack of adrenaline now allowing him to feel the full spectrum of pain that had previously hidden in the back of his mind. As he expected the damage did go all the way down to the tips of his fingers, themselves similarly bruised. He knew that every bone beyond his elbow is broken; he can just barely move any digit or part of his arm beneath that point and even trying produced a lot of pain. The skin around his knuckles was cut up and busted in places, though whether that was from One For All or his hand getting cut up by the pretty much ruined knuckles and fingers of his gauntlet he had no idea.

Well, even more reason to hope that he passed the Initiation now... it'd take a lot of the Lien he had left to actually fix up the fingers of Emerald Gust. Still, it looked like that was where the damage was its worst at least; the entire rest of the gauntlet actually held up pretty well, the steel having withstood the impact.

"Y-Yeah... I really don't have control over it yet so... this happens whenever I use it. Still, I had to..." Pyrrha just nodded slowly, still somewhat stunned by the entire flow of events she slowly scaled down the tree, carrying you in her arm as she did so.

"Hey. It's okay, I still have one goo-"

"You just broke your arm to kill a giant Grimm to save all of us... I won't hear a word of it." She sounded pretty certain of that too. Still, it was easy enough for Izuku to hit the forest floor and, soon after that, Blake and Tenya joined them at the bottom. Their reactions to the sight of Izuku's arm are equally mixed, Izuku thought; Tenya seemed to be on the one hand stunned at the length Izuku went to in order to fix this and relieved that he helped him in that toss, fearing what might've become of his legs if he hadn't helped, while Blake just seemed utterly blown away. She kept looking between Izuku and his arm and he saw that she just looked... puzzled. More puzzled than even a second ago when all she had to comprehend was that he one-punched a giant Grimm.

... That thought still hadn't sunk in entirely and wouldn't. There was other considerations to be had.

"Alright, you two are safe... that's what Pyrrha and I came here for... let's... let's start heading to the ruins. I'd rather not put anyone else at risk while I'm like this... I won't be able to fight as well."

"Put us at... are you for real?" Blake muttered under her breath as she stared at Izuku. Before he could answer Tenya just nodded.

"Yes of course, it isn't that far off now and we can hurry. Have no fear Izuku, if something were to happen I'd gladly have your back." The wild gestures of Tenya gave Izuku cause to smile as Pyrrha readily agreed with the sentiment. Blake was a bit slow on the uptake but, after a moment to collect herself, even she nodded her head in firm agreement. Izuku was glad when they all got off at a relatively quick pace; he'd really rather not put them at further risk of any Grimm attacking while his arm was like this. He was really not sure of how long it would take to fix.

'I mean, Aura is supposed to be able to heal wounds right? So now might be a good time to test it out.'

* * *

It turned out Tenya was right; the ruins weren't that far off. Izuku really wasn't surprised; when he and Pyrrha had been running at full tilt, Tenya and Blake had been doing their best in order to get to the ruins themselves. He was certain they would've made it there if they hadn't been under attack from the Giant Nevermore themselves. Apparently Blake had pretty much gotten the exact distance to the ruins herself as well and the pair had decided to take it slow going, much like he and Pyrrha had. While the four of them had taken it relatively easy and, amidst Tenya, Pyrrha and Blake conversation flowed, he focused his Aura into his right arm. It felt very warm but... well, by the time he arrived at the ruins he didn't actually feel that much progress yet.

When they do arrive... well... uh...

"What happened here?"

One Ursa was solidly frozen in place, the Grimm stuck in a sheet of ice; either it was dead and the ice was keeping it from dissolving or, perhaps worse, it was still alive and just couldn't move at all, not even its open eyes. Another Ursa was just finishing dissolving, its many pieces slowly disappearing. There were several scorch marks, impact zones and pieces of the dirt kicked up, likely from bullets having hit the ground scattered across the open terrain as well as the remnants of Beowolves, or at least their burning pieces, were dissolving into the air.

The students gathered, on the other hand, didn't look all that bad. Some looked pretty worn out but, for the most part, it seemed like everyone was fine. When Izuku had spoke up, however, nearly a dozen pair of eyes turned to see who had just walked into the clearing.

"BLAKE! IZUKU! PYRRHA! YOU GUYS ARE ALIVE!" Ruby Rose's high pitched voice echoed through the clearing and, despite Bakugou's roar for her to keep it down, she and the others ran over to them. He saw several familiar faces gathered in the group; Yang, Shoto, Weiss, Ruby and a reluctant Bakugou. There were a few faces that he hadn't met yet too; there was a boy around his age with black hair pulled back into a low-hanging pony-tail, with pink strip of hair hanging just off the side of his head, a girl with orange hair who had hefted a... large hammer across her shoulders with ease and, finally, a girl with long dark green hair who's somewhat large black eyes just peered curiously at his group.

"Miss Rose, please..." Weiss grumbled slightly before she turned to Izuku's group. "We were worried though; we had guessed that the Giant Nevermore had picked up on some group but... well, we all kind of had our own hands full here..." Weiss' description of events was quickly derailed as the orange haired girl suddenly jumped out of nowhere and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"A bit full? It was crazy over here! I didn't think we'd see another Ursa after the two Weiss and I had already fought in the forest, but Ren and his partner were nice enough to bring another one... they all broke though so that's still kind of a bummer..." She shook her head slightly as Weiss just seemed drained and defeated by the orange haired girl's energy.

"Please... get me away from her... Nora's insane..." Izuku blinked as he realized that Weiss and this girl, Nora, must be partners. He looked into Weiss's eyes for a moment, and saw some kind of void of pure exhaustion, and from that… a strange pity almost emerged.

The boy, referred to as 'Ren' just shook his head as he looked back to the four who had just arrived. "We would've stopped to deal with it ourselves but then the Nevermore appeared in the sky." Ren spoke in a very short, nearly monotone voice as he looked on at the group, Shoto just nodding in silent agreement. The two turned to face each other for a moment and while there seemed to be some silent conversation Izuku was not picking up on, the fact that these two were a team as well was evident.

Then they suddenly turned to look at everyone else. "In hindsight, it didn't make much of a difference; it was dealt with easily enough." Shoto finished as Ren nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, then my adorable little sis ended up barging in with her partner with about eleven Beowolves on their tail." Yang reached over and grabbed her sister in a headlock, much to Ruby's whines of displeasure. The scene brings a bit of a smile to Izuku's lips as Yang just pumped an arm. "But Beowolves ain't no thing to a group of hunters like us. Honestly, we were all more worried about the Nevermore than what was here... I guess you could say that the Beowolves were more Bark than-"

*THWIIIP-WHACK!*

"OW!" Yang let go of Ruby as she brought her hand to the back of her head, a slight wince on her face. Izuku was actually pretty stunned when he saw what had whipped Yang across the back of her hair; a long, prehensile tongue that, as it flew on back to its source, slipped back into the mouth of the girl with the long, dark green hair. Huh, a Frog Faunus. "Tsu! Stop hitting me every time I make an awesome joke!"

"Your puns barely qualify as jokes Yang, ribbit." 'Tsu' spoke with the end of her tongue just barely hanging out of her mouth. Honestly her vacant expression and the calm tone of voice she employed made it hard to tell how much she meant that to be taken seriously herself, but she didn't seem to dwell too hard on the matter as she looked at Izuku.

"So... Izuku right?" You nod a bit as 'Tsu' just tilts her head. "You alright there, your arm's... well, it looks terrible." He winced slightly as someone finally noticed, the rest of the group looking down at his badly bruised limb themselves. It was silent for a moment as everyone took in the sight.

...

"OH MY GOD, IZUKU, ARE YOU GOING TO DIE?!"

"WOULD YOU SHUT UP YOU RUNT, HE'S OBVIOUSLY NOT!"

"DON'T TALK TO HER LIKE-"

"GUYS!" It was finally Weiss Schnee who screamed out, causing everyone to stop panicking or shouting or talking as they all turned to look at her. The Schnee Company Heiress looked like she's had a 'long' day in The Emerald Forest. "Maybe we should stop SCREAMING at each other for JUST. ONE. MOMENT... and let these guys explain what happened." Everyone nodded slowly as Weiss spoke and, indeed, Pyrrha, Blake and Tenya immediately set into what happened.

Blake and Tenya described how they first came across the Nevermore but they seemed almost in a hurry to get past that part. Indeed, the story only really slowed down in its telling when it came to the plan... when it went into Izuku's use of One For All to kill the Nevermore in one hit, that's when it pretty much grinded to a halt as they talked about his Semblance. He tried to step in to assure everyone that it was fine but, well, Tenya's excited gesturing and recounting of the story, along with Pyrrha's deadly serious look, made it hard for Izuku's attempts to move past this pretty much useless. Even Blake spoke highly of what he had done, despite how little he himself thought of his actions. It was something he 'needed' to do in order to save them because he had put them in that spot in the first place, he really didn't see how it was admirable.

Though, it seemed readily apparent that just because he didn't think it was that big of a deal that everyone else was in ready agreement to the contrary.

"Holy cow, are you serious?!" Yang shouted as she reached forward and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "This guy? This guy right here who could barely step off that airbus without stuttering took down that gigantic friggin' thing all on his own?" She pointed at him with her other hand as she said this and, once again, he was pretty embarrassed to be in such close contact with a girl.

"I... honestly wouldn't believe it if there weren't so many people corroborating it but... I mean, when we saw the Nevermore just disappear from the top of the tree line suddenly, we hadn't imagined..." Weiss seemed utterly stunned as she spoke. Everyone else's reactions were on a line graph between those two emotions; some were just utterly surprised while the rest were completely flabbergasted and excitedly asking you questions.

The only person who didn't fit between those two responses was Bakugou.. he just stood back, giving Izuku a pretty odd look. After a moment Izuku winced and, before anyone can ask, they all heard the slight popping sounds coming from his arm. It was a bit weird to see as some bones shifted in place to get back into proper position and to see the bruising very slightly die down... but it did at least confirm that, given enough time, he could make his own progress healing his arm.

"SO COOL!" Ruby and Nora practically declared at the same time. Finally, he had enough of people making such a big deal out of this, his face thoroughly red, as he just scratched at his cheek.

"A-Anyway... if everything's really been taking care of, maybe we should actually pick up the relics from the ruins? Get this exam over with?" Everyone blinked slightly, as if only just now remembering the point of the entire ordeal. It gave him a laugh and he smiled as he looked over to the set of ruins set just outside of the forest itself. He took a deep breath and began to walk over there toward those ruins…

… and toward his future as a Huntsman.


	7. The Ending Ceremony

The group of twelve approached and looked around some of the scattered ruins. Izuku noticed that there were some pedestals that stood empty, relics that were likely removed by teams who might've been earlier than him. There were even some relics that remained behind, more than enough for all twelve, though whether they would be picked up or not remained to be seen. Still, he psyched himself up a bit as he focused on the immediate; the relics He and Pyrrha would pick out. It didn't take long before he picked out a set of relics for them and, as he turned to inform Pyrrha he found that she was some odd distance behind him. Nora was talking excitedly to her, from what he could hear she was asking a lot of questions about the fight with the Giant Nevermore which Pyrrha seemed all too willing to entertain. Izuku smiled a bit before turning back toward the relics in question, only to see that Weiss had joined him in picking out a pair from the set he had gone for.

He turned to look over at her and couldn't help but flinch; Weiss looked positively stressed. She was muttering something about 'needing sane companionship' as she snatched up two relics and returned over to Nora, muttering all the way...

'Is that what I sound like whenever I start muttering?' He thought starting to understand why people seem a bit put off by it. Still he just shrugged it off and grabbed himself and his partner a relic before returning to Pyrrha. The rest of his fellow students seemed to be in the process of doing so as well and, before long, everyone had a relic in hand and was ready to go. There was a nearby cliff with more ruins scattered about and, after looking around there for a bit, they all managed to find their way safely to the top. It was a short jaunt and there weren't any Grimm to stop their progress... He suspected that perhaps the Grimm had been, for once, cowed. Perhaps the death of something so old had struck a chord with the local Grimm for the time.

As they reached the top of the cliffs they found that they were not entirely surprised to see Ozpin and Glynda at the top of the cliff. What was a surprise was a woman with pinkish-orange hair standing off to the side, dressed in a doctor's coat and looking over the various members of the group.

"Well, I have to admit, I wasn't expecting that I'd see so many students making it out of the Emerald Forest at once. Some are still in there giving it a good fight while others did manage to get ahead of you all... but they didn't quite face the challenges each of you did in doing so." Ozpin spoke with a soft tone as he drank from his cup of coffee. Izuku really couldn't help the smile on his face, nor could anyone else really, as Ozpin praised all of them for their efforts. "Before any of you ask; yes, you all have passed Initiation. Well done." The various members of his group respond accordingly; some hooped and hollered, others nodded their head with silent stoicism and Izuku?, well, he managed to fight back any tears that tried to come to the forefront.

He did it.

He really did it.

He passed the Test.

HE WAS A HUNTSMAN IN TRAINING!

... OH JEEZ, REEL IT BACK, REEL IT BACK, FIGHT THE TEARS!

"We'll be holding the ceremony for announcing Teams and their leaders once the test has officially concluded here in... my, my, four hours. You all did make good time all things considered." Ozpin smiled as he waved over to the woman. "This here is Professor Peach, our local botany specialist and the School's nurse. She'll be taking care of those of you who suffered direct physical injury during the Initiation... of which I only count one." Everyone's eyes were on him again as he flinched a bit, feeling a bit flustered as he scratched the back of his head with his good hand.

"A-Actually, Headmaster, sir? I-I think I'll be fine. My Aura seems to be slowly patching me up itself and-"

"I'm afraid I have to insist Mr. Midoriya. Legal issues and what not; I'm not sure your mother and father would be happy if they learned you were injured during our test and Beacon did nothing to see to your health." Izuku cowed for a moment as Ozpin said this. It made enough logical sense he supposed but... well, there was something odd about the way he was saying that, that didn't quite sit right. "Those of you who have registered Scrolls with the school will be receiving a copy of your class schedule soon so that you can start to plan out your schedule for the next semester here at Beacon. For those of you who don't you'll receive it and your Scroll after the ceremony. Now then, those of you who won't be accompanying Peach to her office, please follow myself and Glynda." The rest of the group, save Kacchan, gave him their regards as they walked off, Pyrrha giving him a congratulatory pat on the back before she followed Ozpin and Glynda along. He followed Peach a ways toward the nurses' office, the woman not being much for conversation as the pair of them walked along. Eventually he managed to work up enough nerve to speak.

"Uh, Professor Peach? I really am okay, I don't think this is-"

"Relax kid, you aren't coming here to get checked out." He stumbled a bit as Peach suddenly spoke up, the two of them arriving just outside of her office. "Didn't want to make a big show of it and... well, secrets are secrets I suppose. Just needed an excuse to get you away from your friends so the two of you could get some privacy." He blinked in confusion as Professor Peach opened the door to the office, nodding her head for him to go in. He was nervous but eventually nodded as he took a few uncertain steps into the room. Professor Peach closed the door behind her and he didn't hear her walk off. It seemed like she was here to keep a close eye on the door and make sure nobody got too close.

He couldn't say he entirely understood though. After all, what could've been so important that he needed to be brought here for some private meeting?

"Gotta say young man, you've got 'a lot' of explaining to do." His breath catches in his throat as he heard the voice just to his right. he turned to face it and his green eyes went wide with mirth. Standing there just off to the side in a nice yellow suit that looked way too large for the shrunken man, his mess of blond hair scattered about his head, was him. His mentor. His hero.

"Toshinori!"

"I mean, I left you alone to come to Beacon two days ago and you'd only just finished up your training then. So really, after everything I saw, I have to ask you very seriously..." His frown twisted up into a grin as the blue eyed Huntsman just grinned at Izuku. "What the Hell young man, when did you get so cool?"

It made him smile; sure it was a simple thing but... to have Toshinori say that he thought what he did was cool... on top of everything that happened today, he couldn't help but get misty-eyed.

"W-Well... I didn't do it cause it was cool... I-I did it because it was the right thing to do. It's what you would've done." He gave a shaky smile as he looked appreciatively at Toshinori. "And really... it's only because of everything you've done for me that today was possible. Passing Initiation, joining Beacon as a student... living my dream as a Huntsman. None of it wouldn't have been possible without the help you've given me." He felt full on tears in the corners of his eyes as he spoke, to which Toshinori just responded with a sigh.

"Come on young man, I get done saying how cool you looked out there and you start crying? Jeez, way to kill a moment..." Still, he saw the grin that was on his face as he nodded his head, wiping at his eyes with the left sleeve of his shirt.

"I'm sorry, it's just... wait." Suddenly a thought snapped into his head as he looked over at his hero. "How do you know what I've been up to that would've been so cool?" At that a slightly more mischievous expression crossed Toshinori's face as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a Scroll. On the screen of it was a video... playing Izuku's Smash against the Giant Nevermore. his mind went blank for just the briefest of seconds as he tried to absorb that information... "WAIT, WHAT? THERE WERE CAMERAS IN THERE?!" Toshinori nodded as he places the Scroll back in his pocket.

"Yep... and teachers. Live feeds directed into Scrolls for everyone on the cliff side too. All basically there to make sure that if anything happened, that someone would be able to step in to handle the situation." Izuku immediately felt himself deflate slightly as he leaned forward, eyes wide.

"We... we weren't actually in danger?"

"I wouldn't say that; the Grimm were definitely out for your blood and they were all about as dangerous as Grimm of their age and species can be. It's just that if it looked like you were actually going to die that we'd step in and pull you out. What, you don't think people actually 'died' during Beacon's test did you? School would be up to its neck in lawsuits if they did." His jaw went slack as he listened to all of this.

"WHAT?! THEN WHAT WAS THE POINT OF SCARING US HALF TO DEATH LIKE THAT?! HOLY WOAH, I REALLY THOUGHT PYRRHA WAS GOING TO DIE THERE!"

"Really, that's part of the point." He paused in his panicked screaming as Toshinori just looked up at him, an inquisitive expression on his face. "You thought you and your friends, your partner too, were in danger. That their lives were at stake and that only you had the power to change that. You made a sacrifice knowing the risk to your own body and safety because you wanted to save their lives... tell me Izuku. Would you have made the same decision if you 'knew' that I was waiting in the wings to save you?"

He gave it a long think as he stroked at his chin, his thoughts whirring over the question at hand. "... I would have." Toshinori raised his brow slightly as Izuku looked up at him, a determined look in his eye. "Before I even thought about the consequences to myself, I was already trying to move to help her. Even if I knew help might arrive... I would've tried to do something. Because she could've gotten hurt before help could've come... and it was my plan that put her in danger in the first place. If I couldn't put myself at risk to take care of my mistakes, to take responsibility, then I wouldn't deserve to be called a Huntsman."

"... Kid, you are something, you know that?" Despite the words themselves, a wide grin was on Toshinori's face as he nodded. "Yeah, I hear you young man, I hear ya loud and clear."

Toshinori continued to smile as he leaned back in his seat."Frankly kidThat's why they do that spiel; it's sort of a face-first test with reality. Do you have what it takes to be a huntsman, to sacrifice yourself for others... or are you shrouding yourself in colors far nobler than you are. For what it's worth, I knew what you'd do before you even acted on it... that's just who you are young man. It's why I picked you as my successor in the first place." Izuku was roused from his own thoughts as Toshinori said this, something flickering to the forefront of Izuku's mind.

"Oh yeah, that's right... er, Toshinori... is it... okay? I mean, for us to be meeting like this? While you're in that form... do people-"

"Know about One For All? Not everyone, but there are those that do. They also know my relationship with you." Toshinori leaned back as he said this, crossing his arms. "All the teachers know about this form of mine... the staff have been informed about my condition but not everyone knows about One For All. That's saved for a handful of people; Ozpin, Glynda and Peach... the latter of which was informed because I knew, given how short on time we were, that you might need some medical attention if you ever needed to use One For All." Toshinori sighed as he rubbed at his chin. "Still, even when you're with us, it's probably best to be a bit discrete about it. Nobody outside of this group I've told you about really should know about One For All or my condition... people gotta believe that the Symbol of Peace and Hope's still going strong after all. At least until you're ready to take over for me."

"Oh, speaking of." Izuku snapped up to attention as Toshinori quirked a brow. "I was wondering... if you have any ideas or tips for how I can improve my use of One For All? Or a place we can train with it? What I accomplished today was a lot but... I'm nowhere near done yet. Nowhere near in control of it yet. And like you said, I need to be ready to take up your mantle. The sooner the better." He nodded firmly as Toshinori fixed him with a long look. Eventually Toshinori just sighed as he scratched at the back of his head.

"To be honest kid... I really don't have a lot of good advice for you on how to control One For All."

"... Huh?"

"Yeah... when I was being brought up for it, my teacher spent a few years drilling me before I accepted the gift. Heck, even without that I was a pretty big, pretty strong and pretty healthy guy... when I got One For All... well, I really didn't have much trouble using it." He quirked back a bit as Toshinori said that, a slight 'oh' escaping his lips as he frowned. "To be honest, most of my training was... p-practical training..." Izuku was treated to a very odd sight; Toshinori shivering in fear as a ghost of a memory danced across his eyes. "Y-Yeah... it was mostly just to improve my technique with it. Make me better at using it in general... I could pretty much control it normally from the get-go." He frowned as he says this... yet Toshinori just clapped his hands together before Izuku could get too far down into the dumps over it.

"But, that doesn't mean there isn't some progress we can't make. I told you before that you could trust this old man to shape up your plan and, well, you still can." Toshinori coughed into his fist slightly before he continued. "The staff have their own training areas in the school. They're a lot more private and Oz can cut any feeds to make sure that no one takes a look who shouldn't. We'll have to work around both of our schedules and I'd rather not do this all the time with you... not because I don't want to, but because what I have in mind is... a little bit of a bump up from these last ten months, let's say." Toshinori grinned a bit. "I can't teach you how to control One For All, I never got that part of the lesson... but I can help you continue to shape your body into a proper vessel. If you'd want that, that is."

Judging by the look on Toshinori's face, he was expecting Izuku to just agree immediately and that would be that. It must've been a surprise to him then when he looked off to the side, thinking for a moment, before he turned to him with a determined look. "Anything out of my own time. Absolutely, I'd do it without a second thought... but, I also have a team now. I can't just improve myself at their expense either. I won't just leave them hanging... I have a responsibility to them as a teammate. But..." He clenched his right hand, it having already mostly healed up. "Anything I can give of myself, I'll give it! I'll do it!"

Toshinori's jaw hung open for a moment before a series of dry chuckles escaped his throat. The older huntsman just scratched at the back of his head and, Izuku swore, he hear him mutter something along the lines of 'always exceeding those expectations...'

Finally, he turned back to Izuku, a wide grin on his face. "Alright young man. That sounds like a deal to me. Whenever you have time for it... well, if I can't make time for my successor, then I'd be one Hell of a lousy teacher. I'll make the arrangements whenever you're ready." Izuku gave a firm nod as he smiled back at his mentor.

"Also I'm curious... about classes here?"

"I'm sure you'll do fine. Nothing too crazy here at Beacon that would be too different than what you did at Combat School. You still got your pen and paper classes, still got your Sparring sessions. The only thing that's different is that every now and then you'll get some practical exercises that'll actually pit you against live Grimm." Toshinori actually grinned a bit as he said that last part but he moved on quickly. "Knowing you and your work ethic and that mind you got there, I don't think you'll do too badly in classes unless you just shunt them off all-together. You'll do fine, I'm sure." Toshinori offered as Izuku nodded a bit... before a slight blush came to his face.

"A-And... Toshinori?" His idol quirked his eyebrow at his sudden change in demeanor as he nervously swallowed a lump in his throat. "C-Can you give me advice about... girls?"

... There was a deafening silence in the room as that question was uttered.

"... Oh... oh. Ooooh..." Toshinori started to sweat bullets as he pulled at his collar. "Well... Hell, why are you asking me, young man? I mean, surely your parents have already given you some advice?" Izuku peeled his lips back into a slight frown as he shrugged.

"I mean... yeah, they have but... I was never any good with girls to begin with... and the girls here at Beacon... Toshinori, they're all gorgeous!" He exclaimed with a very vibrant red hue on his face as Toshinori... actually nodded in some understanding.

"Well I can't say that I don't know how that feeling goes... in my year Glynda Goodwitch was a classmate of mine." Toshinori grimaced as he seemed to think for a bit. "Do you really think you need this kind of advice kid, I mean, seriously..."

"Toshinori, I really want to make a good impression here. If I'm just sputtering and muttering all the time with no idea what to do... heck, I almost alienated Blake before when I first met her because I could barely get two words out. I just really need some advice." Toshinori grimaced as he spoke, the man placing his face in his hand for a moment as he took a deep breath to consolidate his thoughts.

"... Okay... well, think of it like... being the 'opposite' of the Symbol of Peace." Izuku must've looked as confused as he felt because Toshinori immediately launched into an explanation. "So, you know, being the Symbol of Peace is about always smiling. People are scared when the Grimm attack or criminals or the White Fang suddenly appear. You gotta be able to reassure them with a smile and a confident attitude, even if you're secretly scared stiff about all of it."

"Yeah I get that... so wait, is the advice just to act confident? Girls like that?" He winced as Toshinori loudly slapped his forehead.

"Let me finish will ya? And I said it's the opposite of being the Symbol of Peace. Look, people who are scared latch on to hope, even if the person giving it is scared themselves. It's a life raft in tough times... but if you keep trying to 'fake it' in everyday situations... well, it can come off as... desperate or like you're tryin' too hard..." Izuku looked confused again as Toshinori just grinded his head into his hands. "Look, think of it like this... who would you prefer to just walk up and talk to you? Some guy who felt like he had to keep throwing bluster in your face to get you to like him, or a guy who was earnest and upfront with you?"

"Well I mean, I'm not a girl so I wouldn't-"

"It's a basic thing about people Izuku! Girls are just people with different body parts going for 'em, alright?!" Izuku nodded swiftly as Toshinori calmed down a bit, his own face red from embarrassment as he pulled at his collar. "Look... Izuku, you're not the kind of guy who's going to wow a girl with how sure you are of yourself. You don't have that and you really can't fake it. But I've seen how people responded to you over the past couple days and I've known you for months now... your peers you've met so far, Hell, Pyrrha Nikos wants to be your friend and even be on a team with you because of who YOU are. Just keep being earnest and honest and don't worry, you'll be able to handle the whole girl thing just fine. Heck, there's probably a lot of girls out there who'd be fine being with ya."

...

His face went beet red.

"T-Toshinori... I-I-I wasn't... I-I didn't mean like that! I just meant like how do I talk to them without coming off like a spaz!"

...

"What the hell Midoriya!? I'm sitting here sweating bullets trying to give you advice man-to-man and THAT'S all you meant?!"

"AAAAAAAH! I'm sorry! This is so embarrassing!"

"YOU THINK YOU'RE EMBARRASSED, I THOUGHT I'D NEED TO GIVE THE TALK TODAY, HOW DO YOU THINK I'M FEELING?!"

"WHY WOULD I NEED THE TALK MY PARENTS GAVE IT TO ME YEARS AGO! I'M SEVENTEEN NOT A KID!" The cycle of embarrassment just kept moving right along as he and Toshinori spiraled off of each other's embarrassment, only ending when the blonde huntsman just slapped his hands to his face.

"HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT WHEN YOU WORD IT THAT VAGUELY, SERIOUSLY!?"

It took a few moments of the two of them just sitting back and keeping their heads turned away from each other, letting the previous conversation slowly wash away as the both of them fight to put themselves back at ease. Eventually, a question crossed Izuku's mind and... well, the nature of it did cause him to frown a bit as he looked over at Toshinori.

"Toshinori... be honest. Without One For All, what are the odds of me keeping up with my fellow classmates in a fight?" Toshinori finally looked back over to him with those black and blue eyes of his, the man fixing him with a long look before he reached up and rubbed at his chin.

"... Without One For All, it probably wouldn't look good for you kid. Not because you haven't trained yourself hard, Gods know you did, but... these kids here have had the benefit of years of training with Aura backing them up. They've been able to make more progress than you simply because they'd have Aura to help push them along. Plus... well, I'm sure you've noticed how much stronger their Auras are in comparison to your own. The effects it has on their bodies and what it can allow them to do in a fight... well it can't be understated. They have an advantage on you and, for now, it'll be hard for you to keep up in a spar."

Izuku nodded. He figured that was the answer; seeing how Kacchan, Ruby, Pyrrha, Tenya and Blake were able to fight and guessing how good the others are... well, he suspected he might not be able to keep up easily. Or at all, honestly.

"But knowing you, I suspect that won't be the case for long." Izuku looked up, a bit startled, as Toshinori just smiled. "You keep saying it yourself; you're going to work harder than anyone else, because that's what you need to do to be here. You'll do it... and in doing so that'll also strengthen your Aura. And, of course, as you come to master One For All you'll be able to use it to help further close that gap... Hell, maybe one day even go beyond their level." He was a bit taken aback for a moment at just how sure Toshinori sounded about that... but soon enough he found himself smiling and nodding. they both looked out the window and it looked like the sun had pretty much set. "That late already huh? That means the test is about over... which means you need to get your butt out to the ceremony." Midoriya nodded as he got up out of his seat and Toshinori did the same. "Good luck kid... and remember. Everything that's coming, you earned it." Izuku quirked his brow curiously at what Toshinori said but, before he could think too much on it his mentor just gave him a wave and departed, sharing a quick nod with Professor Peach who, in short order, waved him along and guided him to the Ceremony Hall.

* * *

"Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long, Tsuyu Asui and Tenya Iida. The four of you retrieved the Black Bishop pieces... from this day forward you will work together as Team TABY (Tabby). Led by... Tenya Iida." The look of disbelief and concern that crossed Blake's face was quickly lost on Izuku and the rest of the crowd as Tenya Iida immediately snapped to a very exaggerated salute, his glasses practically shining as he stood tall and firm. Before the excited young man could begin to spout off whatever series of thanks or promises to fulfill his responsibilities that he could, his team rapidly ushered him off the stage, Ozpin just smiled and nodded at them before, quite suddenly, Izuku felt a slight push at his back. He turned around and saw that his team was being ushered off and, with a nervous lump in his throat, he begun to walk forward.

He might've suspected that the types of pieces had something to do with what teams would be formed and... well, he certainly wasn't disappointed with the team composition that he'd been put on. He already knew without a shadow of a doubt that Pyrrha, his partner, would be with him and that alone was pretty great. The two got along just fine and he knew that would keep being the case. He had a congenial enough relation with Weiss so he really didn't see any problems there, and Nora? Well, Nora just seemed like a nice person all around. He thought he'd be able to get to know her quite well and, he hopped, he would get along just fine with her as well.

As for leaders? Pyrrha or Weiss would make for solid picks in his opinion, perhaps Weiss more so than Pyrrha. Weiss just seemed to have that aura of command around her, something that demanded you respected her. Pyrrha was a strong fighter but she seemed more inclined to get along and go along with others. Still, either one would be a solid pick in his mind. He couldn't know about Nora but... well, given how Weiss seemed so nervous about her, maybe she wouldn't be as good of a pick.

"Izuku Midoriya, Weiss Schnee, Nora Valkyrie and Pyrrha Nikos. The four of you retrieved the White Rook pieces... from this day forward you will work together as Team MNVW (Mandevilla)."

... Huh... that's... that's odd. **W** eiss **S** chnee, **P** yrrha **N** ikos, **N** ora **V** alkyrie... none of them started with the letter M. The only person whose first or last name did was-

"Led by... Izuku Midoriya."

"... L-L-L-L-L-Led by..." He could feel them. He could feel them pricking at the corners of his eyes. Fight them Izuku! Toshinori's probably somewhere in the audience watching this! He wouldn't want him to cry! It wouldn't be cool to cry! He just got named as the leader of a Team of Hunters! He was the leader! Him, of all people! He almost thought it a mistake for a moment and, with that thought, the tears well up even more as he looked over to Ozpin...

Only to be met with one of the warmest smiles a near-stranger had ever given him.

"Congratulations young man. You earned it."

It was all too much. Defeating his first Grimm, getting such an amazing partner, meeting so many new people who didn't immediately hate his guts, making... friends, coming together with a handful to make a team, killing an Elder Grimm with One For All, passing Initiation and becoming a Huntsman-in-Training, setting on the first step of his journey to achieve his dream of becoming a Heroic Huntsman and Toshinori's pride and words of encouragement all wrapped together into that one and final moment, the capstone to the day.

He was made the leader of a Team.

And Ozpin, Headmaster of the most Prestigious Academy in all of Remnant... just said he earned it.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" He had to be pried out of the floor by his team before they were all able to leave, Pyrrha and Nora just laughing hysterically and smiling as they patted him on the shoulder, congratulating him and just sharing in the mirth. Weiss... well, he couldn't see it himself but she didn't seem to be as into the celebrations as him and the rest of your team were. There was a general cacophony of barely contained laughter but his team is applauded nonetheless, especially by the teachers, as they all left the stage. As he departed, he managed to hear one last thing over the sound of his gushing tears.

"Up next is Shoto Todoroki, Ruby Rose, Katsuki Bakugo and Lie Ren. The four of you retrieved the White Knight pieces... from this day forward you will work together as Team RSBR (Raspberry). Led by... Ruby Rose."

...

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!"

* * *

 **A/N: So yeah, once again, after the people playing along in the Quest picked which other partner pair would pick out their teams (in this case they picked Weiss and Nora) I went ahead and randomly rolled who else would get paired up. In the end, these were the teams and, I have to say, I've always felt pretty satisfied with how this turned out.**


	8. The First Day I

It was a bit of a whirlwind after the teams were announced and they were all are ushered off the stage. The events of the evening rolled fast and hard as Beacon did its best to see to it that Izuku and his team were ready to attend their classes and be full students of Beacon Academy by the next morning . It was all really a lot; first the four of them were quickly ushered around the school in order familiarize themselves with the campus. Now that they were actual, not just potential, students, the staff deemed it acceptable to actually let them know where most things in the school were. Various classes, the dining hall, the kitchen, training rooms for the students (though Izuku noticed they didn't show the training rooms for the teachers that Toshinori had mentioned), and the forge where weapons, armor and other materials could be repaired or tinkered with (closed for the moment but to be open again in the morning). When they had gotten done with the abbreviated tour, the teachers then began to load the students up with their materials.

While Beacon Academy wouldn't provide its students with everything they might have needed, it was a school after all and certain items were prohibitively expensive, it did keep it's students stocked with the basics; books, pencils, notebooks and school sanctioned uniforms. When they had found that Izuku hadn't registered a Scroll with the Academy, a School-Sanctioned Scroll was dropped on top of the pile of his supplies. It was basic, he could tell just by looking at it; messaging functions so he could get in touch with his team and the school, a rather basic CCT browser to look up information or other such things on the fly, and an active connection to the school's network for things like the Sparring Class and to ensure that Beacon knew where he was on campus should an emergency hit.

It wasn't anything fancy, he could probably have bought something more upscale with his own money, but...

'Well, it is my first Scroll,' he began to finger through a Beacon's home page rather mindlessly, 'I guess, it's just kind of cool to have one at all.'

The entire time that was going on, and it went on for a long time for that entire process to go down, Izuku decided to become more familiar with his team. He hadn't met Nora before and it would be good to talk to her...

"So, this mourning, I had a big stack of pancakes. Like a Mountain sized stack. Like fifty fluffy, fluffy pancakes. With about five sticks of butters slathered on top of them all with a whole three gallons of syrup. It was the best breakfast ever. Or maybe this week. Yeah, just this week. Nothing like when Ren makes them. Probably didn't make the batter right, stirred it too long and knocked the lumps out of the batter before cooking. You have to leave some lumps in the batter, that's what makes them fluffy. But still, it was a good breakfast. I mean, it was definitely a big breakfast. Like, not huge or anything, but big. Probably weighed more than Ren. But yeah, mountain of pancakes. I thought I didn't have a chance to finish it, but damn it, I persevered. I just had to keep eating, and with every bite-"

… Or, at the very least, get a few words in between her very rapid fire sentences. It seemed as though that between the two of them, he'd definitely be the more 'listening' part of this pair. Still, Nora was exceedingly friendly and so long as he threw in a word or two she didn't seem to mind that Izuku didn't talk that much.

'This is actually pretty easy,' now that he thought about it, 'Nora does enough talking for two people, which means she doesn't need me to talk. That's going to make it a lot easier to get past my…,' he remembered the several times he freaked out about speaking with the fairer sex, 'issues.'

Though her range of topics could get a little mind boggling at times…

"-and then I reminded Ren, "Hey, in calculating what angle you need to hit that at Beowulf to send it over that branch, you have to use sine in your calculations, not cosine!""

When he talked to Weiss again... there was a sense of strain in the air. It was weird; he had thought that they had a pretty good relationship before this. They'd both talked a couple times and she seemed to be rather approving of his work ethic and how he had contributed to her discussion back in the locker room. Heck, out of everyone, while she seemed more stunned by his victory over the Giant Nevermore, she seemed nonetheless impressed. But now... he didn't know. There was something just beneath the surface here that he just wasn't getting. There was a tension to her own words as she spoke to him...

But she did speak to him. He could see her hesitate but she did answer his questions and even asked a couple questions herself. They're... not exactly 'getting to know you' better questions, they were more questions about his Semblance and why exactly it broke his arm to use it. He explained that he was actually pretty new to not just a Semblance but to Aura in general and, at first, she seemed surprised that he'd been here to begin with... but that surprise slowly turned too. Into a reluctant nod that, despite that, he had managed to pass Initiation. In the end, Weiss' questions about his Semblance did spark a wider discussion about everyone's capabilities on the team. All told it was a rather helpful discussion and it gave him an idea of just what Team MNVW was working with.

It was all a lot to take in but... still, he couldn't help but feel pretty happy with how everything turned out. By the sound of it, Izuku had a very solid team here... now all he had to do was not mess it up and be the best leader for them that he could be and they'd be golden. After today though, he felt up to that challenge.

'After all,' he thought, slowly entering into the dorm building where they would sleep the next four years, 'I've managed to make it into Beacon, to become a Huntsman-In-Training,' his confidence continued to swell, 'Ozpin had enough faith in me to make you a team leader, just as Toshinori had enough faith in you to make me his successor,' he looked back at his team, Nora and Weiss seemingly in a small spat, while Pyrrha noticed him and nodded with a small smile, 'Now I just have three more people that I need to prove that they could have their faith in me. That they can place their confidence in me!'

As they all made their way to their assigned dorm room, everyone looked just a bit bushed, even Nora. It had been a long, long day and everyone was probably looking forward to getting to their own little rooms, putting the last of their things away and just getting one good night's sleep before the start of the next day.

"Okay guys," Izuku casually unlocked the front door to their assigned number, "I want everyone to get a good rest tonight once they get settled in their rooms. We need to be ready for tomorrow."

"Of course"

"That sounds about right."

"No problemo!"

The door swung open.

"Wow, this is a big common room," he more or less began to simply just to think out loud for a bit, "It seems to have it all. Desks, drawers, chairs, beedddddsssss…"

He felt the sweat as it formed on his forehead.

'Four beds,' he turned his head to his side and saw the only door inside the room that was open, which from this angle has a sink in view, 'one bathroom,' he began to shake, 'no,' the situation slowly began to dawn on him, 'NO,' that yes, it did appear that the school grouped a mix of hormonal, emotionally-crazed, super powered co-ed teenagers, and forced them into one room together 'NOOOO!'

Of course, no amount of denial would kill the reality that, yes, Beacon Academy expected him to sleep in this room.

With three, very pretty and very strong girls.

He slowly turned your head as a red glow hit his cheeks and found that Weiss and Pyrrha had a similar shade of red on their own... Nora, however, just looked nonplussed as she walked into the room, dumped her stuff on a nearby counter and just fell flat onto a nearby bed, sighing in relief as she did so.

"You've got to be kidding me..." Weiss muttered under her breath as she rubbed at the bridge of her nose.

"What, do you guys not like twin beds or something?" Nora asked, her voice muffled by pillows as she wriggled around in the mattress to get comfortable.

Izuku, confidence thoroughly murdered by the whims of Ozpin's preferred student residency, tried his best to gain control of himself, and hopefully, the situation, 'Okay. Okay. So Beacon is shoving teams into one room to share and expecting them to just live with it,' Izuku's mind nearly came to a complete halt at the thought of sharing a room with three 'extremely' attractive girls, but he muscled through it, and managed to regain his sense of logic, 'I guess it does kind of make sense.'

'Even with the amount of focus Hunters now have in Urban areas dealing with crime and the White Fang when they make their attacks, it is still a profession that deals with going out into the wilds and dealing with Grimm.'

'Out in the wilds with no walls, no bathrooms, no comforts of modern life. Just the trees, the Grimm and whatever camping gear a team packs. Sure there might be tents but unless a team want to get picked off one by one by the Grimm, privacy isn't going to be the foremost concern. We all will probably be hanging closer than a lot of people. We'll be hunting and being hunted by Grimm, and that'll require some sacrifices in comfort. In that vein, I guess I can see the logic in breaking down those kinds of personal barriers early but in a relatively safe way; after all, while we all do share a bedroom, the bathroom is still closed off and we all still have our closets. There's plenty of room for things to be kept at least somewhat private, more so than there will be when you all start going off on missions…'

It was still embarrassing and it still made his face red but... well, there is a method to this. Still, that's just Izuku... he did have to convince three girls that he was not saying that just because he wanted to perv on them.

'Well... Ozpin picked ne to be leader of this team for a reason right?' he gulped, 'Might as well start trying.'

'Gods this is going to be awkward.'

"L-L-Listen..." He coughed into his fist slightly to try keep his stutter at bay. If he acted too embarrassed by this is might come off the wrong way... "I-I... I know that this is probably going to be pretty weird. Heck, this is the first time I'll be sharing a room with someone period, much less... you know, people of the opposite sex." Weiss and Pyrrha noded as they turn to face him, a suspicious look on the former's face and a curious look on the latter. "... But, well, we're going to be a team of Hunters from here on out. That means that we'll end up in pretty close proximity with each other from now on, especially when we go out for missions in the wild. I can stay in the bathroom while we all get changed and stuff but... well, Beacon's putting us up in a room like this for a reason. Maybe it's part of getting used to the eventual duties of being a Hunter?"

Weiss and Pyrrha's faces went a deeper shade of red by the time he was done and, for a moment, he thought the both of them might just turn or something. That's what happened in these kinds of situations right? Well, when they don't bite his head off or start hitting him for suggesting such a thing, he watched as both of their faces, while clearly still a little uncomfortable, turn toward the room with a thoughtful expression.

"... I suppose I've heard stories about these kinds of living conditions from my... from someone I know in the Atlesian Hunter Academy." Weiss brushed a strand of hair behind her ear as she looked in. "I just didn't imagine it'd be... this early..." Weiss crossed her arms over her chest as she looked in. She seemed apprehensive at best but, eventually, Pyrrha just nodded.

"Still, Izuku has a point. It's something we are going to have to get used to and, well, he's already suggested a way to make it comfortable. He'll do the right thing here... and there's no harm in at least getting ready for this kind of thing." Still, even as Pyrrha spoke, she stroked her arm a bit as she, Izuku and Weiss looked in.

"I really don't get what you guys are making a big deal out of. Renny and I used to sleep near each other all the time before... not like what you're thinking though. We're just friends." Nora muttered from her pillow as the three of you nodded. Eventually Weiss just sighed as she placed a hand to her face.

"Alright... I suppose we don't have much of a choice if Beacon's going to assign us like this." Izuku smiled a bit as he saw Weiss and Pyrrha nod determinedly, though Weiss turned over to look at him with a quirked eyebrow. "Do try to not look so pleased." he flinched a bit comically as the red burns up on your cheeks. Before you can even respond Weiss just shook her head and waves you off. "It's fine, I get it." With that Weiss just walked into the room. While Nora picked the nearest bed to the door, the second bed from the left side of the room, Weiss went to the furthest bed, one in the corner. It seemed that, even agreeing to this arrangement as she had, she was still looking to keep as much space between her and the lone male on the team as she could. Pyrrha agreed to take the bed next to Nora's which left Izuku with the other corner bed.

First things first, getting their things organized. Just because he was living on his own right now it didn't mean he could start living like a slob. Even more so considering that he was sharing a room with three girls. He started unpacking almost immediately and, upon doing so, Nora groaned as she turned her head over to him, looking at him in disbelief.

"Aren't you tiiiired? It's been a long day..." The orange haired girl, normally so exuberant and energetic, whined a bit as he looked over, slightly sheepishly.

"I know but... well, might as well get it done with now, right? We're probably going to be really busy dealing with classes and all that stuff tomorrow. This is probably going to be the best time for me to do this." Izuku saw Nora frown a bit in response to his logic... utterly sound though it may have been. Eventually the bubbly bomber sighed as she managed to kick herself up out of bed.

"... Yeah, if Ren were here that's probably what he'd say too... it'd give him more time to sleep in the morning. Fine, let's be responsible..." Despite her tone of voice he could tell that a little bit of kick returned to Nora's system once she'd managed to get out of bed. Weiss and Pyrrha nodded as they quickly followed his lead, plain approval on the latter's face while... odd mix of emotions seemed to be on the former's. Whenever he caught her looking at him without her noticing, he saw that it's almost as if she was scanning over him like a hawk, analyzing every little move he was making. When she caught the fact that he'd caught her, she seemed to have the decency to look sheepish before snapping her head away and getting back to organizing her own things.

Eventually Izuku managed to get down to his own personal effects at the end of his suitcase and, despite himself, he actually smile. When he was packing up for Beacon, you had imagined that he'd have his own room or living space even after being made part of a team. He knew he'd be homesick... after all, this was the furthest away he'd ever been from Mountain Glenn and it's been the longest he'd ever been away from his home, outside of little camping trips for practical exercises at his old Combat School.

So he brought a few mementos from home. A few books, his bed's comforter... posters of Toshinori. He blushed slightly as you think about what would happen if you ever actually let Toshinori see that you had these. How would he even react?

'You mean, he knows that I'm a fanboy of his, heck, he even signed a page in my Huntsman notebook with his signature before!,' he then looked down at the posters, the frayed edges showing their decade of existence. Still, these are just some of the things that reminded him of home. HE thought that putting them around the room or even hanging them up on the wall might be a good way of staving off homesickness.

He wasn't sure if it was such a good idea now that he was sharing a room with three girls though...

He took a bit of a breath as he grasped at the posters in your bag. Yeah, it's a little goofy and sure he was going to be putting these up in a room with three girls... but they reminded him of home. He was surprised by how much, even now, the homesickness was starting to hit him…

'It might be a good idea to call mom sometime in the next couple days,' now that he thought about it. But before that, he had organizing to do... and some permission to ask. Just because he found yourself 'willing' to put these up didn't mean that it would be right for him to just do so. He was sharing a room after all, no point in being rude and just putting them up without asking his teammates.

"Uh, guys?" He paused a bit as he turned around and looked at the girls, all of whom were putting away their clothes and such as they turned to look at him. "I actually brought a few posters and stuff from my old room back home. You know, something to make a place here at Beacon feel a little more... homey? Would you guys mind if I put it up?" It took a moment for the three to think it over and, unsurprisingly, Nora was the first one to respond.

"Why are you even asking? It's your corner, you can do whatever you want with it!" Nora responded with a bright smile as she nodded her head. Soon enough a thought seemed to cross her mind as she placed a finger to her chin, a small smile forming on her lips. "In fact... I'll be right back!" With that Nora quickly ran out of the room, leaving the door open behind her. From afar, they all can vaguely hear the cry of 'Reeeen, do you still have it?' from down the hall. Weiss sighed as she placed her head in her hands, shaking it a bit.

"Well if Nora's going to jump aboard this... fine. I don't see much of a point but I guess I can't stop you all." Weiss muttered as she continued to put her things away. Pyrrha just smiled as she turned back to Izuku and offered a nod.

"Go right ahead Izuku. I'm afraid I didn't bring much in the way of personal items with me either... perhaps I should call home sometime to see if something can be sent." Pyrrha vaguely muttered to herself as she continued to put things away. Having already put his clothes and everything more important than his personal stuff away, he reached into the bag and started pulling out a couple posters. A few sticky tacks later and there we go... two Toshinori Yagi posters hanging up on his wall, the visage of his mentor, idol and hero staring out. He know knew weird it might seem but... well, it did put him at some ease. This place was already starting to feel a bit like home.

Nora eventually walked back into the room, a smile on her face as she carefully placed a small object balanced on its head on her desk. Izuku might've been expecting something audacious and bombastic, befitting the rather larger than life and talkative young woman but instead what he ended up seeing balanced to carefully on the desk is far more simple. A little wooden hammer, a wide head balanced on a thin handle. The care with which Nora placed it down shows a great deal of love, a smile on Nora's face before she turned to see what Izuku had put up.

"Holy cow, you've got posters of Toshinori Yagi?" With that Pyrrha and Weiss' attention was brought over to Izuku's corner of the room and, indeed, they both seemed a bit surprised at the sight.

"Huh, I knew they made posters these days but I didn't figure people in the actual hunter track would buy them. Seems tacky if you ask me..." Weiss said with a bit of disinterest as he scratched the back of his head.

"Well... Toshinori's kind of my idol and hero. He's what inspired me to become a Huntsman in the first place... I've always thought that the coolest thing you could do was save people. I want people to see my smiling face and feel safe." he offered with a small nod of conviction as you speak. Weiss, at first, seems about ready to dismiss this, probably thinking of Izuku as just some fanboy, when Pyrrha spoke up after smiling.

"I suppose growing up in Mountain Glenn itself just makes that connection run all the deeper, correct?" Both Weiss and Nora paused as they both blink at Izuku wide-eyed. He just nervously nodded as the attention is brought back on you full-scale, sheepishly scratching the back of his head.

"I'm surprised you remember that, what with everything going on in The Emerald Forest." Indeed, to Izuku's memory, he only brought up the fact that he and Bakugou were from Mountain Glenn a couple times.

"Well, you are my partner," there was a small chuckle at the back of her throat, "And besides, you're the first person I really have known from there so it was something to latch on to a bit."

"That's... certainly something..." Weiss muttered under her breath as she looked away, Nora just nodding vigorously as she grins at you.

"Yeah, totally! Not everyday you actually meet someone from the City of The Symbol of Peace. Yeah, I'd totally nerd out over Toshinori too if I came from there! It's kinda cool actually; you grew up in a place that's only around because a Huntsman saved it and you got inspired to become a Huntsman! That's like... I dunno, what would you call it?"

"Poetic, appropriate?" Weiss offered a couple words as Nora just snapped her fingers before she reached over and wrapped an arm around Weiss' shoulders.

"Thanks partner! Poetic, I like the sound of that!"

"... Please get off me Nora."

"Nope."

With that, the rest of the organizing went off without much of a hitch. Nora seemed satisfied with her hammer, Pyrrha made a note to call home for her own personal items and... well, Weiss just seemed to be the odd one out. She didn't seem to begrudge anyone but... well.

'Her space is so... empty.'

* * *

"I still don't like this arrangement."

Pyrrha couldn't help but sigh at Weiss' continued argument, glad Izuku had just stepped into the shower. While she wasn't entirely comfortable with it either, she did understand it was something of a necessity and was willing to shoulder the matter. Now she just had to get Weiss to see that. "I know it's odd, but we need to trust our teammates. And I think a good first step is trusting us all in the same room at night."

"But he could be some kind of pervert! We don't really know anything about him at all!"

"Or each other, for that matter." Pyrrha countered with a small smile, drawing Weiss up short. Nora seemed amused at this back and forth debate, though the way she grinned gave the redhead a little courage to press her attack. "But you trust us because Nora and I are girls. I think if you give him a chance, he'll show you how downright gallant he can be."

This time the young heiress let out a brief chuff of laughter, shaking her head and looking to the bathroom. "Him? Gallant? I can't see green and skinny being knightly in the least."

"I dunno." Nora finally cut in, tapping the corner of her lip with a finger before a devious grin curled her lips. "Let's find out."

"What?"

"Huh?"

Rather then explain, Nora tipped back on her bed and brought the back of her hand up to her forehead, eyes closed as she nearly shouted. "Oh no! Izuku! Heeelp!" She wheeled, leaning back as she fake swooned, perched on her bed as the shower suddenly shut off. The other girls were transfixed by confusion and dawning horror when the door was suddenly thrown open, water still dripping from the young Midoriya's body wearing only a towel and a look of worry.

"Nora? I heard you call for help! Are you ok?" His head was practically on a swivel, examining the door, then the window, then turning his head back to the aforementioned Valkyrie for some explanation. She was oddly silent for a moment, looking him up and down before holding up several pieces of paper.

 **8.5/Ren**

He blinked once, then twice, then looked to Nora in absolute confusion. "...is that a good thing?"

"Oh definitely! Second best in the school so far! Don'cha think so girls?"

"Oh my."

Now THAT got his attention, entire body going stock still as he turned his head to see that, why yes, Pyrrha and Weiss were openly gaping at him while red as Nikos' hair. He could feel his entire body just burn red. "S-S-Sorry!" He managed to stammer out before practically throwing himself into the bathroom again, door slamming shut hard enough to shake the entire wall.

"Ya see Weiss? He came right to the rescue." Nora preened. "And didn't seem all that skinny to me."

Pyrrha was apparently too busy with finally burying her face in her hands to respond, though the Schnee heiress finally snapped back to reality with a dainty cough and tried to ignore her blush as best she could. "Y-Yes, well that just proved he's an idiot. A gullible, stammering idiot with really nice abs." She snorted, staring at the ceiling. "But I suppose even an idiot can be gallant sometimes. Fine. He can stay."

"Yay! I'll go get 'em and tell him the good news!"

"M-Make sure he has on pants!"

"I promise nothing!"

"Oh my!"

* * *

"Okay Izuku, we've all changed, you can come out now."

Izuku took a long, shaky breath as his hand reached out for the door knob to the bathroom.

'Moment of truth.'

He stepped out from the bathroom, dressed in his casual sleeping wear; a t-shirt and a pair of shorts. He figured that he wore these out into the common area last night to sleep in and that went well enough, no point in trying to deviate from what worked there. Still, as he walked out, he was greeted with a sight that turned his face red. He'd already seen Pyrrha in her relatively simple sleep wear last night and the sight of Nora in a black t-shirt with 'boop' written on the front and pink shorts wasn't too much of a shock. Weiss Schnee with her hair drown and dressed in a sleeping gown while likewise a new sight wasn't even what made this feel so awkward all around.

It was that he'd be sleeping in close vicinity to all of them while they were dressed as such.

"Want to stop standing around and actually get ready for bed?" Weiss asked from her corner of the room, sounding a bit annoyed, as he snapped to attention.

"Oh, right, sorry!" Izuku went over to his own bed and started making it a bit, trying to distract himself with some mundane work in order to force his mind off of the situation. Still he came to find that he wasn't all that tired yet, or at least, not to the degree that he'd need to get ready for bed, and he wondered as to what he could do to pass the time till he was ready.

The first thing on his mind was Nora; while the two had talked about her capabilities and what she could bring to the team while they all were touring Beacon Academy, Izuku still didn't feel like he'd actually gotten to know Nora all that well. He knew what she was like and knew she liked to talk but beyond that it was a bit of a mystery. Nodding to himself he managed to steel his nerves as he walked over to Nora's bed, walking past Pyrrha who was combing out her hair, having undone it from her ponytail, as the bubbly bomber was just sitting down with some headphones on, relaxing.

As she spied him approaching he saw that she smiled and pulled her headphones down, giving Izuku a wide grin. "Hey there fearless leader. What's up?" Before he could even speak, he blinked a bit at Nora's nickname, tilting his head to the side.

"Fearless leader?"

"Yeah! Think about it; when Weiss and I saw that Giant Nevermore take to the sky, we just made a mad dash for the Ruins! Even when it was so far out from where we were, everyone was freaking out about what would happen if it came in the middle of the fight... well, not me, cause that would've been exciting, not Ren, cause he's a pretty calm sort of guy you know, and not that Bakugou guy. He just said he'd blow it up. But then we see the Nevermore go *pop* out of nowhere and then figure out that you just went up and punched it!" Nora waved her arms enthusiastically as she retold her group's half of the story, a wide grin on her face. "Sounds pretty fearless if you ask me!"

"H-Honestly? I-I was really freaked out at the time. I mean, I hadn't actually fought Grimm at all before entering the Emerald Forest, much less a Grimm of that size..." He took a bit of a breath to even himself out before he continued with. "But my plan had put Pyrrha in danger to that thing... she'd trusted in my ideas enough to put herself at risk and, in the end, she could've died. I wasn't fearless, I was scared the entire way going up to it... but I had to do something. It was my responsibility to clean up my mess."

Out of the corner of his eyes he spotted Pyrrha smiling softly as she listened in, her own green eyes craned over slightly to watch as he spoke to Nora. Neither of their eyes met and he didn't think she noticed and, before long, she went back to just combing out her hair. Weiss, similarly, was listening in, but with that hawkish expression that says she was analyzing him, as if picking apart his expression for... something. Maybe a hint of a lie? Either way, there's a drop in her expression after a moment before she turned back to face her own corner.

Nora on the other hand? Nora just grinned nice and wide as she shook her head.

"Sorry fearless leader, but that still sounds pretty fearless to me. You're just splitting hairs!" The way Nora said it made it sound like she wasn't going to allow any argument on the subject. Izuku sighed a bit as he shook his head; if Nora was just going to think what she wanted of this regardless, he supposed there wasn't any harm in just letting her. In the meantime, he just looked back at her. Izuku came over here for a reason after all.

"So Nora, you talk about that Ren guy a lot. You two know each other pretty well then?" He asked, a curious tilt to your head. He could vaguely hear Weiss mutter 'oh no' before Nora practically leapt forward onto the bed, sitting on her knees and looking him right in the face.

"Are you kidding? Ren and I are only, like, the best friends ever! We've known each other ever since we were little kids! We've seen a lot of the world together and even decided to become hunters together too! We know practically everything about each other and we always talk, like, always! Renny's also so cool too, like, I mean in the sense that he's chill but he's also cool in the sense that he's like one of the coolest people you'll ever meet. Not to mention how great he is at so much stuff like cooking and camping and killing Grimm and stuff! He always takes care of things too like I knew that if I didn't know where Magnhild was then Ren would always know and sure he might be a little put off for a bit that I forgot but then he'll just smile and hand it over because that's just Ren and he's amazing and fantastic and just the bestest best friend you could ever hope for! Sure we aren't on the same team now and not partners but we're still in the same school and just down the hall from each other so I'll always be able to see him so we can keep being together forever...

But you know, not like, together-together or anything cause it's totally not like that, we're just friends, but it's not like that I don't see how people could see him like that, heck I only gave you an 8.5 out of Ren Izuku because while you do got some stuff going for you, like seriously nice abs, you're still only second to Ren, not that I'm attracted to him like that or anything, whatever would give you that idea and whatever gave you that idea you need to tell that thing no because Ren and I are just the best of friends. Do you understand?"

"... Yeah, I totally understand Nora." Izuku didn't, he absolutely didn't, but he grasped enough that he could pick up on a few details. Nora and Ren knew each other for a long time and they've been around each other for roughly the entire time they knew each other. They were good friends... he thinks and Nora, while obviously aware that she wasn't on his team or his partner, didn't seem all too put off because they were in the same building. Which was good; it would've stunk if Nora were to feel bad because she wasn't around her oldest friend... or, 'friend' or just friend?

Yeah he was confused. Not helping matters was the fact that Nora, in her spiel, had gotten so close that their noses were inches apart from touching. He gulped as he tried to get used to his personal space being so… intruded upon.

"Uhhh, Nora? Could you back up a bit?" Nora Valkyrie didn't even seem to flinch as she noticed, giving a small 'oh' as she nodded.

"Sorry about that fearless leader, just got a little excited I guess." She offered a slight chuckle as she backs back off onto her bed. He just nodded slightly, his face red, as he walked off for a bit. Well that was all pretty nice to know...

'Now I just need to NOT to go back into the bathroom to splash some cold water on my face,' he shook his head, trying to force himself back into control.

As he finished speaking with Nora, he looked over his shoulder and saw that Weiss was still up. She's brushing her hair at the moment but... she seemed distracted. Deep in thought, Izuku'd even say. He looked down to the side as you frown... ever since the ceremony, he had thought that there had been something on Weiss' mind. It was hard to tell, he wasn't exactly good with people, but... it made things a bit strained between the two of them. He was not sure what exactly it was all about but... well, he considered Weiss as someone who was pretty nice when you get to know her. They had had two pretty decent conversations and, once she realized he weren't trying to cozy up to her because she was a Schnee, she even seemed a bit open. There was still that sense of that there but... well, it was muddied now. It wasn't as clear as it used to be, even with how he had performed during Initiation. He took a bit of a deep breath as he walked over toward her bed, getting her attention.

Her eyes were slightly narrowed as she looked Izuku over, as if trying to get a read on him before he even spoke. Still, there was a slight slump to her shoulders as she sighed, placing the brush down at her side.

"Yes... Izuku. Is there something you need?"

"I-I was just thinking... we know everyone's capabilities now, so maybe... tomorrow we could try to figure out some kind of plan? For the team?" Weiss stopped brushing her hair for a moment as Izuku spoke, almost as if stunned into surprise at this having been brought up.

"What?" She asked, turning her head to look at Izuku as he just nodded nervously, scratching at the back of his neck.

"Yeah... I was thinking that since we're all a team now, we should probably figure out some kind of plan for working together, right? Maybe some training and stuff to see how well our abilities mesh? What sort of ways we can combine our talents? I mean, obviously not all the time, we all probably have our own stuff we want to work on, socializing and, you know, studying and stuff but... well I thought it sounded like a good idea. For example, I really don't know that much about Dust and you do... but I figured with the way Nora's Semblance worked... I dunno, maybe you could combo it with Lightning Dust or something?"

Weiss just paused as she looked Izuku over. There was still that look of disbelief on her face, but... eventually, her expression dropped as she nodded.

"Yes... that does sound like a good idea. Brushing up on what we can do as a team would help our performance and raise us in the ranks here... not to mention how it would help us when we do eventually encounter Grimm. I think that sounds... like an acceptable thing to discuss tomorrow. It's a little late now." Weiss brushed out her hair a couple times as she thought. "As for that... I don't know what to think about super-charging Nora anymore than I've already seen her but... well, it does sound effective..." Weiss said to herself as she continued to brush her hair. "We can discuss all of this tomorrow though. It is rather late, don't you agree?" Izuku nodded his head in agreement with her, finally yawning. It seemed like exhaustion had just now caught up with him, though that had been the hope when he decided on a few things to burn time.

"Alright, night Weiss. Night everyone." He got a few goodnights as he turned back to his bed. As he turned he swore he saw Weiss almost open her mouth to speak again, though when he turned more fully he saw her mouth firmly closed as she finished out brushing her hair. Turning back forward Nora gave Izuku an... odd smile and a nod as she slumped over onto her side and practically fell right asleep. Pyrrha was already in bed and sleeping pretty peacefully herself. Yeah... sleep sounded great right then.

He made sure to set his alarm and, before his head even hit the pillow, he was pretty much fast asleep.

* * *

 **E/N: In this chapter we have a delightful piece by Preventer Squall titled "An Indecent Knight". I would point it out, but the title should give it away. Something I will point out is that it is both the story's and the quest's first Outtake. Well technically it's the second since all of the Partner introduction scenes you saw were technically an Outtake, but since the Author wrote it, I'm not counting it. Except I do count it as the first Outtake in my spreadsheet but... yea.**

 **-Shovern**

" **An Indecent Knight" was a mark of things to come. Gorilla_Fingers read it, congratulated Squall on it, and then offered to make it canon, or get a stat increase for Izuku. After agreeing to make it canon, the thread began to light up with a bunch of other writers making snippets to help try and expand the story beyond Izuku. Some will be sad, some serious, and quite a few will be pretty dang funny.**

 **-Wind-Waker**

 **A/N: Indeed. I hadn't really expected An Indecent Knight but, ye Gods, was I excited to see it once I realized what had just happened. I was more than happy to reward someone for their hard work and, given that it was such a fun addition, making it canon just seemed like a breeze to me.**

 **On a different note, given all the people bringing it up, I figured I'd go ahead and shoot down the idea of Izuku getting a harem before you guys get too ahead of yourself; that isn't going to happen. Hope those of you who really wanted a harem will stick with the story regardless but if not... with, c'est la vie.**


	9. The First Day II

***Beep**Beep**Beep**Beep*Be-***

Izuku quickly reached a hand out and turned off his alarm as he looked out at the rest of his teammates. Nora shifted a bit and there was a slight whine from Weiss but no one seemed to wake up. Izuku smiled a bit sleepily as he looked back over at his alarm.

'Six O'Clock in the morning... time to get up.'

Izuku yawned to himself as he sat up out of bed, stretching his body and popping a few joints as he did so. His first class wasn't until Nine O'Clock, Grimm Studies 101 with Professor Peter Port. He brushed the sleep out of his eyes as he quickly kicked the covers off his bed. Thinking of a quick morning routine for after he brushed his teeth and slapped some water on his face.

He yawned to himself as he got up and got into the bathroom. There would be no point in taking a shower now, after all he'd just end up getting sweaty and need to take one later this morning, but getting the other essentials out of the way would be a good way of waking up. He took his workout clothes into the bathroom with him, just in case the sound of him changing would wake up anyone else... rather not have a repeat of last evening, thank you Nora. As he did his business and got changed he walked out and gave himself a quick stretch, looking out at the other three... it is a bit early and they are sleeping but... well, there was no harm in asking right? Now, how to go about this...

He was very cautious about it. A few shaken shoulders to try to rouse them just enough to ask his question but not enough to knock them out of sleep entirely. If he 'couldn't' wake them up at all then that was probably as good a sign as he was going to get that they weren't coming with him this morning. His attempts didn't go as horribly as he might have feared but they were largely unsuccessful. Starting with Weiss, the Heiress blearily glared at him halfheartedly before turning over in her bed and tucking herself back in, murmuring something about how it was way too early to get started today. Nora was even worse; he counted that as the first time he would nearly lose his hand when, upon trying to lightly rouse her from her sleep and ask her to go running, the girl seemingly reflexively tried to bite his hand, murmuring something in her sleep about a pancake breakfast.

Just as he thought he was about to strike out entirely, he found that his efforts were not completely in vain, as he had gotten Pyrrha to raise her head off her pillow and to blearily look over at him.

"Um, I don't mean to bother you," he waved his hands in panic, seeing how her eyes were a dull void, and that she was seemingly smacking her tongue on the roof of her mouth, "But, well I'm about to go for a ru-"

"Gimmeaminutetagetready..." The drowsy, almost drunken tone of her sleep confirmed to him that she was probably not all the way awake yet herself. He nodded, deciding to give her a couple minutes.

'She's probably going to go back to sleep,' he thought, pensively standing outside the door, 'Not that I can blame her. I'll give her a couple more minutes, and when she doesn't come out I'l-'

The door creaked open, and out walked Pyrrha, yawning while wearing a different t-shirt and a larger pair of shorts, but that wasn't what confused him. No...

It's that she was wearing her normal shoes that slightly threw him. Sure, so was he, but his normal shoes were just pretty standard hunter fair, red shoes that were pretty much thick as boots. Hers had heels...

Then again, she had run around the Emerald Forest in those heels all day yesterday and even performed those jumps with them so maybe he was overthinking this a bit.

"So, how are we going to do this?" He was shaken from his thoughts as he looked over at her, shrugging a bit as he stretched while they both walked down the hall to the exit of the dorm.

"Well, before when I didn't have my Aura unlocked, I'd just run at kind of a normal pace. It'd usually get exhausted at the end of an hour or so and that'd be my allotted time. Now that I'm working with Aura though... I just don't get tired from running like that, even if it's over an hour. So I figured I'd just sprint this morning and see if I worked up a good sweat that way." Pyrrha nodded slowly at Izuku's thinking, stretching herself out as well.

"Then I'll go ahead and do the same. See how it turns out." Izuku imagined she was going to beat the pants off of him, having even more of an Aura than he did and the strength, speed and durability that comes with it, but this wasn't about Pyrrha so much... well it was because she was trying to get a good run in too, but he had to think about getting himself a good work out. So he nodded and eventually they both reached the outside. They agreed to just do laps around Beacon itself for an hour, sprinting as hard as they can for as long as they could, and just jogging the rest of the way if they get tired. From there it's off to the races... well, as much of a race as Izuku could have with someone who has awakened their Aura.

He didn't know how it happened. He didn't even think that he could repeat this result if he ever tried again in his life. When he bent down and got into a stance, ready to sprint for as long as he could for an hour, he wasn't even thinking about how he'd do versus Pyrrha. He wasn't even imagining that he was going to outrun someone who'd had an Aura way longer than he did. Even now as he would try to push his Aura to the very limit, to get as much out of it as he could, he didn't think he'd have what it took. He didn't think he'd be able to outrun someone who had their gifts for longer than he had. He didn't think that his current level of hard work would be enough...

* * *

Pyrrha was not sure what to think of Izuku, her new partner and team leader. He was so quiet, and had a stammer besides, that it was a surprise whenever he talked about emulating his hero, Toshinori: his head lifted up, he met people's eyes, his shoulders straightened up from their habitual cringe and the words flowed. It was exactly like a cloud being blown away from the sun. When he got onto Huntsman business, though, they kept flowing, sometimes devolving into a stream of muttering that was one part intimidating and three parts creepy; she'd went on some messageboards devoted to the Mistral Tournament, hoping to connect with some fans - once. Seeing that some fan had mocked-up an entire line of Pyrrha-branded products to 'honour' her was... awkward, and at first she did not quite believe that Izuku wasn't the same.

Yet even through the nerdery, there was an inner honesty that shined out, enough that he could calmly make up a team without him in it because he didn't see himself as that good. (At the time she was impressed by his humility. After the forest, though, she's got a good idea who demolished his sense of worth & self-esteem. If she ever got her hands on Bakugou...) Or make stammered, clunky statements seem real.

'I mean, what kind of boy actually walks up to a girl in her pyjamas and introduces themselves with no other ulterior motive than to make friends? And means it?'

'Apparently Izuku.'

The same person who hung up Toshinori posters... took on three Beowolves and, oh yes, also defeated a giant Nevermore with _one punch_ , then apologised for his performance before she could because his plan put her in danger. The fact that he'd broken his arm in the process had been unimportant to him.

The boy who made that plan with nothing but a quick description of Blake and Tenya's abilities... still called his bully "Kacchan" and considered him a sort-of friend. Admired him, even.

The teenager who had trouble speaking to people, didn't have a gram of guile and fought off tears when happy or sad... came running when anyone was in trouble. She was half sure that he'd do this for anyone or any _thing_ \- stray cats might not be out of the question.

Her partner for the next four years, who underestimated himself at every turn, and had only just awakened his Aura had just left her in his dust; not because he wanted to beat the Invincible Girl but because he was pushing his limits. Because he wanted to be a hero.

Pyrrha loved fighting. Matching wits with an opponent, reading them, playing off their idiosyncrasies, feeding them fake openings, looking for her own... while she could do without the fame, it was a part of her. She loved the quiet burst of satisfaction when she got a perfect hit in. But going to Beacon was only partially about escaping the fame; becoming a Huntsman was secondary or even tertiary to finding new opponents.

Seeing Izuku, though, was reawakening thoughts she once had of being a figure like Toshinori. She'd run around in the playground when she was little, pretending to be him and slaying mud-Grimm to save the bottle village - who hadn't? - but perhaps... it would be a far greater challenge to be as much of a hero as Izuku wants to be.

She picked up the pace and tried to catch up.

* * *

He didn't know until after it was all said and done. He didn't know because of what he was doing. As he pumped his Aura through his body, relieving tired muscles and pushing them on, just doing his best to sprint the whole damn way through this hour, he didn't notice it. His eyes were always ahead, always watching the stretch of campus in front of him, making sure he didn't trip or fall or run into anyone. Perhaps, somewhat distantly, he may have noticed that Pyrrha didn't pull ahead of him. Maybe, distantly, he noticed that Pyrrha didn't lap him. At the time, he was just too focused on himself. On running as hard and as fast as he could to try to get to where he needed to be. Running harder and harder, pulling more of himself into this, as he tried to better himself. He couldn't just run normally anymore, not with Aura... he had to keep pushing himself. He had to work three times harder to make progress, to deserve to be there. He'd do it in all things. Even something as simple as his morning run.

It wasn't until the hour was up. It wasn't until the alarm knocked him out of his trance and found his lungs gasping for breath, trying as hard as they could to pull air into them, that he finally stopped and looked around. It was while he felt his muscles burning in his arms and legs, despite his Aura. It was only then that he noticed that... Pyrrha was nowhere in sight. At first he just assumed that sometime during the run she had pulled ahead of him and just blitzed by, that she was halfway around campus ahead of him and just running to eventually get back to their starting point.

And then she finished her run, and landed right beside him.

She wasn't nearly as winded as Izuku. Even running as fast as she could for an hour straight, he could tell she had a lot more gas left in the tank than him. Sure, a fine layer of sweat covered her brow, but her breathing wasn't nearly as heavy or as labored. He noticed a wide, pretty impressed smile on her face as she looked him over.

When she told him that, from the first moment of their run, he had pulled out ahead of her and just kept on going and she hadn't even seen him for most of the hour, he thought she was kidding at first. Then there was that genuine smile and he couldn't help but laugh himself.

That...

He didn't even know what to think of it, so he just laughed some more.

As they both took a lap to just regain their breath and recover, Izuku started going over the rest of his plans for the morning. He realized that, right around now, his mom was probably getting ready for work. He wouldn't have much time to call her during most of the day today, as she would either be working or he would be in class, so he figured that now would be a good time to get that call in.

"Hey Pyrrha." He finally spoke up, Pyrrha looking down toward him as he reach into his pocket and pulled out his Scroll. "I'm... going to make a call home. Tell my mom about how I passed Initiation. How about you and the others go ahead and use the bathroom while I'm out here. That way you all can get dressed and stuff before I come back and then, after I'm done, we can get breakfast before class."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Pyrrha said with a slight chuckle and a nod as she walked off. "Have fun!"

"I will!" He shouted back, smiling to himself before he looked down at his Scroll. A deep breath and some button pushes later and he found that the phone was ringing. He swallowed a bit of a lump in his throat as he realized he had so much to tell his mom and, before he could think too much of it, he heard her pick up on the other end.

" _Hello? This is the Midoriya residence. I'm afraid you've caught me as I'm heading out and-_ "

"Oh, sorry mom, I didn't realize it was that late. I can call back later tonight if-"

" _IZUKU MY BABY! No honey, stay on the line, I have some time!_ " He winced a bit as his mother shouted for him to stay on but he smiled. It seemed like his mom was really looking forward to this call. She must've been worried, so he was glad he got the chance to actually talk to her before it got too far along. " _Izuku, it's so good to hear from you! I was worried when I didn't get a call last night, I thought maybe something happened! Are you okay? Are you hurt? Do you need me to come over to pick you up? Do-_ "

"No, no, mom! Everything's alright. I'm okay. I didn't get hurt... too much and I'm alright. I don't need you to pick me up either..." Izuku scratched the back of his head a bit as he smiled, speaking into the device. "Mom... I passed Initiation. I've been accepted into Beacon Academy!"

" _... W-What?_ " For a moment, he was really worried. His mom just went quiet for a moment and then, at the end there... Oh Gods, it sounds like she's about to start crying. Before he could move to assuage her though, he heard the crying. He almost thought he'd done something wrong but then he heard it. " _MY BABY DID IT! OH MY GOD, YOU'RE GROWING UP TOO FAST! YOU'VE GOTTEN INTO THE SCHOOL OF YOUR DREAMS AND YOU'RE GOING TO BE A HUNTSMAN! IZUKU, I'M SO PROUD~!_ " It was a weird thing. His mom sounded like she's simultaneously the proudest she had ever been of him and devastated at the same time. So incredibly happy that he was achieving he dreams but also so amazingly and sad that that meant he was, in her words, growing up too fast. She sounded ridiculously happy and ridiculously sad at the same time...

Whenever people asked about Izuku's own mood swings and how he could be so teary but so happy at the same time, he usually told them that he got it from his mom.

" _OOOH! You have to tell me about how it's going Izuku! Was the Initiation scary? Did they make my baby fight those horrible monsters, have you gotten a team yet, are they nice?_ " His mom bombarded him with questions and he struggled a bit under the weight of them all. The last one in particular made him a bit nervous... it was not so much about his team itself, they are very nice even if Weiss was acting a bit odd...

He didn't know how exactly to tell his mom about the fact that he was on a team with three girls.

'Okay, okay. So... mom is going to learn about my team one way or the other eventually,' he thought, 'I can't just keep it from her that I'm on a team with three girls forever, that's just impractical. It'd have to come up eventually or she'd find out sooner or later. There's no way that I'd be able to keep that kind of detail in the dark forever... or can I?'

'...'

'Nah, probably not.'

So he scratched the back of his head as a bit of red tinged his cheeks, trying to think of the best way he could break the news to her. He was not entirely sure 'how' she was going to react but... well, there was only one way to find out.

"It's going pretty well mom! I actually think I'll like it here a lot. Yeah Initiation was a little bit scary but I ended up getting a good partner to get through it with... it made the Grimm a bit easier to deal with but still, they were pretty threatening." He heard a slight gasp on the other end of the line and the sound of his mother getting a bit weepy. "But hey, you know, I passed and I got through it so it's okay! Like I said, I got a pretty great partner during it and yeah, I even have a team now... heck, I'm the leader of it."

" _MY BABY'S THE LEADER OF A TEAM OF HUNTERS?! OH MY GOODNESS IZUKU I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!_ " He had to back away from the phone for a moment as his mother simultaneously shouted for joy and wailed with tears into the line, but he smiled as he brought his ear back to it. " _Oh you have to tell me all about them Izuku, I hope they're nice people._ "

"Oh yeah mom, they're great. They're all really nice and really cool. Like there's my partner, Pyrrha Nikos. She's probably the strongest person in our class right now mom. Like, seriously, she's a really strong fighter and her semblance is super cool. We just got done jogging for an hour and that was pretty fun."

He heard a slight hum of acknowledgement from the other end of the line and he could practically imagine his mother listening with rapt attention as she smiled.

"Then there's Nora Valkyrie, another teammate of mine, she's really friendly too but also... like, really energetic. We're pretty much opposites in a way; as much as I spend time not talking she probably spends time talking. But she's really nice and actually pretty easy to listen to... and she wields this giant hammer of all things! Like it's not even a thing to her!"

He heard another 'hmmm' but this one seemed slightly more... concerned? He thought? It was hard to place it and he didn't want to stop to ask, lest he end up stumbling into something, so he kept on going.

"Then there's Weiss Schnee and yeah, that Schnee. I... I think she's still getting used to the idea of me being the team's leader, but we're going to be talking about team training and tactics today so I hope it'll go well. Plus she was pretty nice and polite before the teams got set up so I'm sure it'll work out. Plus she seems pretty smart, so I'm looking forward to what we'll all think up together. That... that about sums up my team mom."

The line is dead silent on the other end and, for the briefest of moments, he began to worry that something had happened or he had said something that hurt his mom. However, just before he could ask-

" _Izuku, honey... it... it sounds like you're on a team with three girls._ " He swallowed a bit nervously as his mom spoke up. Well, he supposed he had seen this coming and he did throw around their genders pretty freely. He was going to be straightforward with this one way or another... still, he had kind of hoped that he mom wouldn't directly bring it up.

There went that hope.

"Y-Yeah mom, all my teammates are girls... and uh, we're rooming with each other. It's been going alright so far, but-" He heard a thud on the other end of the line and the sound of the phone scattering across the floor of his home. "MOM?! MOM ARE YOU OKAY?! MOM WAKE UP! PLEASE WAKE UP?! YOU HAVE WORK SOON MOM, PLEASE DON'T BE PASSED OUT I'M SORRY!"

A few minutes of worrying later and his mom did eventually come to. The conversation from there took on an almost comical turn; his mom immediately set on to reminding him about how she had raised him, about how to be proper around young ladies and how to always knock before going into their room or bathroom to make sure that no one's in there and that if they say they need their privacy to give it and please Izuku don't rush these things along she's heard about what happens in these teams when it's mixed sexes and honest to goodness hewasnotreadytobeadadandshewasnotreadytobeagrandmaandshewasnotevensureifshe'dlikeanyofthesegirlsand-

When he finally got his mom to stop panicking around the same time he stopped being frozen in embarrassment from his mother's ranting with a rushed of hurried, nearly shouted assurances that no, he wasn't going to impregnate a teammate and that she had nothing to worry about. He was sure that other members of the staff and early bird students who might've been catching this conversation were looking at him like a weirdo but he had to get his mom to calm down. Eventually she did and it was a rather tremendous relief when the two were able to get onto far less embarrassing topics of conversation.

"Alright mom, I think I should be heading back now. Breakfast is starting soon and after that will be my first classes. I promise I'll call you at least once a week to tell you how things are going okay?"

" _... Izuku, honey..._ "

"Yeah mom?"

" _... I'm sorry._ "

The words stopped Izuku dead in his tracks as he heard them, his expression somewhat frozen as he looked at the Scroll in his hand. "What?"

" _... When we were told about your condition, I had honestly given up any hope that you'd ever accomplish your dream. I did my best to smile and to support you in your decisions of course, even letting you go to combat school but... there was always a part of me, deep down inside, that felt like it knew nothing good would come of it. That you'd eventually have to stop... that you'd have to give up on your dreams. I didn't... I didn't believe in you. I didn't have faith in you Izuku, and I'm so sorry for that._ "

"Mom... i-it's okay, really, you didn't... no one could've known I'd end up with Aura and a Semblance..." He felt a bit misty-eyed as he spoke. Yeah, no one really could have seen that coming primarily because, by all accounts, it was impossible. Only Toshinori and the power of One For All made it feasible... and he was still struggling to make it fully his own.

" _It doesn't matter Izuku! I'm your mother... if I'm not going to have faith in my son and his dreams them who will... how could I have expected you to live up to any potential you had if I didn't have faith in you._ " He heard his mom get weepy on the other end of the line and for a moment he felt the tears prick at the corner of his own eyes. " _From now on... I'm going to be behind you 100% Izuku. I'll support you no matter what you decide to do or where your life goes... starting with the end of this week._ " He heard his mom wipe her sleeve across her face, brushing it across the receiver on her end, and could practically imagine the smile on her face. " _I'm going to start your allowance back up. Now that you're attending Beacon, I know that you'll need money for things like supplies... it won't be much but... I want to be able to help you Izuku._ "

"... Thank you mom. This means more to me than you know." Izuku meant it too. Knowing that his mom was in his corner, that she'd had the utmost faith in him... even more than what little money he might get, that was something that would help keep him going when things got tough here at Beacon.

" _Okay Izuku well it sounds like you need to get back to your team and I need to get to work. Have an amazing day dear! I love you!_ "

"I love you too, mom." With that the line clicks off and he removed his Scroll from beside his face. He wiped the forming tears away as he looked out to the horizon with a determined smile, out where he knew somewhere, beyond the forests and mountains, lay Mountain Glenn. With a firm nod he slipped the Scroll back into his pocket and ran back to his dorm room.

* * *

Having already woken up Pyrrha to join him on his run, he found that when he got back to his dorm room, knocking and making sure that they were all decent before he entered of course, after his call with his mom. He quickly walked past them after grabbing his own Beacon Uniform, knowing that he probably didn't smell particularly pleasant at the moment, and grabbed a quick shower. Soon enough he was up, dressed and out and ready to go. The uniform was a little bit different from his old school uniform, this one came with a tie, but he found that the change isn't so different as to throw him off. Thanks to his efforts his team actually had a nice chunk of time to go and get breakfast before the first class. Certainly a relief; after that run and talking to his mom he knew that he certainly was hungry and he couldn't imagine the others were feeling much less famished, especially Nora. Going to his first class hungry would've been a pretty huge ordeal, though thankfully one they managed to avoid.

As they arrived in the dining hall after collecting their food, they weren't at all surprised to find that they weren't the first team here, as there seemed to be a gathering of other students that made it for breakfast. They all look tired or wiped out of course, it being the first day of classes, but they're all mostly here.

"I swear Tenya, you're just unflappable aren't ya? Spent the night with three very pretty looking young girls like us and you didn't even flinch."

"Well of course I didn't! As a leader of mixed-sex team it is my duty to show propriety in all things! This includes proper behavior towards those of the opposite gender to my own and ensuring everyone's comfort! Anything less or any behavior that was less than scrupulous would be a deplorable failing on my part!"

Between Tenya's loud declarations and his wild gesturing Izuku and MNVW found his team pretty easily, a smile on his face as he saw the recognizable faces of Blake, Yang and Tenya at their table. Izuku looked at his own team and they seemed up to joining with some familiar faces for breakfast as well, so they all start to walk over there.

"Yeah but... c'mon, it's no fun!"

"W-What? What are you saying Miss Xiao Long?"

"Ugh, please Tenya, I said Yang was fine. And I mean it's no fun teasing you if you're not even going to flinch! I mean, I can't get my kicks out of my awesome puns because Tsu will just hit me over the back of the head anytime I try."

"Justifiably so I'd say." Blake spoke up as she flipped a page in her book. "Your puns are hardly awesome Yang." The blonde of the team just stuck her tongue out playfully at Blake as she said that.

"So I just thought, you know, I could have a little fun teasing our male leader about the situation. You know, liven it up a little bit... but you're so serious Tenya! Where's the fun in teasing someone who just won't react." It was at that moment that Tsuyu noticed their approach and waved slightly. That brought Tenya, Blake and Yang's attention over to his group as well and Izuku saw the team of four smile, though Blake's cooled slightly when her eyes met Weiss', as they all waved at Izuku. Izuku tried to wave back but... well, this topic of conversation felt 'really' awkward for him. Considering what happened last night...

Oh. Oh no... he could feel the heat rushing to his cheeks! He tried to fight it as best he could because he saw that Yang's looking right at him. She stares at him with those lilac eyes of hers and, for a moment, he had hoped she'd forgotten how much of an awkward mess he was when he first met her the day before...

That quickly went out the window when he saw the downright 'predatory' expression that comes over Yang's face. Like a jaguar that's found prey to play with.

"Well howdy there Izuku~" Yang intoned in a sing-song manner as the red finally hit his face. "Did you see anything interesting last night slugger?"

'Okay Izuku just... just stand your ground. Don't run, don't sweat, don't breath, don't even flinch. Girls, they can smell your fear. The second you show Yang Xiao Long that you can, in fact, be 'very' easily teased then that will be the nature of your relationship with her from this moment on. You just have to hold you composure long enough for her to get bored and-'

"Honestly, we saw more of him than he saw of us last night."

...

The silence between the eight of them was 'deafening'. Weiss and Pyrrha's faces almost immediately started burning red, Pyrrha's face giving a hair a good run for it's money in the 'deep red' department, while Weiss' pale features light up like a hot iron. Tsuyu Asui just looked over at the four of them with that deadpan expression of hers only being marred by two round blushes on her cheeks, a slight 'ribbit?' escaping her lips as she looked at them all curiously. Blake has dipped her book down just a bit so that she can look over the top of it at them all and Tenya and Yang are just staring, mouths agape.

...

"So what's greeny packing Nora?"

"Yang!"

"Not as skinny as he looks; fearless leader's got himself some abs!"

"Nora!"

"Seriously? Abs? How many?"

"YANG!"

"Six of 'em."

"NORA!"

"Holy cow, I could tell you were hiding something under there when we were all sleeping in the hall there slugger, but you're rockin' a six pack under that?"

'Oh please, someone, kill me right now.' At that point he'd have welcomed the Giant Nevermore coming back to life, ripping the roof off of the dining hall and then taking him in its talons, carrying him off to sweet, sweet oblivion. Eventually Tenya just slammed his hand on the desk, his own cheeks thoroughly red as he waved his hands about.

"MR. MIDORIYA! As the leader of a team of huntresses I find the fact that you would expose yourself in such a manner to be completely contemptible! I greatly respected you back in the Emerald Forest but to hear that you've acted in such an unscrupulous-"

"No, no, it isn't like that Tenya! I called for help while he was in the shower and he ran in with a towel on! He thought we were in trouble and ran to try to save us!" Pyrrha and Weiss buried their face in their hands as Nora just kept talking, reminding them of the horribly uncomfortable moment from last night and doing so loud enough, between herself, Yang and Tenya, for EVERYONE to hear. Tenya seemed to pause as he took in this information, before rapidly re-adjusting his glasses.

"I must apologize Izuku. I should have known that a man such as yourself who showed such strength of character back in during Initiation wouldn't ever act in such a manner! More than that, I mistook an accident of you attempting to BE a good team leader by protecting your teammates and helping them to be the unscrupulous act of a flashing pervert! Please, accept my humble apologies!" Tenya Iida bowed to him over his stupid, gullible attempt to run in and help his 'distressed' teammate with nothing but a towel on.

Oh God it was even worse than when he was angry with Izuku. At least when he was angry with him, he could feel scared about what he might say or do or the fact that he might lose a friend. Now the fear is gone and his emotions were all circling right back to being completely embarrassed!

"Wow, sounds pretty heroic..."He turned his gaze over to Blake and as she noticed his gaze she quickly pushed her book back up over her eyes. He didn't fail to notice the bit of red that was on her cheeks before she hid behind her book, nor the amused quirk to her lips.

"How embarrassing, ribbit. Sounds like it's pretty awkward for you guys."

"Nah, fearless leader's been great about it!" Nora smiled as she wrapped an arm around his shoulder, his face going even further red. Yang Xiao Long, in the meanwhile, just grinned animalistically as she looked at the three young girls.

"Man, here I thought Izuku was the lucky one for getting paired up with a bunch of lovely young women. Turns out I was wrong; you guys are the lucky ones who ended up with the eye candy! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!"

He tried his best to suffocate on his food just so that he didn't have to sit around and keep listening to this conversation. Yang kept poking and prodding, asking for details and just poking fun at Izuku for being eye candy while asking if she could get a show and poking fun at Pyrrha and Weiss for their obvious embarrassment and asking if they seemed to approve as much as Nora. Nora, the cause of this horrible headache, had just settled in to have her own breakfast, a giant stack of pancakes, as she amicably chatted with everyone else. On the bright side at least he wasn't Yang's sole target here... now Pyrrha and Weiss got to join in too.

Fantastic.

* * *

 **E/N: In this chapter the visit into Pyrrha's mind was via acksed's "The Warrior and The Hero", which was the sixth Canon outtake. If you're wondering about the jump from outtake 1/2 to 6, well... With over 160 Canon outtakes, it was decided that some level of culling would be necessary, lest one of the editors(me) breaks into tears at the prospect of Line editing 180K words on top of the 900K in the main body itself.**

 **-Shovern**

 **The other reason is just that some outtakes would have not been useful to the story itself. They were either too silly to really matter, or went down plausible paths that were not explored in the future, or later contradicted. We'll also need to cut some more redundant stuff from the main posts as well, in order to avoid too much repetition.**

 **-Wind-Waker**

 **A/N: The contradictions were, thankfully, pretty slight and I managed to keep the details mostly going in my head. I'm just kind of thankful that, between the game I've been writing and all the material that hasn't been written by me that I've needed to memorize that I haven't made such large errors yet.**

 **I feel like this chapter is also pretty special for those who wrote omakes as the updates in question that made it up, as you can see, included an effect from Preventer Squall's An Indecent Knight. It was proof that the promise of an outtake being made canon wasn't just hot air but that sufficiently well written or fun material could have an actual, tangible impact on the story of the series. Needless to say, this has created a lot of fun stuff that you'll be seeing more of in the future.**


	10. The First Day III

It's amazing what a little embarrassment... okay, a lot of embarrassment, can do for a person. First off, it made time go by incredibly slow. Like, really, really slow. Forcing Izuku to live every moment of his torment as Yang came up with as many jokes as she could (some of which earned her a tongue slap to the back of the head from Tsuyu, which gave him some moments of reprieve as Yang's intent to embarrass was momentarily supplanted by her need to defend her puns). Despite this, he could tell that Yang at least meant well. It isn't the mean-spirited bullying he received back at Mountain Glenn that's so much laughing 'at' him. Heck, there are a few times where even Yang seems to blush when Nora talks about what happened and how he looked. No, Yang's just laughing it up over an embarrassing accident and not really meaning any harm.

It doesn't stop his face from feeling like it's been set on fire however. Not one bit.

It does distract everyone from noticing that Team RSBR hadn't shown up for breakfast. Heck, it was only a couple minutes before all of their first shared class, Grimm Studies 101, started that Tenya even brought up the fact that their other sister team hadn't shown up yet. Before anyone could even get really concerned, the door to the classroom busted open as two figures jumped in followed calmly by two others. The four members of Team RSBR all got into the room, Ruby Rose and Kacchan huffing and puffing slightly while Shoto Todoroki and Lie Ren just walked in quite casually.

"Ren! Hey Ren! Good to see you! I didn't see you at breakfast Ren! You missed pancakes Ren!" Lie Ren smiled softly as he looked to the source of Nora's voice, smiling back at the wildly waving bubbly bomber. Lie Ren seemed to look over to Kacchan, Ruby and Shoto and there was a quick exchange shared between them. Everyone else was muttering so it was a bit hard to hear at first, but then Kacchan just scoffed.

"Swear, first the beds and now seating arrangements? You all really like concerning yourselves with stupid inane crap huh? I don't care where we sit let's just get to it!" Kacchan barked out over the murmuring of the crowd, Shoto, Ren and Ruby sighing as they all walked down. They took a set of seats that were just behind his own team's, Ren's lining up so he was sitting right behind Nora. It wasn't long before Team TABY ended up also changing their seating arrangements with another team's; it took some prodding from Yang to ask Tenya if she could please sit next to her baby sis and, while he was at first against upsetting order being established in class, it didn't take long for him to fold when Tsuyu and Blake said they were fine with the idea.

So the twelve of them sat in a handful of row of seats, Team RSBR sandwiched in-between Izuku's Team and Team TABY and, for the rest of the pre-class period, they all just either caught up or, in the case of Kacchan, did their best to ignore the conversations going on all around them.

That's when the professor finally walked into the room...

'Oh. Oh jeez! I can't believe it!' Izuku suspected it when he saw the name on his schedule but he thought it could've just as easily been some other Port. After all, it wasn't an uncommon last name. Then he saw it hanging up on the wall; Blunderbuss, a gun with two axe heads in the stock of the weapon, difficult to aim but easy enough to switch between the two modes of. An old classic made before the time of Mecha-Shift capabilities in weapons and one that was still only in ready use by one Huntsman. Still, it was only when the man himself, Peter Port, walked into the classroom that he knew for certain. Peter Port! He was an old huntsman sure, from the age before Mecha-Shift weaponry became the norm and before the age when Toshinori turned Huntsmen from grim exterminators to Heroes, but still, it was a very venerable Huntsman teaching his class.

"Holy woah... Peter Port. The guy's famous for successfully capturing the only live Ursa Major to be brought into captivity by wrestling it into submission. I can't believe it." It isn't with as much joy as when he first met Toshinori, his hero and inspiration, but still, he could feel the excitement practically flowing off of him as he watched Port approach the front of the classroom.

"You... know who this guy is, Izuku?" Pyrrha asked, clearly uncertain, as she looked over at him. Before he could speak up, Kacchan scoffed.

"The guy's a relic. Some ancient piece of crap they probably scrapped up to teach this stinking class. Can't believe I'm being forced to waste my time with some remedial 101 class taught by a fossil..." Kacchan's was at least smart enough to mutter that under his breath as Port walked up to the front of the class, coughing into his fist to gather everyone's attention.

"Monsters! Deeemons~ Prowlers of the night. Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names. But I merely refer to them... as prey! Haha~"

...

Not even the cricket was chirping. The room was just dead silent following that. Professor Port's quip couldn't have landed any further flat if he tried...

Wait, actually, he realize it could have; it could have landed as flat as his class currently was. Izuku realized that Port... wasn't a good teacher. That was almost entirely self-evident, but for him, well, he had a special window into that. he 'knew' who Peter Port was. He knew his famous exploits, his knowledge on the Grimm thanks to years of having captured them alive to be brought in for study and testing. Heck, Izuku even knew that the story he had been telling was a real story! That should have all been exciting stuff! He was listening to someone who had seen two Eras of Huntsmen come and go; the End of the Pre-Mecha Weapon Era and the Beginning of Toshinori's Era. That should've been riveting stuff! Everyone should've been on the edge of their seats...

But even He, the Huntsman geek, found that in the little corner of his mind that Professor Port had... well, he had bored him.

Not as badly as he bored the other classmates, but bored nonetheless. Nora hadn't had any of it; she had just flat, conked out and fell asleep. Pyrrha and Weiss had seemed to be struggling just to stay awake as were Ruby, Yang and Blake. Heck, he was fairly certain that Lie Ren had been asleep, but just with his eyes open. The only people he saw actively taking notes were Tenya and Kacchan who were both readily scratching away at their papers. Tsuyu and Shoto had tried and 'barely' kept their heads off of the pages they were writing on.

Izuku turned back to his notebook and popped it open... even he might have a hard time forcing himself through Port's lecture... but still, iw was his first day at Beacon. He didn't want to risk screwing it up!

As he tried to focus his own mind, he could 'hear' the rest of the class struggling. He glanced around for but a brief moment and saw numerous students who were either falling asleep or had just barely avoided falling asleep when it came to Port's lecture. A guy with silver hair and a pretty intense pair of eyes had gripped his pen so hard that it splattered ink all over him in his attempt to stay up, while another blond guy, with a self-assured grin on his face, just wrote away. There was a girl with brown hair and some rather large rabbit ears who seemed to be breaking a nervous sweat as she jotted down notes, seeming to struggle through the course work...

Which, if he didn't get his mind on it himself, He probably would have ended up failing to get anywhere with it himself. He sighed as he turned his head back forward and did his best to focus in. He tried to recall the earlier parts of Port's story as best he could and tried to peel through that... to see if there was anything to be gained.

...

'Wait...'

'What did he say again?'

'The part after smelling like cabbages?'

'Yeah, about the Beowolf. '

Izuku listened intently and he realized that Port's lecture this entire time, while braggadocios, loud and obnoxious even to him, had been a careful description of properly hunting down a nest of Beowolves. He shook his head, and began to take notes, all the while thinking 'The way he describes his action is in these very flattering terms is a turn off, sure, but Port is describing some very basic hunting and tracking techniques for the Grimm in his story. Some of these are things I'm already aware of; the fact that the Grimm don't have any bodily functions which makes tracking them like normal animals nearly impossible, that they don't eat, drink or stop for anything so it makes catching up to a pack of them difficult...'

"... and then there's the pack mentality of the Beowolves that he's taking the time to describe, I mean, I've already been through a lot of trouble with the number of Beowolves that can be in a pack myself and three is usually a pretty small number but what Port here is suggesting about separating out small bits of the herd through carefully manipulated bursts of Aura or negative emotions to draw far-flung elements of a nest or pack toward your location to even out the numbers is actually pretty genius, not to mention the fact that the way he goes into depth about the homogeneous nature of Grimm, a slightly lesser known fact, and possible counters. He brings up the fact that cutting weapons are usually the most effective as it allows the Grimm to be dismembered but he also reminds the class that caving a Grimm's chest in is also perfectly viable, as it his own preferred technique that he spends several minutes of the lecture going into detail on but is nonetheless actually rather informative; wrestling. It sounds ridiculous to wrestle a Grimm into submission sure but the fact of the matter is that in some cases it's even more effective than shooting them if you can't get a good shot in at their head after all wrestling and pinning a Grimm to the ground gives you opportunity to snap its limbs while you're grappling with it not to mention the benefit of slamming it around while in a position where the Grimm can't fight back which is really useful against most Grimm because they have no fine manipulators which makes things like grabbing on or grappling opponents amazingly difficult because Beowolves are the most common Grimm that have hands with digits and their lack of real strength makes them easy targets for wrestling but then that leaves Grimm like Nevermore, Boarbatusks and such in the dust because they don't even have the sort of hands that Beowolves have which make them incredibly easy to subdue if you can get a good grip on them which, speaking of, Boarbatusks are probably the oddball of all Grimm in that if you can get them to expose their stomachs then by all means you should pound whatever you have into that rather than their heads, even if you have an impaling weapon or a gun which ordinarily isn't as effective against the Grimm, as they have literally no armor or resistance to damage down there, this particular subset of Grimm having developed all their armor and defensive capabilities on the top side of their body which considering the fact that they're quadrupeds really isn't all that much of a surprise but it is rather interesting and furthermore-"

"Young man?"

"-the best strategy for a rolling Boarbatusk isn't actually to meet it head on as that introduces a risk of you taking a nasty hit if you aren't strong enough to take its full damage but if you dodge out of the way and force it to hit some terrain behind you then the Boarbatusk is more than likely going to just beat the crap out of itself going at its full speed into another, more solid object though you don't always want to do this if you're trying to protect-"

"Young man."

"-civilians or structures because the Boarbatusk's force against the object it hits is still pretty powerful all things considered and you really need to stop and consider your options in all cases like he did when instead of trying to kill the Beowolf in his story he instead decided to wrestle it to the ground which he was able to accomplish because the gangly limbs of a Beowolf-"

"Mr. Midoriya!"

He looked up from his notes finally when he heard someone yelling in his ear... and he met the squinted eyed visage of one Peter Port. Izuku blinked a few times as he looked at Port, before his eyes glanced around at his fellow students. He saw them all staring at him with really weirded out expressions... well, except Kacchan. The guy looked like he was about to bust a blood vessel from pure rage and annoyance. 'Huh, that's funny... usually people and Kacchan only looked at me like this whenever I... I...'

'Oh crap.'

He slapped his hands over his mouth in realization as he looked wide eyed forward.

"I'm sorry! Was I mumbling to myself?! I'M SORRY!" Izuku apologized profusely from between his fingers as he looked at Peter Port when, finally, Kacchan seemed to blow up a bit.

"You're damn right you were mumbling you nerd!" There were a few chuckles in the class at his expense, mostly coming from folks who were suitably far away to not be caught in ground-zero of his loud and relentless mumbling. Izuku buried himself a bit in his seats as his friends and teammates just continued to look at him with those spooked expressions, full well expecting Professor Port to-

"Ha-ha! Have no fear young man, I have not taken offense to your excited ramblings." Peter Port said in that boisterous, booming voice of his as he reached over the desk, wrapped an arm around Izuku's shoulders and bodily dragged him up out of his seat, a smile hidden underneath the man's mustache as he pulled the young man into a manly half-embrace. "I have known many a young man who, upon hearing my tales, was overcome with excitement and manly vigor! Inspired by my great example, they threw themselves into their work with as much gusto as they could, even at the expense of personal appearance. You young man remind me of a certain other young man brimming with youthful energy and potential!"

"... Was that young man you, Professor Port?" Weiss asked, almost sarcastically, as Izuku and everyone else had figured out Port's shtick at this point.

"Why, yes indeed! Very insightful of you Ms. Schnee!"

Of course.

"And I must say, in reminding me of a young me, you remind of me the very basic foundations of what makes a True Huntsman! Your attentiveness shows that you have the honorable character of a True Huntsman! The fact that you are taking such prodigious notes for your teammates shows that you have the dependability of a True Huntsman!" Weiss and Pyrrha blushed a bit as they looked off to the side, Nora still sleeping through all of that. "Your mind for the material and your willingness to listen to an old pro shows that, like a True Huntsman, you are strategic, well-educated and wise!" Port violently shook Izuku with each declaration, his eyes spinning in his head slightly as a mess of words spilled out.

"Uhhh, Professor Port, I'm not sure I'm exactly all like that..." Izuku muttered slightly as he tried to regain his bearings, Professor Port just laughing aloud.

"Humble too! Another way in which you remind me of myself in how great we both are young man."

Okay, that was just ridiculous.

"Now... tell me Young Midoriya... how would you like to put those traits to good use in an example for the class?" With that, Port gestured his arm to... 'woah wait where the Heck did that cage come from? I didn't see it at the beginning of class...'

He really was out of it to not notice that... cage with a Young Boarbatusk sitting inside.

"Uh, uh... M-M-Professor Port... Emerald Gust, my weapon, the fingers on the right gauntlet are pretty much ruined. I can't even put the thing on right now and the only reason I got it off, well-" His fingers had been broken at the time so it was real easy to slip them through the jagged metal. Not exactly the memory he'd 'prefer' to be recalling right now but at the moment it seemed a bit better than STARING A BOARBATUSK in the face.

"Ah, but Young Midoriya, where's the adventure in that? Besides, you're going to be a Huntsman one day my lad, and that means that you won't always have everything you need available to you. Sometimes you'll have to just make do, sometimes with your own two hands! Come now boy, show your Hunter's Spirit to the rest of the class."

He glanced over at some of the other students and his teammates. He was not surprised to have seen most of them wildly shaking their heads no... what kind of surprised him was that Weiss was doing the same. There was no look of judgement in her eyes, no scanning or hawkish visage. Still, he felt several other eyes looking down at him... including Kacchan, who himself was just watching Deku like a hawk, a keen interest in his eyes that he honestly didn't think he had ever seen directed his way before.

Izuku swallowed a lump in his throat and looked back to Port.

Inside he was wildly panicking. 'There's no way! There's absolutely no way!'

'This is a Boarbatusk, young as it may be, and no one should ever go up against Grimm unless they're prepared. Especially in situations where they don't have all their resources!'

'I can't just run right in! There's planning to do, considerations to make! Besides, this is literally my first day and just yesterday I was just killing Beowolves! A Boarbatusk is a different beast all-together. It's…'

'...'

'Yeah.'

'Yeah it is a different beast all together. While Beowolves do have nasty attitudes themselves, its more because they're bestial in nature, that natural affliction that drives Grimm to their horrid work. They lash out of animalistic instinct, not because they themselves possess any kind of keen intelligence or higher capacity for emotional thinking.'

'But Port's lecture, he had just said something... something about the Boarbatusk having a really bad temper. That's what causes it to charge so recklessly, even in confined spaces. It is something a lot of Huntsmen take advantage of, using a Boarbatusk's own charge against itself so that it can inflict a lot of bodily harm on itself before going for that soft underbelly.'

'That soft underbelly that made it so different from other Grimm. Most of the creatures of Grimm were tough all around and 'all' of them had their entire bodies focused on that Homogeneous nature of theirs that made it nearly impossible for normal bullets to do much harm to them outside of their heads. No one was quite sure what makes the Boarbatusk so vulnerable in its gut, but it's a weakness that's there... if I can get it to slam into the wall and then follow up with a hit to its gut, then... yeah, yeah that might work. I won't even need Emerald Gust's other gauntlet to make that work if the plan worked out.'

He didn't even notice how much he calmed down while he was thinking that all over, how he'd placed his hand to his lips and tapped against it while softly talking to himself, eyes focused on the Boarbatusk. For a moment, he'd imagine everyone else thought he was about to devolve into one of his mutterings again. Still, eventually he broke himself from his thoughts and, with a determined nod, looked to Port.

"I'll do it."

"That's what I like to hear!"

"Huh-wazzat?"

Much of the student body, his classmates definitely included, openly gawked at Izuku as he accepted Port's offer. The only person who didn't was Nora who was finally awakened from her nap by Port's tremendous, booming shout. The bubbly bomber rubbed at her eyes as she looked around, Izuku noticing that she watched him leave for the lockers before turning back to Pyrrha.

"Pyrrha... why's Izuku leavin' the class?"

"... Nora, did you- no wait of course you did. Anyway, Izuku's going off to change into his gear so that he can fight a Boarbatusk! It's one thing to do it while he's fully prepared, but without everything he has-"

"WOOOO, GO FEARLESS LEADER!" Pyrrha's well reasoned and logical counterargument got blown right out of his ears as Nora Valkyrie, only moments ago asleep on her desk, was standing up in her seat and cheering him on. "YOU CAN TOTALLY DO THIS, GO GET YOUR SHOTGUN STUFF AND KICK THIS THING'S BUTT!"

Izuku sighed somewhat comically before he walked out of the classroom. Honestly, he didn't begrudge anyone for cautioning him against it. Even he knew that it was a real risk trying to go after that Boarbatusk without his full arsenal. That'd be risky for any Huntsman, especially if that missing gear involved his main way of attacking. Still... he was here because he took a risk. And now he had a plan of attack against the Boarbatusk.

'I need to be ready. I need to take risks if it means growing as a Hunter,' he thought, closing the door to the room, 'I'm going to be a hero one day. I'm going to be Toshinori's Successor,' he felt his spine steel itself, 'I'm going to be the Symbol of Peace and if I'm going to do that, I'm going to have to be ready to take on a bunch of risks. And I'm going to have to be strong, strong enough that I can stand side by side with my classmates and strong enough to make One For All my own.'.

So it was with only a slight amount of nerves that he returned to the classroom, decked out in his workout clothes, or at least another change of them, with one gauntlet of Emerald Gust on his left hand and the two boots on. Everyone was staring at him, some in interest to see their fellow classmate get bodied by a Boarbatusk and others still tried to say that there was still time for him to not take a risk...

And all the while Nora was hooping and hollering.

"Come on fearless leader! I never got a chance to see you strut your stuff in the Emerald Forest! Show everyone what you've got!" He gave a nervous smile as he stepped out into the middle of the large space at the front of the classroom, Port's podium and desk having been thankfully removed to give him and the Boarbatusk more space to move with.

To give the Boarbatusk a clean path toward him.

"Very good then young man." Port said from the side of the cage, Blunderbuss held in hand as he looked toward Midoriya. "Now, is there any pre-battle preparation you'd like to make?" He tapped his chin slightly as he thought and nodded.

"There is professor." With that he quickly jogged away from the cage, placing his back to the wall on the opposite side of the cage as he did so. Everyone looked at him with some confusion as he nodded, turning back to Peter Port with a determined look. "Alright Professor Port, I'm ready!"

"... You certainly are young man. Now, one last thing Young Midoriya." Izuku turned his head toward Port as the professor furrowed his brow a bit. "While your Semblance is indeed a powerful and manly tool, well, it would be rather dangerous to use in a classroom setting." He blanched a bit and nodded in agreement. "So I'd like to ask that you not attempt to break your arm, or my classroom, to defeat the Boarbatusk. If you do... well, I'll step in to keep that from happening. If that's clear then LET'S BEGIN!" And with that, Peter Port slammed Blunderbuss into the lock holding the cage closed.

It wasn't even a second before the Boarbatusk rushesd the door to its cage down, snarling, hissing and snorting as it bucked around, looking for something to direct its ire at. Izuku swallowed a nervous lump in his throat as he reached around, triggering Emerald Gust's safeties before he pulled himself into a defensive stance. He had put his left hand in front of his right, just in case something happened, but otherwise he prepared himself to just throw himself out of the way of the Boarbatusk's first attack. Knowing how this creature liked to attack...

Yeah, it was no surprise when, after it noticed him, the Boarbatusk rolled itself into a wheel-like shape and began spinning rapidly. It readied its charge to try to slam him into the wall. Izuku swallowed again as he wiped a hand across his brow where sweat had begun to accumulate. He was nervous, but he knew if he timed it just right-

"GO GET IT FEARLESS LEADER, BREAK ITS STUBBY LITTLE PIG LEGS!"

Nora's cheer temporarily knocked him out of his focus and, unfortunately, it was just long enough for the Boarbatusk to unleash itself from its spin to come charging at him, practically bouncing off the floor with each bump of its bony hide as it charged right for him. There was a moments panic that nearly overtook him, pinning his feet to the ground for a moment too long. He cursed at himself before throwing himself out of the way of the Boarbatusk, though he feared he did so too late! That he might have poorly timed his dodge and that the Boarbatusk...

Would be off-course anyway and just slam into the wall behind him. Izuku's expression went a bit flat, as did most other people's, as they watched him bodily throw himself out of the way of an attack that would've missed anyway...

'Well, that's not embarrassing at all.'

"WOOO! WAY TO MINDGAME IT FEARLESS LEADER, NOW BUST IT OPEN!"

At least Nora thought he meant to do that.

He hit the ground around the same time as the Boarbatusk, his fall being a lot more graceful as at least he 'meant' to land like that. The Boarbatusk, meanwhile, was shaking out its head, one of its forelegs raised up to brush at its snout as it shook off what pain it had inflicted on itself. Well, it didin't look like it stunned itself unfortunately... 'but still, I've come too far to back out now! I have to go ahead with my plan!' He was a little ways away from it, a bit too far to punch it but, as he quickly forced himself back to his feet, he realized that if he really reached out, he could hit the Boarbatusk's gut with a good kick, hopefully blowing it wide open. Hopefully being the key-word. He swallowed nervously as he quickly positioned himself, the Boarbatusk seeing the movement coming. The Grimm boar tried its best dodge out of the way of the incoming assault...

But it's collision with the wall left it just the slightest bit off its footing, it stumbled instead of leaping which left it wide open for his attack. He launched out his leg and the aim was true as he hit the Boarbatusk right in the side of its exposed gut. The kick itself was 'harsh', perhaps the hardest he'd ever landed in a long time, and he could feel the beast's mass get displaced just under the force of his kick alone...

When his shotgun triggered from the force of the kick, he watched as the Boarbatusk literally lost its gut, the black mass that made up its torso blown off of it and leaving just the hide of the creature as far as its torso went. Izuku's emerald eyes went a bit wide when he saw that and he very nearly stumbled without the counter-balance of the Boarbatusk to keep footing on. However, he managed to use the kick of his shotgun to force him all the way back onto his own two feet, leaving him and the rest of the class to watch the Boarbatusk. The Grimm boar hollered, whined and screeched as it kicked around on the ground, writhing in pain for just a brief moment before, eventually, it's form could no longer be maintained. In a matter of moments the Grimm stopped moving and started to dissolve, leaving little more than a few bullet tracks on the floor where his shotgun's pellets hit.

It' was oddly quiet at first, as if everyone was in the process of wondering 'Wait, that's it? I thought we were going to see blood.' he looked over to Professor Port and he saw from underneath his mustache a rather wide and satisfied smile peeking out.

"Oh my...oh my...GOODNESS"

He began to slam his palms together, filling the entire room with his own applause.

"Bravo, bravo! I do believe we are in the presence of a true Huntsman-in-Training!"

It was with that declaration that the classroom finally exploded...

Or more accurately, Nora exploded.

"OH YEAH! THAT'S RIGHT! OUR LEADER'S THE BEST, BETTER THAN THE REST! YOU ALL CAN JUST GO HOME NOW, TEAM MNVW'S GOT THIS ALL UNDER CONTROL... except for you Ren, you and your team can stay, BUT THE REST OF YOU JUST PACK YOUR BAGS!"

Nora's boisterous hooping and hollering snapped his own team and the rest of his peer group out of the stupors. he saw that Pyrrha grinning, a combination of excited pride and disbelief, as she applauded his performance. Ruby, Yang and Tenya offered similarly excited claps, although each at their own volume and amount of shouting. 'Way to do the shotgun proud there slugger' was something he heard Yang scream even over Nora. Blake, Tsuyu, Ren and Shoto each offered more reserved applause but still, applause nonetheless. Kacchan was just staring at him intently before looking off in some other random direction, the thrumming of his fingers on the desk producing minor explosions. Weiss just seemed to be staring in disbelief, her hands almost moving of their own accord rather than a conscious effort on her part. The rest of the class offered polite applause though he could tell that many more of them were annoyed by Nora's prideful shouting.

"N-Nora, please, don't go so overboa-"

"Well done young man. You see class, Young Midoriya here shows just what this class can teach you. By listening to my wisdom Young Midoriya clued into several important facts about the Boarbatusk. The first is that they're infamously ill-tempered beasts, ready to charge first and think of the consequences of that action later. He lured the Boarbatusk into softening itself up by having it charge into the hard, sturdy walls of Beacon Academy. Second, he heard from my brilliant teaching that the Boarbatusk, unique among all the Grimm, have a soft underbelly that is vulnerable to attacks that most other Grimm could shrug off with 'some' ease. By combining knowledge with bravery and bravery with just a little bit of luck, this young man was capable of using my brilliant teaching in order finish off his opponent. This is what you too can learn in Grimm Studies 101... if you all actually start PAYING ATTENTION." It was the one time Port's tone dipped below his boisterous, happy tone and it caught the class on notice, many students nodding in ready agreement before that friendly look graced Port's face again.

"Very well then! I'm afraid this is all the time we have for class for today. Run along now you lot, you have another class or so to go before lunch and then more after than. Remember to keep up with the assigned readings for class in two days!" The class slowly but surely gathered up their supplies and left. All except for his team and peer group who all ran up to him. Quite literally in Nora's case before, wrapping him up in those surprisingly and definitely strong arms of hers as she bodily tossed him around like a rag doll.

"That was awesome! I totally knew you had it in you fearless leader! It still stinks that I didn't get to see your Semblance yet but that was still totally awesome! I would've probably just hit it with my hammer and crushed it to death, which Magnhild is definitely good at, but that was like, a fight scene out of a book or something!" Izuku got a bit dizzy as Nora swung him around, his eyes practically spinning in place as she finally put him down.

"Still, that was rather risky Izuku. I understand now that you likely had this plan in mind from the very beginning by listening to Port's lecture intently, but what possessed you to go on ahead and make the attempt?" Tenya asked, his hands flourishing around as Izuku just inwardly sighed. He did have a plan after he stopped panicking, but he wouldn't say he had one from the beginning... plus he did screw up with that dive.

"Yes Izuku... why did you take such a risk... I... we wouldn't have thought less of you if you declined Port's offer." He glanced over and saw Weiss, arms held slightly at her side, as she looked at him. She still seemed rather stunned by the entire display, but he could see a bit more of that analytical nature back. The rest of his peers were just listening in, more on Tenya's side of the interest curve than Weiss's.

It... it was a serious question he knew. One that shouldn't be answered lightly. It was a risk to fight a Grimm when he wasn't prepared fully. Even with a professor around, well, accidents can always happen. It's why they had nursing staff on school grounds. You never knew what might happen even when you're fully prepared. Still, he brought his bare fist up a bit and looked at it, long and hard. Eventually he clenched it shut, feeling his resolve grow for just a moment, as he turned to his... his friends and teammates and looked them all in the eye.

"I'm weaker than everyone else here... I was when I entered Beacon Academy and I still am. And I know it too... heck, I'm sure a lot of people know it. Still... I was given the opportunity of a lifetime to be here. To show that I deserved my chance to fulfill my dreams of being a Huntsman. It was a risk with how weak I was... but I was willing to take it. Because to become a Huntsman, to be a hero, it's my dream! So I have to give it my all and then some, just to catch up. I have to work three times harder and take every chance I can if I'm going to prove that I belong here. Every opportunity that I have to learn, even if it's dangerous, I need to grasp it. I mean... I took such a big risk just getting here, just being accepted so I thought... what's one more?"

...

'Holy woah those are some weird looks they're giving me.' He blushed a bit as he sheepishly scratched at the back of his head. 'Okay, I didn't mean to come off as 'that' intense.' Looking at them all, he could feel his resolve kind of start to dip. 'Maybe I just need to tone it down a bit... I know how weird people think of it when I start going off on a ramble.' Still, they didn't seem put off with those weird looks. In a way, it looked like they were all almost as caught up in what he had said as he was...

Kind of hard to believe though.

"A-Anyway... it's not like it was that big of a risk either. Sure, accidents happen, but Professor Port was right there. He'd save me if I screwed up so it was about the best environment I could ask for to put what I learned in today's class to use, to see if it could help with my own fighting and skills as a Huntsman. If my plan worked then great, Professor Port's been a big help and I can put my plan to use in the future against other single Boarbatusks I might come across... and if it didn't work well then, it didn't work and I could know that now when it'd be safest for me to try. Better that I royally screw up now when it won't cost anything than when we eventually go out on missions right? So... y-yeah, that's why I did it..."

He was not sure when, but Kacchan seemed to disappear sometime in the middle of that and everyone else... well, he had started to get uncomfortable. Which, to be fair, wasn't all that uncommon. He coughed a bit into his hand as he pulled out his Scroll, a nervous expression on his face.

"A-Anyway, I should actually probably text the School Forge and see if I can arrange to drop off Emerald Gust now... who knows when I'll need it again, especially at random times like these. Combat Class might be tomorrow, but we do have the Live Exercises today so... yeahI'mgonnagohandlethatseeyouallnextclass!" He quickly ran off and was somewhat relieved when the most he got was a somewhat dazed 'Yeah, see you next class Izuku'.

He breathed a deep sigh as he brought his Scroll up to his face and begin to plug in the number for The Forge. Not all students at Beacon were engineering marvels or capable of maintaining their weapons. Some needed help in that regard. When it came to getting that help, there was The Forge. As he punched in the number and the request to drop off Emerald Gust went though, he was met with a surprised sounding response.

" _Holy crap? Someone's already busted up their weapons? It's the first day. Well, get down here so we can have a look and you can drop it off._ "

He was a bit surprised by how informal it was but, nonetheless, he was glad he had an opportunity to get his weapon dropped off so it could be fixed. With a bit of a hustle he started running, wanting to get it done with so he could get to his next class on time.

* * *

There was silence in the air after Izuku had left. Everyone there was caught off guard by what was said earlier. Sure, they had known that Izuku was much more capable than he had looked, after all, he had been accepted into Beacon and his actions during Initiation proved that he had earned it. And there wasn't a single student at Beacon who didn't want to be a huntsmen. But none of them could say that their desire and passion to becoming a huntsmen could rival Izuku's.

Tenya stood still in silence and contemplation.

'That… was… astounding. While it was no surprise when Mr. Midoriya became a team leader, I didn't expect that he would be this passionate…'

Tenya shook his head, 'No, in hindsight his passion and determination should've been obvious when I learned that he had created 13 volumes of notes regarding various Huntsmen.

'Still, Mr. Midoriya continues to surprise me at every turn. First, his excellent analysis abilities and knowing that teams not only rely on their abilities but also their compatibility working together.'

'Then, he had come up with a plan that was nearly successful at crippling the Elder Nevermore and when it failed, he took responsibility and sacrificed his own arm in order to defeat the Grimm.'

'Finally, he was able to see Professor Port's hidden test and use the knowledge that he had gain to easily defeat the Borbatusk despite one of his gauntlets rendered unusable.'

'While I'm certain that any of us could replicate those feats, I doubt that we would've had such a smooth victory under the circumstances that he had to face.'

'I am aware, that **I** wouldn't have remembered the knowledge that I had just received from the professor, and formulate a brilliant plan like Mr. Midoriya did.'

'Brother… this is why you were so insistent on me coming to Beacon right? Seeing my fellow peers and their various accomplishments and learning that I have much more to learn in order to become an excellent Huntsmen like you.'

...

'VERY WELL, I ACCEPT THE CHALLENGE!'

'Mr. Midoriya- no Izuku, thank you for showing me that I have much to learn in order to become a true huntsmen. As a fellow team leader, you have my respect. That is why I will strive to meet- no, exceed your standards!'

'I have yet to bond with any of my teammates because my main focus last night was to learn of their abilities. I will rectify this mistake as soon as I can. After classes are over I-… no, team TABY will start to be worthy of being called "Team". As the team leader, I swear that I will lead them to success and as a person, I will be the best huntsmen that I can be… and maybe perhaps I could- no, maybe later.'

Tenya looked around but before he could talk, he saw an ominous sight, one that made him pale in horror. "Everyone, we must go to class now! We only have 5 minutes left before our next class begins!"

With that little announcement, the group ran as if their life was on the line in order to not be late for their next class. Tenya could even hear Ruby scream "NOT AGAIN!"

* * *

 **E/N: Ending this chapter is "Tenya's Determination" by Supa.**

 **-Shovern**

 **A/N: It actually became a meme after a while about the proliferation of 'Shonen Speeches' the Questers would give early on in the Quest as part of their dialogue write-ins. While this would eventually drop off as they got more comfortable with the way I ran things (offering to let them write-in entire responses rather than just giving them only pre-fab option and, in some cases, even making it mandatory for them to come up with a write-in) it was fun nonetheless. I always did try my best to touch things up though.**


	11. The First Day IV

"Uh... hello? I'm Izuku Midoriya? I just texted you all about my weapon?"

The forge was... not quite what Izuku expected. He expected some dark, ashy, smoky room with billowing fires and some kind of giant, brick-built forge in the back.

'Maybe I shouldn't let my imagination going a bit wild,' he thought, 'but I guess that's what most people would imagine. Not a well-lit room mostly made up of tables with stands on them, precision tools placed with care and a great deal of organization and, most notably, 'no' heavy amount of soot caking the entire room.'

As he walked around taking in the sights, he was stopped short by a small post-it sign he saw on a desk nearby. Curiosity getting the better of him, he picked up the sticky note and took a look at it, his emerald eyes going a bit wide as he did so.

" _Running into town, low on dust for the welders, ward will take you up on your order_."

'Ward? Oh right; some Huntsmen picked out particularly promising students from a group and put them to work under them, teaching them their skills and specialties if they seem to have a gift for it, usually in the form of a unique Semblance. Still, it's a bit odd because I still haven't seen anyone-'

"So you're the guy who actually broke his weapons on the first day of school huh? I have to admit, that's a new one."

"AAHHHH!"

Izuku screamed a bit as he jumped up in the air, turning around mid-fall as he moved to face the person who had snuck up on him. He was a bit surprised when his eyes met two extended lenses that focused in on his face, magnifying the gaze of a young woman, roughly a year older than him, as she stared down at him. With a bit of a 'clink' she raised the magnifying lenses off her eyes and settled them at the top of her head, revealing a set of yellow eyes that blinked down at him.

"First year huh? Yeah I'm really surprised then, you guys really don't end up in the kind of trouble that ends with busted gear within one day of getting into the Academy." He stammered a bit as she spoke in a very forward manner, the young woman looking him up and down as he recovered himself.

"Err... right, well, what happened was during Initiation, I was using my weapons, Emerald Gust, and... WAH!?" He tried to raise the case he had been carrying Emerald Gust in up to the young woman only to have found it already out of his hands. By the point he looked back to her his case had been popped open, despite it being LOCKED, and his weapons were already being inspected on a nearby table, the girl's lenses went down again as she inspected them.

"Four shotgun mechanisms, pumps, built into the larger metal casing of two gauntlets and two boots. The metal is suitably thick to not only house the mechanisms but to also protect them. Most likely the weapons are discharged in time with your punches and kicks, meant to add some extra oomph. A bit inefficient as most Grimm are almost entirely homogeneous but it works for people who prefer to work with their fists and their feet..." He saw she actually raised her goggles for a moment and... well, he didn't know how to describe it. Her eyes changed, though not greatly; lines began to appear, intersecting at her irises, as she looked down at his weapon.

"... Interesting... the right gauntlet's fingers have been pretty much shattered. Not in the usual sense, the metal work added here is actually pretty solid and, by the looks of it, it's Mountain Glenn made... designed more for efficiency rather than any spark or showmanship. No, shattered as in its been completely collapsed in on itself. Fingers caught in here would've been pretty badly cut up but there would've been space to remove them carefully... still, you'd expect he would've lost some. Perhaps they were broken? Maybe. That certainly wouldn't be out there for the kind of force required to damage the fingers of these gauntlets in such a way." The girl muttered to herself as she inspected the right gauntlet, Izuku momentarily frozen before she looked over at him.

"You know your Emerald Gust was somebody's baby right? You should be more careful with these!" He stammered slightly as he nodded in agreement, the girl going back to Emerald Gust. "So how often do you expect this sort of thing to happen?"

"I, what?" Izuku asked, genuinely a bit lost, as she looked back at him. She didn't seem bothered now, no, now she actually seemed excited.

"If you're working with the kind of strength that can do this to your gauntlets, it's probably going to happen to these fingers a lot more often in the future. I was working over some potential ideas in my head and, well, I doubt you have the money for anything advanced... but I could go ahead and, instead of replacing the metal here with some of the stuff we have here as part of the 'Student Program' I could just remove the finger portions of these gauntlets entirely. I'd need to do some readjustments on this grip you've had built in as a handle so that your fingers would still wrap around it in such a way to form a fist and... well, if you punched anything too solid you'd be risking personal injury, I'd suggest gloves, but it would keep you from having to come back in here every time something like this happened! If you're going to be busting these up a lot then it would be better use of my time and yours and it'd spare these babies from any more serious damage!"

"... Huh?" He asked again as the girl circled around, still clearly excited.

"The rest of the gauntlet actually held up under the pressure of whatever you did, though I wouldn't guarantee anything if you do too many repeat performances, everything has its limit after all, and if I remove the fingers I think the rest of it can hold up... you'll just be giving up that protection 'and' you'll need to worry about hurting yourself just by punching. Though you do have Aura so I guess that'd be less of a concern. So how about it?"

"Uhhh... well, I was thinking... maybe we could just make the finger bits retractable? Or something like that? That way I could quickly slip them on and off in case I... needed to do what I did here later?"

...

The girl stared at him for a second, her yellow eyes shimmering a bit before she turned back to Emerald Gust.

"Hmmm... that's a toughie. Right now your Gauntlets are built so that their current structural integrity is what's making them so strong. If we start toying with that to add another retractable element, we'd risk accidentally weakening the core structure of Emerald Gust here. That wouldn't just be bad in terms of protecting your hands, it'd be bad in terms of protecting the shotgun mechanisms that give your gauntlets their kick." Her eyes focused in on his gauntlets, peering at them, before a smile grew on her face. "But... that is a simple adaptation. It's not incredibly hard to design some sheet metal shaped to slip on over your hands. The trick would be finding out how to get it to work without attacking the structural integrity of your gauntlets... hmmm... what if... yeah, yeah that might work." He saw her reach over for some sheet metal as she raised Emerald Gust up.

"If I place the mechanisms on the underside of the new finger guards, thickening them up a bit so that they'll protect them, and then attach those systems to the Safety, I could make it so that the process of your Gauntlets Mecha-Shifting would not only unleash the shotgun elements, it'd also slip the finger guards on top of your hands! I'd have to work on the grip so that the system would slip in well together rather than crashing into each other and I'd have to make modifications to the grip itself so that this new finger guard would still allow you to tightening your hands into a fist before punching but... yeah, yeah I can totally make this work!" The girl turned back towards Izuku with an excited grin, walking right on up to him and 'thoroughly' invading his personal space. "I'll need 150 Lien for the one gauntlet and obviously 300 if you wanted to upgrade both and it'd take me the better part of today in order to get them ready for you but like I said this adaptation is so simple that it shouldn't take me any longer than that and besides it's not like I actually have anyone lined up to work for like I said you're the first kid to walk in here on the first day! So how about it, you want the upgrades or not?"

He blanched a bit at the girl's excited attitude, but in the end he got a bit caught up in the idea. If it worked then he'd be able to easily switch between the modes of his gauntlet without risking breaking the fingers with One For All. He didn't know how often he'd need One For All, if it'd be sooner or later, but it seemed like a good idea just in case. After all, he hadn't been entirely sure when or where he'd need One For All in the Emerald Forest after all.

"Uh, sure, sounds great." He muttered, slightly embarrassed at her proximity as he produced his Lien card. The girl quickly swiped it from his hand and produced a Scroll and her own Lien card form her pocket. She placed hers in one end of the Scroll and, when a light appeared in the other end, swiped his card through. After punching in a few commands he saw that a transaction for 300 Lien went through.

'Well, at least my three square meals at Beacon are free...'

"GREAT!" The girl's excited yell caught him off guard as she bundled up both Gauntlets of Emerald Gust and placed them on a nearby work bench. "You can keep your boots in case you need them for anything but I'll be keeping your babies here. I'll send you a text when I'm done... now I just need to place an order in Vale to pick up later... it might be a few hours so I should probably go ahead and get to work on what changes to the grip and the hull of these Gauntlets I'll need to make... I should also take the measurements on the intact Gauntlet just so I can figure out what sizes I'm working with..." With that the girl flipped her lenses on and immediately grabbed for some tools, sparks flying as she got to work on his weapons. He smiled a bit, glad to have gotten things started, and turned to leave... before he realized he never actually got this girl's name or number.

"Wait, sorry, I didn't get your name or-"

"Mei Hatsume, I have your Scroll number from when you texted us, I'll contact you, now please you're interrupting me working on these babies!" He sighed a bit as he nodded, still smiling as he walked out of the Forge. Hopefully he'd have those back before combat class tomorrow. While he would get another opportunity to spar, if he came up or volunteered, later in the week he didn't exactly want the impression he left on Glynda Goodwitch to be 'careless'.

Which meant that now it was time to get to his next class. That next class being...

* * *

... A class with the fastest talking guy in the universe, holy woah. He blinked slightly as Doctor Oobleck sped across his classroom, going over the syllabus and the day's first lesson as he discussed the history of Remnant at speeds he previously hadn't been sure it was possible for people to speak at.

'Is this how people view me when I mutter?' He looked over at his classmates, 'Maybe, but probably not... everyone looked more confused by Oobleck's muttering than creeped out so there was probably something different to my own running of the mouth that seemed to make people antsy.'

Izuku's arrival to class was, thankfully, nothing out of the ordinary. Whatever daze had overcome his peer group from before seemed to have passed just fine enough as they all greeted him when he took his seat. Yang seemed to be giving him an odd look but by and large he managed to get to his seat with just a few friendly hellos. Even Weiss seemed to dip less and less into that weird mood she'd been in all day to give him a hello... though now it seemed like something else was rapidly growing on her mind.

He sighed and rubbed his forehead a bit as he tried to focus in on what Oobleck was saying right there and right then rather than fade out toward other distractions. He brought up his pen and set it against his notebook, wanting to take good notes for that class.

For a moment it really felt like he was going to fall behind with how fast Oobleck was talking but, luckily, he eventually caught the grain. Some of what he was talking about was a lot of stuff that was discussed back in Mountain Glenn. He had good enough grades there and, using what he already knew, he managed to dig himself out of the verbal pile of dirt that Oobleck was just dumping on top of the class with how rapidly he was speaking. He started to catch up and, eventually, he was taking notes at pace with how quickly Oobleck was teaching, a smile on his face as he did so.

"Now then class. Some of you may of course be wondering 'why do I need this class'. After all, you are young Huntsmen and Huntresses-in-Training, you may be thinking. You think that you won't need a course on history because, after all, what good is history or knowing the cultural, historical or current political landscape of the land around me going to do when I'm aiming down the sight of my rifle at the eye of a Beowolf? What good will a history textbook do me if all I can use it for against Grimm is to smash their heads in? It's an unfortunate attitude but one that I find is all too common, especially among energetic youths. Even as history cautions us again that ignoring these things, ignoring history, leads us to our own follies."

"Many a village and town has nearly fallen to this sort of attitude. Others thrived by learning their lesson and improving upon their mistakes. Taking into account history, knowledge of the local area and, yes, our own failings is important for everyone, not just those involved in the field. As Hunters and Huntresses, these sorts of insights may not just help you to spot potential problem areas... but also to guide yourself through them." Oobleck took a long sip on his cup of coffee before he turned to the rest of the class.

"Now then, tell me... can anyone among you give me a well-reasoned example of how learning a lesson from the past or failing to do so has either helped or harmed Huntsmen and Huntresses like yourself and the innocent people that we are charged with watching over and training?"

Izuku considered the question carefully as he placed a finger to his lips. Honestly, he was surprised by how quickly an answer came to him, though in the end he supposed it was a bit unfair. He lived in a city whose entire existence practically revolved around both sides of that coin. He tentatively raised his hand up, the first among students, most of whom seemed either disinterested or were still thinking on their own answer. Oobleck looked to Izuku and pointed him out, giving him the floor. Izuku took a bit of a breath to center himself before pushing forward, realizing that he'd just put himself at the center of attention 'again'.

'What kind of day did I make for myself?'

"Well sir... there's Mountain Glenn." A lot of eyes perked up at that, Oobleck's own rising over the rim of his glasses somewhat as he took a sip of his coffee. "T-The city's been on both sides of this... when it was being designed the people who were laying the foundations realized that most settlements suffered from Grimm attacks when they didn't have their own natural defenses in the forms of mountains or the ocean... and roads and means of travel between cities that don't rely on air or sea based travel are unreliable at best, meaning that capital cities like Vale have a hard time supporting in-land settlements... so they designed The Metro to directly connect Mountain Glenn to Vale." There was a pause as he watched Oobleck nod in some approval, though it was clear he was waiting for the rest of Izuku's promised answer.

"... But after Toshinori Yagi saved the city, it was clear that the old strategy of just holding up and using the Metro had a lot of risks... especially if Vale itself wouldn't use the system in order to send help. But instead of trying to change things, Mountain Glenn's doubled-down. The Combat School there is great for learning survival techniques or for in-field engineering that can give Huntsmen some advantages, it isn't the best when it comes to actually teaching combat techniques, instead depending on the raw talents of its applicants in that regard. Don't get me wrong, the city's been using its second chance to fortify itself, the defenses are stronger than ever, but..."

"When your defenses rely on outside aid or that of Toshinori Yagi, there's always a risk for that to breakdown. Yes, very good Mr. Midoriya." Oobleck took a sip of his coffee as he looked over to Kacchan.

"Mr. Bakugo, I do believe you also went to Mountain Glenn. Might you have anything to add or detract from Mr. Midoriya's answer?"

"Heh, Deku's not wrong about the Combat School. Most of the students there were a bunch a losers who wouldn't make it as the ward to a D-Rate Huntsman. They were definitely going to go off and be scouts or work in Engineering or whatever and the school wasn't going to help. I'm just here cause I'm the real deal..." Bakugo's answer didn't surprise Izuku. Even when he would talk about how he'd make Mountain Glenn's Combat School look good, it was generally with the understanding that 'he' was the one making 'it' look good, and that he thought his own natural talents were what separated him from others, not his ability to learn from the Combat School. Still, as Izuku watched Ruby groan as she placed her head against the desk while a lot of the other students glared at Katsuki for his prideful remarks, he suspected that Bakugo was not making friends by insinuating that he was some 'real deal'.

"A crude way of putting it but you both do have a point. Mountain Glenn has chosen to use its miraculous second chance to fortify it's old plan rather than moving beyond it and trying to find something new that may have worked better. Perhaps there was nothing that could've worked better; after all, Mr. Midoriya is quite right about Mountain Glenn's founding, it was designed with the history of expansion outside of the major cities in mind. The city planners and those engineers who designed The Metro worked firmly with the drawbacks and the failings of the past in mind... perhaps Mountain Glenn's decision is the right one. Perhaps it has learned from history and this solution, however imperfect, is the correct one... it is 'hard' to think that, mind, when this decision very nearly led to the deaths of the entire city." The student body assembled nodded grimly as Oobleck continued.

"Mountain Glenn is a mixed basket when it comes to this lesson. On the one hand, the city has set to fortifying itself rather than reaching out and expanding. It's lost ground and hasn't reclaimed it, even with the Hope inspired by Toshinori Yagi it still faces the threat of the Grimm that most cities face in some way and, while it has been spared the violence and crime known to Vale, this is because of its relative size; Mountain Glenn had been hoped to become another Metropolis, but it has settled into a far more humble size. The governing body of Vale, while chastised by its own failures in the Mountain Glenn episode, is still slow to change its ways as it faces this new age that we are all living in. Rather than sending in the experts that would be necessary to change things, that could make Mountain Glenn's Combat School into one where Huntsmen and Huntresses could be trained, then and there, to effectively combat the Grimm without their own talents, it has sat on Toshinori's success and his age in order to focus efforts on the City of Vale itself; on the crime and the White Fang which now seem, daily, to make the news. Men and women who have not learned the lesson of the age, that The Grimm remain our most dire threat, and instead choose to fight their fellow man."

"But, it is a new age we are all living in, and there are still those who've learned their lessons. Many of you are here no doubt because of the example Toshinori provided the world as to what the word Huntsman can mean. You've seen just how one person can stem the tide of the Grimm and can save the lives of thousands, simply by 'being' there, by 'being' a Hero. The Hunter is no longer a stone-faced Exterminator or a pseudo-athlete... once more, Huntsmen and Huntresses are the legendary figures of they once were in the past, and this does come with its own benefits. I'm sure Toshinori doesn't exactly mind those posters made of him, nor do other popular or talented Hunters. Even the governing councils have had to recognize this sea change by changing their hands when it comes to the Academies, being more supportive to support this new wave of Huntsmen and Huntresses than it had been in past times."

"Even in Mountain Glenn this has brought change. People come from all corners come to visit the City of Peace and Hope, the Town Toshinori Saved, bringing new life into a city that had once been thought doomed to die. While Mountain Glenn hasn't expanded out, it has fortified and redoubled its efforts to protect what it has. The manner in which it has done so is up for debate, as Mr. Midoriya and Mr. Bakugo have helped to highlight, but the dedication of those who live there is still plain to see in Mountain Glenn's perimeter walls and in its tunnels leading to The Metro. There is hope for the first time in many generations that humanity can live in large settlements beyond the walls of their capital... and youths like yourselves are making this dream possible." The class perked up at that as Oobleck turned his gaze back to Izuku.

"So yes, well done Mr. Midoriya, a very apt example of both sides of this coin you have given us."

Izuku blushed somewhat as he scratched the back of his head. Like he thought before, that was kind of unfair. He 'lived' in Mountain Glenn. He was aware of a lot of that stuff. It wasn't exactly something that was praiseworthy for him to know. Still, it seemed like most people in the class were nodding along with Oobleck, his peer group even seeming pretty impressed.

As class went on and Oobleck picked out others to make examples, Weiss having raised an interesting point about Mantle failing to realize the value of The Color War and their former enemies' ideology and, instead, riding its old one into collapse. More surprising was an answer offered up right after that by, of all people, Tsuyu.

"For all the progress the White Fang have made, and all the good they and their allies pushed forward in their early days," her tone and look did not change in the slightest, though Izuku thought he heard an almost regretful tone, "the White Fang have ultimately been a far greater blight on the Faunus people. As they grow more and more violent, the chances of true peaceful coexistence between Humans and Faunus becomes harder to achieve," Oobleck nodded at her, seeing that she was done. Tsuyu sat her way back into the chair, merely finishing with, "Ribbit."

An answer that, Izuku swore, seemed to make Blake slightly uncomfortable. There were various other answers given as well but most of it wasn't stuff he was terribly familiar with on its own merits. Still, the end of class came and Oobleck did dismissed them all. With a bit of a stretch he got up and gathered his books.

"Man, sounds like it's a hoot to live in Mountain Glenn." Nora said as she finally woke up, Izuku sweating a bit as he scratched the back of his head.

"It certainly can be... it does make mistakes but, well, home is still home to me... and once you look past the ruins outside the perimeter wall, Mountain Glenn is settled in a pretty beautiful spot."

Indeed. While it wasn't the most defensible spot, it was beautiful. There were deposits of Dust here and there, most lost to the Grim, and the forests that did fall within the walls held some good lumber. The city itself had become more vibrant thanks to the reputation the Symbol of Peace and Hope had given it and... well, it was just home. Maybe it wasn't perfect, and neither were the people running it... but it was home.

And he hoped that he himself would see it through to something more one day. Maybe. One day when he would be the Symbol of Peace and Hope… Though, Izuku put off thoughts about the future for now. More time to deal with that later.

As they all left class he quickly recalled the text that Toshinori had sent him early on in the day. Quickly slipping it out and punching in a message to get his attention and see if his time was still open. A few nervous moments later and his Scroll beeped, signaling that a message had arrived. He smiled a bit as Toshinori did indeed say that he had time and that it was good timing; after next period he would've been busy setting something up at the school. Izuku pondered what it was but quickly shrugged as he plugged in that he himself had time. It took a few seconds and eventually Toshinori sent Izuku some directions to follow so that he could meet up with him. He felt a bit excited as he put his Scroll away, waving at his team.

"I just got a text for some... business across campus. I'll see you guys at the next class, alright?" Weiss and Pyrrha nodded for a moment understandingly, though Nora just huffed.

"Awww, you're leaving again?" Izuku scratched the back of his head a bit sheepishly as Nora said that.

"Well... lunch is coming up after this next class. We can hang out there if you guys want. This is just something pretty important I need to sort out before tonight. You know, get it out of the way before we all get together to talk team stuff tonight." Izuku saw Weiss flinched a bit as he brought that up, Nora and Pyrrha nodding slightly.

"Oh yeah, heard you talkin' to Weiss about that last night. Well, you hurry up and do your stuff fearless leader! Better make it to class on time; we can't have the head honcho of Team MNVW being late to classes!" Nora declared with a bit of a grin as she turned on her heels and walked off, going up to a slight jog as she tried to catch up with Ren. Pyrrha just wished Izuku good luck and, after a moment, so did Weiss as the trio departed. He smiled slightly, glad that his team hadn't asked too many questions... he guessed he'd earned some trust at that point. Taking a bit of a breath he started to sprint off. Nora was right, after all; it wouldn't have looked good if he was late for a class. Best to get the meeting with Toshinori over and done with sooner rather than later and then book it to the next period.

* * *

Izuku sprinted down the halls, doing his best to avoid the students moving about their own way, as he rushed to his meeting place with Toshinori. As time slowly went by he found that... well, the halls emptied out. Students became more and more rare as did people in general.

As he continued running he managed to hear Toshinori's voice... and it sounded like he was talking to someone. Izuku slowly but surely came to a stop, not wanting to interrupt the conversation... which was weird because he didn't hear someone on the other end of the talk. As he rounded a corner and peaked his head around he sighed in a bit of relief; Toshinori was just talking to someone on his Scroll was all.

He looked... nervous.

Very, very nervous.

Izuku know it isn't the polite thing to do but...

'No.'

Izuku frowned slightly as he pulled himself back behind the wall.

'No,' he thought, 'I really shouldn't be trying to listen in to a private call between Toshinori and someone else. It's his business,' he then shook his head, 'and besides, what would Mom say if she ever saw me spy on someone else's conversation. If it has anything to do with me, I'm sure Toshinori will tell me sooner or later. For now it's just best to respect his privacy and wait for the call to end.'

A short while later Toshinori clicked his Scroll shut as he sighed a bit, seemingly both relieved and annoyed at once. Izuku finally poked himself out from around the corner, the gaunt face of his mentor and hero smiling as he spotted the young man.

"Well about time you showed up young man. Was beginning to worry I got ditched. Wouldn't do to keep an old man like myself waiting, we tend to be impatient sorts."

"You really aren't that old Toshinori," Izuku responded with a smile as he ran up to him, the blue eyed Huntsman just grinning widely as he looked down at him.

"So... how do you like it?" Izuku tilted his head to the side a bit, the man just chuckled slightly as he looked down at him. "You know, Beacon? How are your classes, the meals agreeing with our meal plan, the rooms still nice... how's being a team leader?" Izuku got a bit flustered as he heard him, remembering something from last night.

"Wait... when you said that whatever happened... you knew I'd be the leader of a team, Toshinori?" The blond huntsman just scratched the back of his head as he nodded.

"Yeah. Course I couldn't be sure until you all picked up your chess pieces... Ozpin had his own little... priority list and what not." Izuku heard Toshinori mutter a bit as he lowered his hand, but the smile was still firmly planted on his features. "But when I saw who you got grouped up with there wasn't a shadow of a doubt in my mind... and before you start second guessing or wondering, no, I didn't have anything to do with it. Ozpin decided on you because of your own merits. That's why I said you 'earned' it Izuku."

'Woooooow… am I really that predictable?'

' _ **Yes.'**_

'Oh,' Izuku just shook his head, feeling a slight amount of embarrassment at his apparent predictability. He wiped his eyes of any forming tears, and then looked back at his mentor.

"It's... not bad so far. I mean, I haven't really been tested yet so I can't say for certain but... well, my teammates are really nice. Pyrrha, Nora and Weiss are really good people. I think we'll make a good team when everything is said and done. As far as the other stuff... yeah, it's great. Beacon is everything I've dreamed of and more. Again, I have to-"

"Come on kid, I think you've thanked me enough at this point. Start patting yourself on the shoulder, you're the one who passed Initiation."

"... Am I really that predictable?" That time Izuku asked it out loud and Toshinori just barked out a long, loud laugh... that ended with him spewing a bit of blood. "AAAAAAAAAH!"

"*Hack**Cough*... Urgh. And nah, you just tend to hit these notes often enough that I can usually spot them coming at this point kid."

"... Isn't that the same thing as predicting them?" Izuku still didn't know how he just shook off coughing up blood like that. It was still so weird...

"Anyway, enough pleasantries."

'He's just not going to answer the question, isn't he?'

"You have a class to get to and I have some work I'll be taking care of after this. The training area isn't that far from here so let's go." Izuku nodded as he fell in behind Toshinori's steps, his mentor slowly picking up speed as the two walked off. "Like I said, the staff mostly trains here. They usually bring in the bigger stuff and the more dangerous equipment to help hone their skills, so it's kept pretty separate from the rest of the student body. After all, teachers though they may be, the staff here at Beacon are still Huntsmen and Huntresses. They're all expected to step up and save people if it comes down to it... no point in letting themselves get dull."

"Fortunately, most of them only really train in here late in the day when they don't have classes. Which means that you and I are in a pretty flexible position here at the school. My work here is during a pretty specific time frame... gotta keep it like that so I can actually maintain my hero form throughout it all."

"Oh yeah... Toshinori, you've been pretty vague about all this so far. Just what 'are' you doing here at Beacon? Like, officially?" Izuku saw his mentor grin slightly as he looked back at him.

"Ah, be patient young Midoriya... I'm sure you'll find out soon enough." Izuku quirked a brow a bit as Toshinori just waved him on. "So yeah, my time officially working is a bit limited 'and' it's only during certain days. So I have a bit of flexibility in my schedule for when I can meet you here after your own classes 'and' most of the staff that don't know about you and I will be in their offices finishing up work. Ozpin can cut the feeds and make sure no one spies on us and, well, it's really perfect for what we have in mind."

Almost as if on cue, as he said that, Toshinori popped open a nearby door and ushered Izuku in. He blinked a bit and walked into the room...

"HOLY WOAH IT'S HUGE!"

Indeed, during his tour of the building he'd seen where students were encouraged to train in their spare time. It was a handful of moderately sized rooms, wide open arenas where Atlesian Knights could be stocked through systems in the floor. That... that room was much bigger.

He gaped slightly as he looked at the large staff arena. Yeah, Toshinori was right, the place is perfect. It was huge, private, out of the way... someone could really stretch their legs in a place like that. Or practice something dangerous without having to worry about hurting others... or practice something dangerous without having to worry about putting them in a dangerous situation if they were to try to train with it outside of School Grounds. Izuku hadn't really known 'where' he'd train with One For All on his own time. He had had a few thoughts but none of them were great; he could have tried to get as far off from school grounds as possible but there was always the chance that it wouldn't be far enough... plus if he went off like that it'd probably raise more than a few eyebrows as to where he was going or why he was training so far away from school. He'd considered the Emerald Forest but... with how much One For All knocked him down right now, that would be 'very' dangerous. The negative emotions he'd have felt from the pain he would be going through plus the amount of sound he'd be making would no doubt attract Grimm... and any number of his limbs could be broken by the time they'd arrive.

No, training there, in that room, would be Izuku's best bet for privately training with One For All.

"You like it? A lot of the staff really like to stretch their legs whenever they do work out. Arenas as small as the ones you all work with usually just won't cut it... Heck, could you imagine me going hero and then doing what I do in one of those little arenas?" Izuku's eyes went wide at the thought. He'd seen what Toshinori was capable of with One For All first hand... those rooms probably wouldn't survive. "Exactly... which makes it perfect for our training." Toshinori stretched his arms out a bit as he looked around.

"I figure you and I will talk, arrange a time when we're both free on our schedules and then train here for a couple hours of the day. Really get you to work up a sweat. I wouldn't want us to work out here too often... like I said, it's going to be a step up from the old program. Now that you have Aura, I'll really have to grind you down to help you make progress... but at the same time, your Aura will help you make more progress faster than you could before. On the flip side, you'll be exhausted and sore... and I do want you to take breaks from this level of intensity, alright kid?" Izuku nodded slightly as Toshinori said that... and then he saw when Toshinori sighed, almost as if he was expecting Izuku to ignore that part, before grinning again.

"That being said I'll make sure you get a damn good work out in the meanwhile. After all, I'm not about to let my successor down." The blond huntsman gave his protégé a wry grin as he leaned forward a bit, "Now... anything you want to ask about Izuku?"

"Toshinori..." Izuku started somewhat nervously, scratching at the back of his head as his mentor just arched an eyebrow. "Would... would I be able to use this room to train with One For All? Like you said, it's big enough to handle something like that and... well, it's safer and more private than anywhere else I could train with One For All." Izuku saw Toshinori hesitate for a second as he said that, the blond Huntsman scratching at the back of his head as he seemed to think.

"... Yeah, yeah I did say that. You aren't wrong... if you were going to train with One For All anywhere, it probably would be here." The gaunt form of Toshinori grinded his teeth a bit before he looked back at Izuku. "Still kid... that might not be your best move anyway. Training One For All like you'd need to... Hell, you'd be taking hour long breaks, maybe more, if you were going to go about doing it safely. I mean you have Aura now kid and that'll get you up a bit faster than most people with a similar injury, but you'll be inflicting it on yourself over and over again. You'll be drained by the end of it and... well, one or two punches is more progress than no punches, sure, but still, it'll be rough going."

"That's not even getting into what'd happen if you got caught by another student or an unaware staff member here... Ozpin, myself and Glynda could try our best to keep people away, sure, but in the end we aren't perfect and mistakes can happen. We can't be shown showing favoritism to anyone... especially me. That'd raise all kinds of questions about the nature of your semblance and your place here in Beacon. Though that's not the only thing that makes this risky; it's risky to be training like this at all. If you push yourself too hard in the name of making progress or you slip up, you could really hurt yourself Izuku. I understand that you're willing to give it your all but... well, this might not be the best way to do it young man. Plus... well, it isn't exactly going to help your team's moral if their leader comes back from who knows where with healed over, serious injuries... or worse."

"I know... but still, I need-"

"I know... I know..." Toshinori sighed as he rubbed his forehead. "I know it all too well too kid. I know you need to make progress on One For All. Heck, I probably know it better than you." He quirked his eyebrow at that as Toshinori just rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Give me some time to talk to Oz and Glynda about it, alright? This is a pretty big ask Izuku... I'll need some time to see what we can arrange. I'd honestly prefer it if someone could be here with you if you tried this... but that might be hard to arrange given the dearth of people who know." Izuku nodded. He hadn't expected an answer right away, or even a consideration of his request. That Toshinori was willing to think it over was enough.

"Anyway... Toshinori, I've been trying hard by myself to work myself into a better fighting style than what I have right now..." Toshinori nodded, the two having discussed that previously. "I was wondering... if you could teach me some moves? Like, throwing and grappling and if you knew anyone here who could teach me how to fight better?" Toshinori grinned a bit, obviously glad to have gotten off the topic of Izuku breaking limbs to train One For All, as he relaxed.

"You know it's a shame you don't want to pick up boxing kid. It's really solid stuff... but I understand. Port might be a bit down that you aren't going to take up suplexing Grimm but, Hell, why not. I can give you some pointers on how I toss the Grimm and other folk around. Be some good exercise and it'll get you what you need in terms of fighting." With that, Toshinori tapped at his chin a few times, humming to himself. "As for your other point... yeah, I think I know someone. Tell me kid, have you ever heard of Juu Atama?"

"Wait, you mean... you mean THE Juu Atama? The guy nicknamed the Battle Huntsman! Yeah, I know him! He's a monster in close-quarters combat and his Semblance, Gatling, allows him to launch his Aura from his arms like miniature projectiles! They're able to overcome the Grimm's usually Homogeneous resistance to bullets by being pure Aura that disrupts their form! He's a master of so many different styles of combat that it's hard to know what to use against him because he can just change up tactics!"

"Woah, easy there fan boy, that's eno-"

"But he hasn't been seen too much on the active scene recently because he took up a position... at... Beacon! HE'S HERE?!"

"Dang, way to ruin my reveal there kid." Toshinori grinned a bit regardless as he nodded. "Yeah, he's here. Right now he's a combat teacher to third and fourth year students; with his depth of knowledge students in those years can really be helped along, as they're reaching the ends of what more fundamental combat training can do for them. If there's anyone here at the school who could help you with what you're asking for, it'd be him." Toshinori scratched the back of his head. "The guy 'is' a teacher however. He has his own schedule to work on and I'm sure his own students that he's tutoring... you'll need to convince him to be willing to tutor you from time to time. Then again, given that you're doing all this to improve yourself, I doubt he'll be too hard to win over. The guy might be ripped but he's a bit of a softy at heart."

Izuku nodded in understanding as Toshinori said that, before a curious look crossed his face.

"One last thing Toshinori... I'm still pretty new to this whole leader thing... I didn't exactly have a throng of people following me around back in Mountain Glenn, so I'm... really playing this by ear." Toshinori nodded slightly as he said this as he nervously swallowed a lump in his throat. "I was wondering if you... had any tips for being a leader? Like, how do I deal with what they might think of me disappearing off to train by myself or with you?"

"Well that latter point I can answer pretty easily; don't do it too often. If you just keep disappearing and 'especially' if you come back with broken bones if you're trying to use One For All, of course they're going to worry. They might even come to doubt you if you do it so often that you're not living up to your responsibilities as their leader... or being around them as a friend. Moderation, young man. That's the lesson you can learn from me..." Toshinori scratched the back of his head after that. "As for your other question... well, I don't exactly see why you're asking me."

"What do you mean?"

Toshinori seems flummoxed for a moment, eyes blinking as he looked at Izuku.

"Wow you're not kidding. Even a fan boy like you doesn't know? Man, no wonder Enji's always so pissed on the rare occasions we talk now a days." Toshinori shook his head a bit as he looked down at Izuku. "I can't give you tips on how to be a team leader because I don't have experience like that young man. Team EGNT (Ignite), was led by Enji Todoroki."

Izuku's jaw dropped as Toshinori said that, the blond huntsman just laughing a bit as he continued to shake his head. "Yeah, that's how most people react. Nowadays it seems like most people don't even consider it a possibility that Enji led my team. Symbol of Peace and Hope had to be the leader of his team, right?

"But nope. At the time it was still in vogue for Huntsmen to be considered serious, stoic and stone-faced... and Enji fit that description perfectly. At least when he didn't get righteously pissed off. Plus, I was still wet behind the ears as far as stuff like being a Symbol of Peace was concerned... I showed potential and I had the raw charisma but... well, I wasn't ready for one reason or another." Izuku saw a bit of a far off look pass through Toshinori's eyes, a slight smile gracing his lips for a moment before they disappeared. "Anyway... you should probably be heading off about now. The next professor's pretty lax himself but he'll probably take some big notes if you end up late to his class."

Izuku looked at his Scroll for the time and his eyes went wide; he certainly had time if he ran but, Toshinori was right, he didn't have much.

"Thank you so much Toshinori, I appreciate it, I'll see you later, I gotta get to class!" Izuku babbled out as he bowed to his mentor, the man waving him off a bit before he went sprinting to his next class.


	12. The First Day V

Izuku had made it to the classroom with time to spare... but he was still almost late to class. Why? One little sign that had been posted on the door to the classroom.

 _The Urban Hunter 101 will be meeting outside, at the double-door entrance to the hall where first years slept this year. Don't be late_

A lot of sprinting and Izuku 'just' barely managing to clip the time, arriving with just about fifteen seconds to spare. As he did so and took some deep breaths, his team noticed his arrival and quickly ran up.

"Wow, cutting it close there fearless leader. Guessing the sign threw you off too right?" Nora had been the one to ask that, the happy-go-lucky grin on her face telling Izuku she wasn't 'that' worried.

"Yeah... sorry about this. My business went on a little longer than I thought." The other two nodded as Weiss just frowned.

"Well-"

"You should probably make it a habit to make sure your business is concluded earlier next time then, if you don't want to be late."

"Yeah what... he said? Wait, what?" Weiss seemed pretty taken aback, first by someone taking the words right out of her mouth and then by the fact that 'no one' knew who'd said those words. Everyone quickly looked around their surroundings to try to find the voice and, unsurprisingly, Blake Belladonna had been the first one to stand up and take notice, her amber eyes going a bit wide at the sight as everyone followed them...

To a man in a yellow sleeping bag, zipped up to surround his head.

'Huh.'

"E-...Excuse me, sir? Are you... supposed to be here?" Tenya asked, seemingly a little surprised himself, as the man just nodded.

"I'd hope so... I'm Shouta Aizawa, your teacher for this period." Everyone's jaw dropped slightly as the man slowly stood up from the ground and unzipped his sleeping bag from the inside. A few empty pouches fell out from the sleeping bag as he did so, the man casually picking them up and tossing them into a nearby garbage can as everyone stared in stunned awe. There was no way...

"We'll be doing a live exercise today." Apparently it was true and, at that, he was going straight for some live exercise on the first day.

"Sir, doesn't that seem-"

"I doubt a lot of you have been trained for tracking and work in the Urban environment before today. A lot of Combat Schools still work on the assumption that our career is still purely one build around fighting the Grimm where they live. It's irrational given how much times have changed and how far the Hunter's sphere of influence has expanded, but it is what it is. It just means that schools like Beacon need to make sure you all are up to snuff." The man pulled out a little bottle of eye medicine and dropped a few plips of it into his eyes, blinking slightly as he looked over the class with slightly bloodshot eyes.

"To that end, this live exercise is meant to test where you stand right now. How good you are... or, more likely, how bad you are. You all have passed Beacon's Initiation so you have talent and potential on some level... but as to how that extends to my class is uncertain. I need to know what I'm working with so I can work my material around to what you all as a class will need. A live exercise that tests your talents in tracking in an urban environment is the most rational way for me to find this out." Shouta Aizawa pointed around at Beacon's campus.

"Now Beacon itself isn't a perfect example of what you'll be working with, but I can hardly take you out into the City of Vale to do this, not enough time. So we'll be using Beacon's Campus as an analogue. You'll be grouped up into groups of five so that you all don't trip over each other. I'll quickly make my way through Beacon's Campus and find a place to hide out... it'll be your job to find me. You fail if you don't even get close to tracking me down and, obviously, finding me gives a 100% credit for the day. Regardless of how well or how poorly you do, I'll be looking at where you all are stumbling and building the class to help fix it. Understood?"

Despite how utterly bored the man sounded... there was a lot of logic and reason to what he had said. That probably was a good way of building his class... though Izuku had the uneasy feeling that it meant the guy didn't exactly have a 'lesson plan' as it were and was mostly playing things by ear. Still, despite that, everyone nodded, a bit stunned by the man's demeanor; simultaneously bored and slovenly seeming but also direct and authoritative. It was a weird mix... not helped by the weird look in his eyes.

"One last thing... any natural advantages you have, whether it be strong Aura or a Semblance, use it if you think it will help you." Everyone in the class nodded in understanding as Shouta Aizawa brought up his phone. Pressing a few buttons a random selection of names popped up and he showed it to the class. "I'll be using this to pick out the groups. Like I said, try not to get in each others' ways. You'll have 12 minutes each to find me."

With that, time passed and eventually Izuku's own group of five got up to the starting line; Pyrrha, Tenya, Ren and Nora lined up beside him as they all watched their teacher very carefully. Shouta Aizawa waited for them all to be ready and then, same as the previous times, the man started to move 'very' quickly, dashing around and hoping through Beacon's infrastructure as he seemed to leave them all in the dust... and did so quite successfully. They all lost sight of him as he disappeared amidst the many buildings of Beacon.

As they all waited for Aizawa's signal, a thought actually occured to Izuku. Bringing his finger to his lips as he pondered things, he realize something.

'Aizawa's rules were pretty unclear when it came to this challenge. We are being put up into groups of five yes... but why? Surely it would've been easier to just test us all one by one. Time consuming, sure, but we all had a whole week of potential classes to do this and he could've messed with the time anyway he saw fit," he then continued to shake his head, not able to add everything up, "The only rule concerning how we can't interact with our group; we can't get in each other's way."

"And if that's the only thing we can't do… then maybe... "

Izuku decided to take a chance and be bold; the chances of him by himself passing the test were pretty low. He didn't know much about tracking outside of a forest environment and Shouta Aizawa was a professional Huntsman who knew his stuff. If he was going to find him, he had to work outside of the box and think creatively and right now...

"Guys." The four other members of his group looked at him as he met their eyes, a slightly determined look in his own. "I think we should work together to find Professor Aizawa." The suggestion actually seemed to startle them a bit, each of them looking at him in surprise as Tenya readjusted his glasses.

"Izuku, I understand that might be the easiest way of ensuring he's found, but the rules say-"

"The only rule he specified as to us interacting with each other was that we didn't get in each other's way. As far as interacting with each other, that's the 'only' thing he went out of his way to specify. He didn't tell us we couldn't work together, he didn't tell us we couldn't cooperate, he didn't even forbid us from following each other. He only said that we couldn't get in the way of the other. I think that this is our best bet for all of us finding him. If we do it like this not only can we cover more ground by working together but if any of us well and truly loses the trial, then there's the fallback that someone else would be able to find him in time." The others thought on that for a moment. After all, what he had said was true. Aizawa never specified anything about working or not working together.

"Well hey, if the fearless leader says it's a good plan, and if it sounds like a really good plan, then I'm all in!" Nora declared with a grin as she stretched out a bit. "I'm nowhere near as good as Ren when it comes to finding stuff, so this'll improve everyone's odds of passing even more!" Nora continued, Ren sighing as he looked at her.

"Nora, this is meant to evaluate our skills, what if-"

"Come on Renny! It's like Izuku said, we weren't told we couldn't work together. Also, what better way to test our skills at tracking a target than by pooling them together to find him at the same time! It's, like, Jolly Cooperation or something!" Nora declared, poking at Ren a bit as she did so. Ren looked back over to Izuku for a moment, the two sets of eyes meeting, before he sighed and smiled.

"Alright Nora. He does have a point I suppose." Nora cheered a bit as she jumped up, Pyrrha just nodding as she smiled.

"Izuku hasn't led us astray before now, I'm sure he won't now. This sounds like a very sound plan to me." Izuku smiled at his partner's vote of confidence, glad to have her on his side, as they all turned to look at Tenya. The bespectacled young man just nodded as he re-adjusted his glasses.

"Yes, I suppose this is a very straightforward, simple yet effective sounding plan... as has become par for the course for Izuku. Very well then! I shall follow it as well!" Tenya declared with an enthusiastic wave of his hands, the rest of the group just smiling at his energy. The five of them end up setting up a small joint call on his Scroll. At first he was a bit worried that his own Scroll, simple as it was, might not have that function. However, it seemed as though the school had the insight to install it into his system. It made sense; Teams really would need an easy way to start a call on their phones with all four members when out in the field to help coordinate.

Finally Aizawa gave the signal from wherever he'd hidden himself and the five of them went sprinting off.

It didn't take long after they all split up to find Aizawa. With all of them covering so much ground and communicating with each other most steps of the way, they were able to figure things out. While their individual efforts alone may have panned out so that not all of them would've passed, by working together they all managed to succeed together. While Pyrrha ended up close and Izuku hit upon a 'solid' trail that he thought might've led him to Aizawa, Ren was the one who called in the successful find. Within moments the five of them were all grouped up and, indeed, Ren hadn't told a lie. They all found Aizawa casually sitting some odd feet above them on one of Beacon's arches, the man staring down at them all with those bloodshot eyes of his. According to Ren, Aizawa had pretty much relaxed the moment he was found and, when he'd called the rest of the group in, had waited for them all to show up.

"... I have to admit, I didn't see this coming. Taught this class all morning and most first year students are so into the idea of 'proving' themselves by finding me before others that they just dart off. No one's actually stopped to think about my rules and how they can use their natural advantages to help make this easier... and having a talent for coordinated people is an advantage in my book." Izuku blushed slightly as Aizawa hopped down from his place, putting his hands in his pockets as he looked at the five of them.

"All of you are part of teams, so it's no surprise that some level of cooperation is expected of you all... but this will continue even after you all graduate and are permitted to go solo. There are some Grimm nests too large for even the best Hunter to handle... and when it comes to more sensitive matters like The Fang, Huntsmen and Huntresses are expected to cooperate for the greater good." Shouta Aizawa sighed a bit as he rubbed at his eyes. "Still, I had intended to use this test to see where you all stood as it concerns your tracking... this Ren kid's at least pretty familiar so I don't think I have to worry much about him and Mrs. Nikos wasn't far behind. The rest of you... hard to say." Shouta gave a bit of a spooky grin as he brushed the bangs away from his eyes.

"Still, I think that's enough information... and I'm legitimately impressed. Now don't tell anyone else got it? I don't want this getting out..." They all nodded as Aizawa said that, the man sighing as he let his hair fall again. "Now, go back one at a time... it'll be pretty suspicious if you all come back at once. You all get 100% for the day." They all grinned ear to ear after hearing that, a small round of congratulations being handed out to everyone and some heavy thanks being sent Ren's way for being so quick to find Aizawa. The congratulations eventually turned to Izuku as everyone thanked him for thinking it up. 'it, it really wasn't a big deal?' he thought. 'Other people will surely find this out, right?'

They all eventually made their way back and then, before they knew it, the other groups had finished. Some passed as well, some failed hard and others found themselves in the middle. Izuku couldn't say for certain if anyone else followed his tactics, but either way, he was glad he and his friends had done so well.

"Man, Slugger's killing it today," Izuku felt his ears burn as Yang spoke while walking ahead of him, holding up fingers in a pronounced manner as she counted the events, "There was the Bortbatusk," Izuku felt himself blush a bit more, "Then the history lecture," and a bit more, "Hell, and you just impressed Aizawa. Dad actually spoke about him-some kind famous hardass," she gave off a little smirk, "Seems we got ourselves a really impressive little guy to deal with, huh?"

Izuku felt like he looked like a tomato. Even worse was that everyone around him seemed to nod at that. He'd...he'd honestly never impressed any of his classmates like this before. And to get all of them to think so highly of him this soon about his performance.

Even Weiss seemed to look at him with approval.

Soon enough the bell rang and, thankfully, it was time for lunch. Since it was getting into the afternoon and, after lunch, it would just be the Live Exercises class on his schedule. He didn't wonder for too long about what was next to come as he sat down with his friends and started eating.

As Izuku's peer group sat down for lunch, they all actually just went ahead and dug in for a bit. It had been a fair few hours since breakfast and, while the amount of activity certainly hadn't been insurmountable, it had been a while since any of them ate anything... that seemed especially true for Ruby's Team who dug voraciously into their meals... or at least Ruby and Bakugou had, Shoto and Ren seemed to be maintaining their table manners while at the same time casting glances over to Ruby and Bakugou. Ren seemed more amused, and Izuku had to imagine it had something to do with Nora, while Shoto seemed genuinely surprised by the show. It didn't really surprise Izuku; they probably missed breakfast with how nearly late they were for classes.

After a while however Izuku smiled as he placed his silverware to the side. He was not done by any measure, he was pretty hungry, but he wanted to talk to his team about the plans he and Weiss made for that evening. Better to talk about it before the event itself.

"Hey, Team?" Izuku managed to catch all three of his teammates attention with this.

'Wow,' he felt a bit in awe at how quickly all three of his teammates had looked at him, 'they all listened to me… like they actually will listen… thats… thats never happened before.'

Izuku mentally shook off his shock, and continued, "Weiss and I were discussing this a bit last night and I think I brought it up this morning... but just in case, I wanted us all to talk about arrangements for us to all just sit together and talk this evening about Team MNVW and a few things about how we'll operate. You know, stuff like joint studying, training, exercises and stuff."

His words were enough to get Pyrrha to set her plate to the side as well, turning her full attention to him and Weiss. Nora was a bit more hesitant and it took a few seconds of her scooping some more food into her mouth and swallowing it almost instantly before she turned over to him. He saw Weiss study him for a few moments... which caused him to notice something lingering just on the edge of her vision...

But then it faded. He saw her light blue eyes just blink once as she nodded at his suggestion, Weiss pushing her plate away as she turned to face Izuku as well. He smiled slightly, glad to see that the almost predatory look in his teammate's eyes was gone... still, as he thought that, he couldn't help but think that there ha seemed to have been something else on her mind.

'Almost like she was thinking about herself?'

"Very well Izuku. I said your suggestion last night was quite a good idea... and I think setting an agenda before tonight would be the right move to make as well." Pyrrha nodded, as well as Nora, as Weiss continued. "Now... I think it would do us well to address a few topics. The Team isn't just tactics and strategy after all. It's supplies and equipment... things other teams might see to get their hands on should we fall lax in our own efforts. I think it'd pay for us to consider these options as topics for discussion tonight as well."

Izuku nodded his head as he stroked his chin, considering what to prioritize.

In the end, the four of them worked out a small schedule of topics to discuss that evening. With Pyrrha experienced in teaching or tutoring others in fighting, it was decided that she could make for a good instructor in either group or one-on-one training sessions and that it'd help the team move forward as it concerned their combat abilities. With Weiss and Pyrrha, being the more fabulously wealthy of the group while Izuku and Nora were technically unemployed, and Nora lacking even an allowance, the team's initial group fund would be coming from Weiss and Pyrrha. Finally Izuku stepped up and made the suggestion that working together in future exercises and team based activities would help them all far more than working individually, especially in live exercises. The three young women readily agreed with that notion and thus, without much argument, it was decided to dedicate some training time when it could be managed to group efforts and paired attacks, rather than just the solo drills that had been in mind when Pyrrha stepped up to drill them all.

With the topics of discussion laid out for later that evening they all proceeded to sit down and further enjoy their lunches.

* * *

After they all finish up their discussion, having kept to themselves enough not to disturb everyone else too much, a stray thought crossed Izuku's mind. He looked over to Pyrrha and got her attention again, the red haired former-tournament champion pausing in picking her silverware back up to turn her green eyes to him.

"Hey Pyrrha, listen... you know how I've brought up the fact that I've basically only awakened my Aura recently, right?" Pyrrha nodded, having well remembered the few times that had come up. "Well look... I'm looking to change that and improve myself but... well, you know, I don't exactly know what to do to make steady improvements. The professors are all going to be busy with various things and... well, I was wondering if maybe you wouldn't mind teaching me a bit on how to use my Aura?"

"Wooo! Tryin' to get the Invincible Girl all alone with you eh Izuku? You dog you!" Izuku immediately blushed as he turned to face Yang, the blonde just grinning nice and wide as he frantically waved his hands.

"Ah no! That's no what I meant at all! I just wanted to improve my Aura, that's it! I wouldn't ask Pyrrha something like that, I mean, not that there'd be anything wrong with it, not that I want it either, but not because she isn't great-" He was about to devolve into a small spiral of embarrassment as he kept trying to correct his statements when, all of a sudden, Pyrrha lightly touched his shoulder to bring his attention back to her, an amused but kind smile on her face as she nodded.

"Sure Izuku. That'd be just fine by me; I'm more than willing to help you out if it means you improve. That's what partners are for, right?" Izuku sighed a bit as he nodded, the smile remaining on Pyrrha's face as she chuckled. "Honestly, I was going to ask you for some help myself; I'm afraid that I know a lot more about fighting and what goes into combat than I do actual Hunter material or things about the Grimm. It was enough to get me to Beacon but I doubt I'll excel in Port's class with my own limited knowledge. I was wondering if perhaps you wouldn't mind teaching me what you know after we train in Aura? I think I'd certainly be helped in that regard."

"Wooo! Scratch that, looks like Pyrrha's looking to set up some alone-"

THWIP-CRACK!

"OW! Come on Tsu, I wasn't even making a pun!" Tsuyu just let out a 'ribbit' as Izuku shot an appreciative look to her, glad some of the embarrassment he felt had dissipated. He then returned to Pyrrha, who was sharing the look he had had with Tsuyu, who then finally returned her attention to him.

"Pyrrha, I think that will be a great idea," Izuku looked down at his fingers, and began to do some calculations, "Now, where should we start. I think the basicsofhuntsmanlawmightbeagoodplace,gooverthestrengthsandweaknessesofthecurrenthuntsmansystemindeelingwith-"

"Izuku!"

"I… I began ranting again?"

"We'll...we'll work on that too."

* * *

After having finished up speaking with Pyrrha, the conversations rolled along until eventually Tenya slid his chair over a bit, getting closer to Izuku while also ushering for Ruby to pay attention. The exaggerated hand gestures Tenya used in order to draw the silver-eyed teen's attention to him ended up also drawing the attention of most everyone at the table, though if Tenya noticed that, then he was certainly good about not showing it.

"Ruby, Izuku, as fellow leaders I'm sure that this day has brought to your attention the potential challenges and opportunities that our positions allow us. Not only are we responsible for the well-beings of our entire team, but we can also do our part to help shepard and shape the growth of those put under our responsibility by actively improving ourselves and our abilities as leaders."

The other leaders nodded cautiously as they saw the entirety of their peer group stare at Tenya, Yang offering a "we can hear you dude" as Tenya continued.

"I thought you both would. Izuku especially seems quite aware of the need to improve and of taking personal responsibility for those who follow him. It's for these reasons that I suggest that we take time every now and then to meet together and discuss our roles as leaders. Things we've found out that can help along the process of leading a team, news about things we've figured out... and a way for us all to continuously stay updated and in-contact about the things going on in our teams."

It took a few seconds of thinking, before Izuku and Ruby stopped, looked at each other, and then nodded. They then returned their attention to Tenya, and smiled.

"Yeah," Izuku stated, "Sounds like a plan."

"TEAM LEADERS RULE!"

"Oi! Would you shut up you damn brat!"

"DON'T YOU TALK TO MY SISTER THAT WAY!"

* * *

After the team leaders of TABY and RSBR had managed to restrain their more temperamental members from coming to blows, the conversation at the table seemed to die down. What felt like full minutes seemed to disappear, before the silence was broken once again.

"Hey Yang, something up?" Izuku seemed to startle Yang Xiao Long out of some thought as she blinked her lilac eyes and looked at him. At first, he hadn't had much of a mind to really chat more. After arranging all that stuff and making plans, he really was just ready to finish up his meal before heading off to the Live Exercises class. Still, as he and the others ate, he couldn't help but feel like he was being watched. It was an odd sensation, of course he was sure he was being watched; people were looking at him to talk here and there and there were so many people in the Dining Hall that surely someone was looking his way at any given time.

Still, he though it felt a bit closer and more... starey, if that made sense. he chanced a look around and he noticed none other than Yang who seemed to just stop and give him a look from time to time, her brows furrowing in some thought as she bit her lip slightly. Eventually after discovering that, why yes, she was looking at him, he decided to get her attention. The second he did, that wily look that was so the norm for Yang returned as she winked at him.

"Nah, nothing much there slugger. What's up? Oh, are you just done talking to your team and partner over there and now you're trying to branch out? Izuku, you really should wait till everyone else isn't around you know~" He blushed a deep scarlet tone as he stumbled a bit, Yang just laughing her ass off for a moment as she waved her hand. "Kidding, kidding. Seriously, what's on your mind slugger?" He eventually manage to calm himself down as he tilted his head slightly.

"A-Actually, that's more what I wanted to ask you." He saw her blink a couple times as he scratched the back of his head. "I just thought, you know... never mind, it's nothing."

"Nah it's cool Izuku. Come on, I'm not gonna bite." Yang said with a grin as she leaned on her hand a bit, Izuku just fidgeting for a second as he looked over at her.

"I was just wondering... well, it seemed like you were really intently looking at me a moment ago. I was wondering what was on your mind?" Yang nodded a bit as he said that, chuckling slightly as she scratched the back of her head.

"Well I guess I never was much one for subtlety. Alright Izuku, I'll let you bite." He saw Yang's expression shift into a... very genuinely curious one as she looked at him. "Now, don't get what I'm asking here wrong Izuku. You passed just the same as the rest of us... heck, more so if you really did beat that Giant Nevermore in one punch. And you're a nice guy and everything, I thought as much when I first met you... but I also thought you were kind of a shivery, nervous sort of fella-"

"-Not the kind of guy I'd pick out to be a Hunter."

Izuku flinched a bit as she said that but nodded. Well, she wasn't wrong. Even Izuku himself acknowledged that he didn't exactly have the demeanor of a Hunter, especially one in the vein of Toshinori. It was one of the reasons he looked up to him and, to a different degree, Bakugou.

"Plus you said it yourself; you only awakened your Aura recently and you aren't exactly the strongest guy here. It must've been pretty dangerous for you to try your hand at Beacon. And you passed, like I said, don't think that I'm thinking less of you being here, you earned it." He saw a stray thought pass by Yang's eyes, something like a memory, as she frowned. "I'm just wondering... what makes a guy like you say something like in Port's class? Why do you want to be a Huntsman this bad? I know you said it's your dream and I know you've talked about how cool you think it is to save people... but, I mean, there's less dangerous ways of doing it than being a Hunter... what's your drive, man? Why are you giving so much to this? Why do you want to be a Huntsman so badly?"

He saw that everyone of his peer group went a bit silent. he imagined that most of them were probably wondering that themselves but didn't know how to ask. The only person who seemed to not be interested was Kacchan and, even then, it wasn't boredom he saw on his face but annoyance, the face of someone who'd heard something like that one-thousand times before.

Izuku looked down a bit as he took some time to gather his thoughts.

'That's a pretty serious question,' he considered, rubbing his chin slightly, 'I want this… I want this so bad…,' memories of his past, of his classmates, of his… his life began to surface, 'Classmates laughing at my dream,' the feeling of warm arms and the sounds of sobs entered his ears, 'Mom... telling me she wished things were different,' his fist tightened, 'Years and years and years of desperately clawing for ny dream, trying to keep that flame alive... and then watching it die in one, single moment.'

 _"Most Grimm can't be beat unless you have Aura. So no, I honestly don't think you can become a Huntsman without it."_

The man he had admired above all others. The person he looked up to... confirming his secret fears. Confirming what everyone had told him for years. Telling him what he knew, deep down in his heart to be true... that depth of despair... that... that...

"Have you ever felt hopeless? Like... everything is crashing around your ears, and there isn't anything you can do to stop it?" The question was heavy as it hits the air. At a glance, it's easy to tell who understood what you meant and who didn't. Ruby quirked her head a bit to the side. Kacchan just seemed disinterested, while Tenya and Tsuyu just looked at him curiously. Everyone else though? He saw a light of recognition in their eyes as they met his, almost as if seeing something all too familiar reflected back at them. "I have... it's horrible. It just... it crushes you, like a stone weight tied to your chest, and you don't think there's anything you can do to fix it."

'Ten months ago, for half a day, it seemed like my world was over. It seemed like everything I'd ever dreamed... it would never be mine. That I would just have to accept that…'

But...

"But... I was saved. My dream was saved." And... and all by the man who had crushed it earlier that day, funnily enough.

 _ **"Young man. You too can become a hero."**_

"It's... it's why I idolize Toshinori. It's why so much of my dream is wrapped up in what he represents, not who he is or what he's done. My mother told me about when Mountain Glenn almost fell... how people were losing everything they'd ever known, block by block. How they were backed into the tunnels meant to save their lives, facing a death they'd been promised rescue from... fearing that no one would come. And then... and then he did. He didn't do it all on his own... but he rallied the remaining huntsman and, block by block, he and the others took back Mountain Glenn... because Toshinori inspired them. He gave them hope that there was a chance. That their lives didn't have to end there! That there was still something better waiting for them!"

"That's what Toshinori really is! He isn't just a Hunter or a hero... he's hope. He's inspiration for the world over that tomorrow can be a brighter day. That we don't have to fear for our futures, that we can still dream. His example... it's inspired me to never give up. To never lose hope, even when it seems like there isn't a reason to... and... and that's what I want to be." Izuku looked up, a glow of determination behind his expression as he spoke. "I could go with less dangerous jobs and help people, I know. I could be a policeman or a fireman and save a life. Heck, I could even be a farmer and help someone that way. But... just helping people, just saving them... that's not my dream. That's not all I want."

"I want people to feel safe. I want people to feel hope that everything is going to turn out alright, no matter what's happened or what place they've fallen to. It sounds stupid and childish I know but... in this world we're living in, where monsters prowl at the corners feeding on our negative emotions... to feel hopeless... to feel like there's no future... it can only set you adrift." Izuku clenched his fist as he spoke. "If I can be what Toshinori is to me to even one person... to be there and to protect the smile of someone who 'needs' a hero... then I owe it to them to try, no matter how scared I get! That's what I want to give to people and to me, the only way I can do that is as a Huntsman. It might not be a perfect reason, if there even if such a thing... but I think that so long as you give it your all, then it doesn't matter. If you do what you can and give it your all, then your reasons don't matter."

"And... I might not turn out to be the best or the strongest Huntsman. It might just be that it won't turn out like that... but... but so long as I try my best, so long as I give it my all, I can be happy with whatever I've got. So long as I can inspire people and give them the courage to fight on, then I'll be happy!"

...

*Sniff*

"N-Nora... are you... crying?"

He was snapped out of his trance-like state as he snapped his head over in Nora's direction, the bubbly bomber looking a little misty-eyed as she just waved him off.

"D-Don't be ridiculous... I'm just... sweating through my eyes is all." It wasn't long before Ren's hand had found its way over to Nora's shoulder, placing it on there as the two shared a look. There was an understanding there, Izuku thought, a reflection of a past history. As Ren turned to him, he nodded in approval.

"I think that sounds like a very good reason to want to become a Huntsman, Izuku."

"You think?! That's absolutely the best reason anyone would want to become a Huntsman ever! To be a hero!" Ruby Rose declared loudly as she gave Izuku a wide, beaming smile, a tint of red came to his cheeks as he scratched the back of his head sheepishly. He looked around the table and saw that Tenya was likewise claiming to not be getting all misty-eyed, much to his partner's amusement. Said partner was looking at Izuku with those amber eyes... there was an understanding there that he didn't think there was before. Shoto seemed to be staring on ahead, the vague ghost of a smile on his lips as if he'd recalled some fond memory or another. Those reactions intermixed and mingled throughout the table, all except for Kacchan who was notably quiet at his end. Finally, the girl who asked him that question in the first place just gave him a smile. A mix of pleased and... vaguely uncertain as she nodded.

"Yeah... that's... that's one heck of an answer there slugger. Thanks."

He didn't really think it was all that much. It's just what he felt deep down. It was what he held as true to who he was. It really wasn't anything special. Still, he couldn't help but smile as the table got back to their meals. It would be best to finish up eating. After all, live exercises were the next period and they didn't want to show up hungry. The class was supposed to take up the rest of the day after all.


	13. The First Day VI

Everyone stood around idly at the appointed time and place their schedules said to meet up for the Live Exercises class. What they ended up finding was... quite a surprise. A huge, sprawling maze of obstacles was spread out before the entire group, bending and snaking its way around a clearing just outside of Beacon Academy. It seemed to go on for some ways before snaking back towards where they all were standing. It was impressive, whatever it was, and it probably took some time and effort to set up.

The question was...

"Anyone actually know who our professor for this class is? My schedule didn't list them and it just left it blank. Is it going to be some rotating position between the other professors?" Izuku himself shrugged, as did many others. Honestly, it was an answer that made just about as much sense as any and, quite honestly, he'd be just fine with the professor whoever they turned out to be. After all, it seemed like most of the staff at Beacon were good folks... though that would be par for the course with them being Hunters and all, really.

"Whoever he is, I just hope that they'll show up on time. Whoever they are, they're still not here and class is... a minute ago." Weiss groaned somewhat dissatisfied as she shook her head. Indeed, the professor was a little late. Izuku wondered what may have kept them. Maybe something-

"You worry about class starting late? Well, have no fear, newbies!" A loud, booming voice suddenly echoed over the area, everyone's heads snapping up as they tried to make out the source of the sound. 'That voice though... it sounded very familiar... no... no there was no way! He would've told me if it were true right? There's no way that we'd be taught by-'

In that moment, 'someone' hit the ground 'hard' just in front of Izuku's group, a small whistling sound going off as they plummeted to meet the earth itself. Everyone leaned back slightly away from the source of the impact, waiting for the dust to die down before they turned to meet whoever it was that had made that landing.

From the cloud of dust and smoke a giant of a man rose to stand at his full height. Even above and beyond his truly imposing height, two strands of hair stood tall almost like antennae that swayed gently in the wind. Wearing the blue, red, white and gold colors that had become synonymous with him over the years, the Symbol of Peace and Hope stood before the class, a cape that had been a part of his older attire fluttering gently in the breeze behind him.

All the while a wide, unflinching smile was on his face, exuding confidence and a sense of safety... that everything was going to be alright.

"Because I am here!"

A stunned silence fell upon the group of hunters-in-training as they stared on, mouths agape and eyes wide in shock and awe as they looked upon the form of the World's Greatest Huntsman, the Symbol of Peace and Hope-

"H-H-H-H-Holy crap... i-is that-"

"Toshinori Yagi!?"

This one sentence broke the dam of surprise as most students start to actively mutter and chat amongst themselves, each of them discussing the fact that 'the' Toshinori was right before them. After a few moments, Izuku actually heard one of his peers chuckle.

"Yo, Izuku, look at that! Your hero's here, you gotta be feeling pretty good about that right?" Yang turned her head to look at him and... well...

For a second Izuku had been afraid that he might not be able to bring up genuine excitement over that. After all, he and Toshinori had been training together for the past ten months. He was Izuku's mentor and Izuku his successor. By now, the shock and awe should've dissipated, right? Izuku should have had to fake enthusiasm so that his peers wouldn't see something as off.

And yet...

"Oh my gosh... that's his classic Hunter attire! The cloth itself is triple weaved with Gravity Dust sewn into the fabric in order to strengthen it, and, and, and-"

' _ **HA! HA! Once a Fanboy! Always a Fanboy!'**_

But how could he not be when his Hero, his Mentor, the man who inspired his dream was standing before Izuku in all his glory?

"Alright you bunch of newbies, seeing as how this is your first day of Live Exercises, we'll start with something simple." With that Toshinori waved his arm to the grand structure behind him, a wide grin still on his face. "I'll be running you all through this Obstacle Course!"

...

"Huh?"

"... Huh? That's what this is? An... obstacle course?" The look of confusion that came over many faces only caused Toshinori to laugh bodily, his head rearing back slightly as that booming laughter echoed out.

"Indeed! Given that this is our first day I couldn't very well throw you all into the deep end of Live Exercises now could I? No, while this exercise will to allow me to test your bodies and just how strong each of you are, it won't put any of you into any situation that might threaten your safety... just yet, anyway." There was an odd way Toshinori phrased that last part... it sounded like he was trying to come off as intimidating but, given the smile on his face and his usual bravado, it just came off as kind of a joke.

Given the training Toshinori put him through, Izuku imagined it might not be as much of a joke, given that they were at a Hunter's Academy.

"Still, an obstacle course? I dunno, seems kinda easy for a first day? Can't we do like a gun range or something?" Ruby Rose asked, a cheery tone to her voice as Toshinori turned to her.

"Ah, you must be young Miss Rose, the young woman who's been allowed entrance into my alma mater's halls." Ruby blushed a bit, seemingly not sure how to take such a famous Huntsman being so readily familiar with her as he tapped his chin. "Well Miss Rose, how about this. I've heard that your Semblance is Speed and a great deal of it at that. Tell you what; the obstacle course is usually meant to be several minutes long, meant to test each of your abilities... or test how creatively you can use your Aura and Semblance to get through it in a closer time. If you're able to pass through my course in less than five minutes, then I shall see to it that your request is met and we'll go to a gun range in this school."

Izuku could hear Yang shake her head, muttering something about 'a bad bet' as Ruby perked up. "I'm totally on top of this!" The silver eyed girl nearly screamed as she ran out to the front, Toshinori just bodily laughing as she showed such energy.

"Alright then Miss Rose, on the count of three you may begin. One, two, three-" As soon as Toshinori counted off, Ruby Rose was off like a bullet, the tell-tale sign of her Semblance leaving a trail of rose petals in the dust behind her. As Toshinori grinned out at the obstacle course, Lie Ren raised his hands.

"Excuse me... Professor Yagi?" Toshinori waved Ren off as he smiled at him.

"Please young man, do not refer to me so formally. Feel free to refer to me as Toshinori." The sheer force of Toshinori's charisma seemed to bowl Ren over for a moment, like a man standing directly in the path of a great tornado, before Ren coughed a bit into his fist to gather himself back up.

"R-Right... Pr... Toshinori, sir?" Toshinori just nodded as Ren continued. "If this is what you wanted the class to do today, why would you offer Ruby a chance to skip past it like this? You yourself know that her Semblance is Speed, she could pass this obstacle course quite easily."

"Oh I imagine she will make good time... in terms of the course. She won't make the time of our bet however." Everyone tilted their head to the side at Toshinori's claim, the man's cape just fluttering in the breeze as he turned to face the obstacle course. Nobody was quite sure what to make of that, even team RSBR all seemed ready to watch Ruby cross the finish line before the five minute mark. Yang was 'definitely' sure that Ruby would come...

When five minutes came and went, their jaws dropped as Ruby wasn't yet close to being seen.

When, finally, Ruby Rose crossed the finish line at the seven minute mark, everyone was surprised. The girl was 'exhausted', sweat running like rivers down her forehead as she gasped for breath, practically collapsing onto her hands and knees as she reached the finish line. Toshinori nodded his head at that, his hands placed onto his hips.

"I assume that you attempted to cover the entire length of the course with your Semblance, is that right Miss Rose?"

"Please don't make me talk, I'm not ready to not throw up yet..." Ruby gasped as Toshinori turned to the rest of the class.

"You see newbies, you've either recently awakened your Auras or have not had them properly tested. For many of you, the feeling that you have of your soul running throughout your entire body feels endless, as if it could never run out and you could never truly reach the end of it. Sadly, were this the case, then we'd have won the battle against the Grimm many a century ago. We do have our limitations... and that is why we must learn to work around those limitations and not truly push them. What I imagine happened with Miss Rose here is that she attempted to use her Semblance to run the entire length of my course... she may have even gotten halfway through it before, eventually, her Aura just gave out from the constant drain she was putting on it. What you're seeing here is peak exhaustion, when you have pushed not only your physical body past its limitations but your soul as well. As much as this class, in time, will be teaching you about how to manage yourselves in live combat situations we must first start with managing yourselves period. Are we clear, newbies?"

"Yes, Toshinori, sir!"

"Alright then... Miss Rose, when you have sufficiently recovered, feel free to take another swing at this." Ruby just gave a slight thumbs up before she did end up throwing up on the ground, Toshinori just grimacing ever so slightly as he began to call for volunteers.

It wasn't long before Izuku himself ended up at the front of the line. He wanted his chance to show his stuff and in front of your mentor no less. He probably wouldn't have to worry about running low on Aura, he really couldn't spend it to boost his abilities quite yet... but he could still run this course as best as he could.

Having gone through Toshinori's patented achieve the dream training schedule, the Obstacle Course was actually rather familiar to Izuku. While unaware that Toshinori would be teaching at Beacon, with that knowledge, it made sense that he'd have had something like that set up... and it also explained what he meant earlier by having to get something finished.

The first two legs of the obstacle course he actually managed to breeze straight through; long stretches of open ground he was meant to sprint through and some above ground pools that stretched out... pretty far, from what he could tell before diving in. Still, Izuku'd ran far farther these past ten month and swam a lot more laps. Getting through these portions had been easy.

Easy was... not what he would call the next portions of that test. Were it not for his Aura, he was pretty sure he would've sprained his ankle during one of the many leaps across some rather far apart platforms that Toshinori expected them all to complete, though thankfully he managed to barely avoid falling right between the cracks. Even if he did, they weren't 'that' high up and a ladder would've been available for he to get back up...

Which he got well acquainted with on the next jump when he managed to fall and had to climb back up. After that, it was... relatively smooth sailing for the next while. Izuku was forced to do some climbing and it was a bit rough going. However, much like the trees in the Emerald Forest, he managed to find his way up and down without too much hassle. It was the last part, the Agility section... yeah, even he knew that it couldn't have looked pretty to anyone who may have been watching.

In the end though, Izuku was surprised by the fact that when he got back, Toshinori called his time at six minutes and forty seconds, slightly below the average. He must've made more ground on the earlier sections of the test than he had thought. Still, he stayed humble, mostly because he knew that others were going to do better on the course than him, even if there would also be those who did a lot worse. Izuku's team, he knew for a fact, was going to pretty much do better as a whole. Mostly because they would have Aura to boost their performance.

In the end, Izuku was proven right; while his team learned from Ruby's little lesson well, they still did pull out the stops in some places to keep themselves moving without tiring themselves out. Weiss actually ended up being the one to come closest to his own score, at five minutes and fifty-five seconds. Pyrrha actually ended up exceeding Toshinori's own stated bet by breaking the five minute mark and hitting around four minutes and fifteen seconds. Nora?

Even Toshinori seemed a bit blown away for a moment as Nora just basically 'broke' the Obstacle Course. Not literally but she managed to get through it with such speed and time that it seemed unreal to most people. Three and a half minutes. That was how quickly she was able to get through it.

"Holy woah, Nora, that was great!" Izuku couldn't help but declare, the rest of his team nodding in likewise dumbfounded awe as Nora shrugged.

"Aww shucks guys. It was... well it wasn't nothing but boy, it was fun!" Nora declared as she scratched the back of her head slightly. They all had done well in Izuku's opinion, given their capabilities, and it seemed his team shared that estimate. In the end, not every student could be gotten to by the end of class. It was to be expected; it was pretty much the entire First Year class gathered there and the average time was eight minutes. Even with two hours of the afternoon freed up for this class, they'd run into that problem. Toshinori merely laughed it off, saying that they'd handle it next class period, the giant of a man guiding them back towards Beacon Academy as the class came to an end.

"Now then newbies, we'll finish this off next class period on Thursday. Those of you who have already completed the class, feel free to take it as a free period for yourself. Or come to watch the show! I hope that young Miss Rose's lesson has sunk in with the rest of you today as well?" Everyone nodded as Ruby just went scarlet in the face, though she ended up nodding as well. "Excellent! In that case you're all free to go! As you go about your days students, do so with gusto! Remember my own motto; PLUS ULTRA!" With that, Toshinori sprinted off into the maze of buildings that was Beacon's Campus, everyone blinking in some surprise as they marveled at the Symbol of Peace's own show of athleticism.

As everyone marveled or began to go their separate ways, Izuku looked to his teammates and friends with a grin.

'Maybe we have enough time to start our team training a bit. Our schedules will meet with everyone else's soon, but if we start working right now we mig…'

'Huh…'

'Where'd Weiss go?'

'…'

'Well,' he finished looking around, before internally shrugging, 'Given how many times today I've run off to deal with something, I think Weiss has every right to go off and handle her stuff on her own. Besides, she was the one who worked with me the most at lunch planning this out. She'll know the drill when we start later.'

That was the last class of the day. It had been a whirlwind experience, that on some level overwhelmed Izuku, but in the end, as he joined his friends in their walk towards dinner, he was still looking forward to what else Beacon had to offer.

* * *

'Toshinori Yagi...The Number One Huntsman in all of Remnant, The World's Symbol of Peace and Hope, the Eighth Wielder of The Semblance One For All, The Hero of Mountain Glenn and so many other little names and recognition,' he just shook his head, "What did they do to you?" he then smiled, 'And what the heck does that matter?'

His life had swung in multiple ways when it came to that weight; in his youth and for the longest time, said weight had been an opportunity. His dream. His belief that he could inspire people, give hope to the masses who might not otherwise have it. The chance to be a hero to scores of people who truly needed it.

To smile even when he was scared, so that he might lift the spirits of others.

'" **HELLO... TOSHINORI YAGI…"**

After that day, after that fight, that weight slowly became a burden. It slowly became a slowly crushing sensation. The fear had come to dominate his mind as he lost more and more of his ability to maintain One For All. The fear that he might be found out. That his Era as the Symbol of Peace might not end with him handing One For All off to a worthy successor who would light the flame for the future... but that it would end with him discovered. With his image and the ideal of the Symbol of Peace utterly shattered and Remnant once more falling into despair.

Toshinori Yagi still smiled... but for that time, he was more aware than ever that there was plenty of fear behind that smile.

Ozpin had eventually talked Toshinori into settling down, somewhat, and coming to Beacon to be a professor. To search through the ranks of his students to find a successor for One For All... they had both known that Toshinori's time was running out. That soon the flames of One For All would fade... or...

He shook the thought from his head. That... that didn't matter now. In the end, Ozpin's offer didn't turn out exactly like either of them had thought either.

All because of one little chance run in.

 _"I want people to see my smile and feel safe."_

'To think. One day I decide I'd spend in Mountain Glenn on my way to Vale. One day I decide to hang around the city that now has statues of me placed in it. One day when, by a wild chance, one of the monsters of Grimm managed, against all odds, to make its way through the various nets of Mountain Glenn's security…'

'One day, I'd manage to meet the young man I have no doubts over making my successor.'

'Izuku Midoriya.'

As he sprinted through the school and eventually came to a stop, he sighed a bit as he slowly but surely deflated. He'd still ended up coming to Beacon despite having found his successor of course. Izuku 'needed' the teaching that Beacon could provide him. Needed the structure and the chance to be around peers who could help push him, who could support his drive.

And Toshinori? He needed to be around to guide Izuku as best he could. Sure, he didn't know how to teach him about how to control One For All... but as his own requests showed, there was more available for him to teach his protege. More that he could learn from Toshinori...

Or more of a workout that Toshinori could still drill into him.

Toshinori grinned slightly.

'The kid thought the last ten months were Hell? Wait till he gets a look of what the workout would look like now that he has Aura.'

He stretched out a bit as his old Huntsman's attire began to come loose around him. This area of the school was usually pretty isolated to the faculty, so he decided to relax himself around here before he found a place to change out of it.

'Alright, after this class, I think I have a half hour left in my for today. Might not be enough to do much around Vale…,' he remembered something, 'but Port's been talking about a few nests of Grimm that've been growing a bit out of control in the Emerald Forest following the death of the Nevermore.'

'While Grimm are needed in order to ensure the students here could have a ready supply to train, there needed to be some measure of control to ensure that they wouldn't face anything too insane. Maybe I'll go out, romp through the Emerald Forest and Smash some Grimm.'

'Just like old times.'

Toshinori perked up slightly as he heard the clacking of heels coming down the hall from where he'd run in and he shrugged.

'Probably just Glynda passing through, nothing I need to worry about too muc-'

"Excuse me... Professor Yagi?"

'-NOT GLYNDA, NOT GLYNDA!'

Toshinori quickly ducked around a corner real quick and watched as Weiss Schnee, of all people, popped around, her head scanning the various halls looking for him.

'Okay Toshi, you have this. Just... just hero up! Come on, come on, come on…'

"I AM HERE!"

Fully blown up into the shape everyone on Remnant, or almost everyone, knew him by as he dashed out from around a corner, Weiss Schnee shrieked a bit at his sudden appearance. A bit much perhaps but hey, his own nerves were a bit rattled by that close call.

"AH! PROFESSOR YAGI! I mean... Professor Yagi, I'm glad to have managed to catch up with you." Weiss bowed slightly as he turned to face her, a wide smile on his face as he laughed.

"AAAAH, HA, HA, HAAA! Miss Schnee, I do believe that I said that it was perfectly alright for my students to refer to me as Toshinori." The young white haired woman flinched back a bit as she bowed her head.

"O-Of course, I'm sorry Pro, I mean-"

"At ease young miss, there is no need for you to worry so much." Weiss gave him a bit of a look.

"You're not the one standing in front of the Symbol of Peace..." She muttered slightly as Toshinori just give a boisterous laugh, the young woman's face going red as she realized she said that out loud.

"Now then, Miss Schnee, might I ask why you have followed me so deeply into the building? It sounded as though you were looking for me?" As much as he was alright entertaining his students, he didn't have too much time to waste before he'd run out of the opportunity to go out and do Huntsman work entirely. His words seem to strike a bell within Weiss as she nodded, looking up at him with light blue eyes.

"Yes, of course... I do, Toshinori, sir." He just smiled a bit as the young Schnee Heiress straightened up, likely doing her best to look presentable. "It's just... it seems odd to ask this but, you're a professor here... are you aware of who the leader of my team is, sir?"

"Young Mr. Midoriya, correct?" He played that off with all the skill he'd managed to gain over the years, casually scratching at his chin as he just continued to smile. "Why yes, I do believe so. A lot of professors were rather... impressed by his show of force against the Giant Nevermore. That's the right one, correct?" Weiss nodded as he said that, seemingly accepting his charade of not knowing who Izuku was directly.

"Yes, that's the one... well... sir... what I want to ask about is... relating to the fact that he was made the leader of my team." Toshinori quirked an eyebrow slightly as she said that, waving her on as she took a deep breath. "... You see sir, he's... actually quite socially awkward. The times where he can speak plainly and without any sign of meekness are... few. He doesn't seem to have much experience with talking to or instructing people or leading them... something I've had a great deal of in my own life." Toshinori internally winced a bit. He had seen the potential for that... Weiss Schnee was raised to be the Schnee Company's Heiress, after all. She likely spent a great deal of her life learning to be a leader and to speak with people in a manner that would convince them to follow her.

Izuku did have a rough time making first impressions, he knew that himself. Toshinori certainly thought it'd be possible that the young woman in front of him would be... opposed to having someone else picked over her, especially someone who did have so much trouble with people at first glance. Still, he'd been under the impression that Izuku had made a fine first impression on the young woman. Before he could open his mouth up to speak, she sighed.

"... And yet... here we are at the end of the day. Izuku did his best to navigate a rather... initially distressing evening last night, he's thrown himself into his studies and into his position, he's shown himself mentally capable and quite apt when it comes to making strategies for combat on the fly... he's taken his responsibilities as a leader quite seriously, ensuring that our team would come to function multiple times today... he's driven in a way I didn't think a lot of people could be... and by a very noble goal. One that involves you as inspiration, funnily enough."

'... Okay?'

"It... sounds to me like you have quite the high opinion of Mr. Midoriya, Miss Schnee. I don't quite see what you're getting at here? It sounds to me that young Mr. Midoriya is meeting your expectations quite well."

"... Funny you should word it like that. My expectations for today were... terrible. I've spent so much of today just waiting for him to make a mistake, waiting for him to do something that I could latch onto... waiting for an opportunity to find fault in someone who was trying their best and doing... well enough... ugh..." The young woman shook her head as she looked up at him. "Toshinori, sir... Izuku Midoriya has exceeded the awful expectations I had... set for him and done so in a way that has my other two teammates confident in him... and I feel like I should be too... but... I still want that position. I still feel like it's something I'm owed. Even knowing that Ozpin didn't make a mistake... what does that say about me, sir?"

'...'

'Oooooohhhhhhh.'

Toshinori scratched at the back of his neck as he took a moment to think. Honestly, most people would probably take the easy option here. He knew Port would probably go on some spiel about how she'd always been used to getting what she wanted but... that didn't feel helpful there. Not really.

He knew it himself. After all, like he had told Izuku earlier that day... he had been where that young woman was.

 _"I can't friggin' believe this! Hotpants out there got the job and I didn't? Come on, what the hell quality were they looking at for a friggin' leader? How far up you've managed to shove a stick up your ass?! Come on teach, you're with me on this one right?"_

 _"Hahaha... Toshi, tell me, why do you think you should be the one leading your team?"_

 _"Come on, isn't it obvious? I'm strong, I'm capable, I've got the charisma for it... you've been training me all this time so I know I have what it takes. Heck, I'm your Successor! I've got what it takes to be a leader, I can totally fill that spot!"_

 _"Hmmmm. That, my dear Toshinori, is why you're not fit to be leader of Team EGNT right now."_

 _"WHAT?! Come on Nana, aren't you supposed to be on my side?"_

 _"Hahahaha! I am, Toshinori, I am!"_

Even after Enji showed off how good he was for the job, even after he'd shown that he was perfectly capable... who knows, maybe even way better than Toshinori would've been for a while, he still felt that pit in his stomach. Even if he knew it in his head, he was young, way less experienced and far more headstrong. Eventually... well, things slowly but surely came together. Eventually he did grow up, grew more into the man he was today. Hell, before he became famous as the Symbol of Peace, he and Enji had even managed to make a sort of... odd friendship between the pair of them.

That was gone now, of course. Now a days it seemed like the jealousy and internal resentment was on the other foot.

He knew how it felt.

'To feel like you'd been passed over for something you were 'ready' for. Something that you 'earned'... and then to have those feelings turned on you by yourself of all people.'

'Now on the one hand, I could just tell her to go speak with Izuku,' he smirked internally, 'On the other, maybe a bit of… shared experience might be good for her.'

Toshinori ended up just giving his signature smile. As much as he knew Izuku would have been able to give his own two cents, he was young and awkward. Toshinori had the gift of experience and knowledge to offer Weiss... between Izuku's own honest nature and his own insight, perhaps things could go better for them than it did for him in Enji.

'After all, what was the point of being an old man if you can't share your wisdom with the youngsters?'

"You know young miss, I wasn't made the leader of my team either." Weiss Schnee's eyes went as wide as dinner plates as he said that, the light blue jewels just blinking in amazement as her jaw hung open slightly.

"You... what? B-But, that's not... really?"

"AAAAH, HA, HA, HAAA! I know! I tend to get that reaction a lot. But no, I wasn't made the leader of my team. Enji, however, was; Enji was viewed as the most calm and collected out of my team. He was very goal oriented and made sure that our team had what it needed to succeed... and that it had the drive to succeed in all things. He kept us focused, kept us on task and always made sure we acted within the rules of Beacon. Honestly, a lot of us greatly improved under is watch... even if he was a bit of a stick in the mud even way back then." Toshinori whispered the last part conspiratorially, Weiss just nodded slowly as she looked down at the side.

"And you accepted it because even if it wasn't you, a person who was suited for the job was put in charge..."

"Oh no my dear young miss, I raged and raged 'hard'." The girl nearly fell over as he said that, her gaze meeting his as she seemed utterly flabbergasted.

"What?! You? Toshinori Yagi, the Symbol of Peace-"

"Was a young man once. A very young, very headstrong, very 'stubborn' young man." Toshinori said with his smile in place still as he, embarrassingly, placed his forehead in his hands. "I resented Enji for being made the leader in my place. I mean, why wouldn't I? I had the strength, I had the charisma and I 'knew' that I had what it took to be a team leader. So why was it that this jerk with the flame powers got made a team leader instead of me?"

He looked back down at her, a slightly less severe but still overwhelmingly kind smile on his face. "I know how you're feeling right now Miss Schnee... because it didn't take long before I felt the same way you did. Enji proved himself quickly as well, proved why it was a good decision to make him a leader... but I couldn't get over my resentment. I still felt that pit in my stomach. In the end... I wasted a good chunk of my first year feeling that way." He saw that he had Weiss' full attention and he was glad for it as he continued.

"It took time for me to get over it. It took time of me fighting alongside and with Enji... and it took me finally getting to know him as a person before I was able to leave that resentment behind. Even so, I still regret the time I wasted feeling that way. It wasn't an easy thing for me to get over... and it won't be for you either Miss Schnee." She flinched a bit, before he laughed in an encouraging manner.

"However Young Miss, you've managed something that even I didn't; you've recognized the problem and decided to seek out advice on it. Don't take that as a small feat either; I know many a civilian and Hunter alike who couldn't manage to even take that first step. It still won't be an easy road and the temptation to fall back on that resentment will always be there..".

"Which is why, I think, you should talk to Mr. Midoriya." He saw her flinch a bit as he said that but he just put an encouraging hand on her shoulder. "I won't blame you for not wanting to, or even not doing so... goodness knows it'd make me quite the hypocrite if I criticized you for not doing something that I also didn't do... but it sounds to me like you respect Izuku, even through this. I think if you think hard on it, you know that he wouldn't turn his nose up at you for this." She lowered her head slightly at that, nodding in agreement as he went in for the finish. "Don't let this issue fester Miss Schnee. Be open with how you're feeling and I'm sure the both of you will be able to work something out. You'll be stronger teammates for it as well."

"... Thank you Toshinori. I really appreciate this." The young miss gave him the most beaming smile he thought he'd seen that day as he nodded down at her, the young woman turning in place as she quickly hurried off.

"One last thing Miss Schnee." Toshinori saw her turn to face him as he gave her a firm nod. "Remember this well; leadership isn't skill or power. It's about attitude. Honestly think about how many men of means or power you may have seen in Atlas who you felt didn't deserve their positions of leadership." He saw there was a flicker past her eyes as he placed his hands on his hips, trying to give a grand pose to finish it off. "Skill can be taught, power can be earned... however, the heart is something that must be true first for a person to be a true leader."

She just gave him a nod of understanding before she turned and walked off. He waited for the clacking of her heels to be well away from his spot... and then he immediately deflated back. He sighed a bit; he'd really have to get a move on in the Emerald Forest if he wanted to do any harm to any Grimm Nests before he'd have to jump out now... but still, he felt like that was an equally good use of his 'hero time' as it were. A smile formed on his lips as he ducked away to get changed into some more casual, less recognizable clothes.

'Good luck there Izuku... though at this point, I really didn't think you'll need it.'

* * *

Izuku snapped his head up as there was a knock at his dorm room's door. By the time everything had gotten settled after class he, Pyrrha and Nora had gotten some snacks together in preparation for their team's pow-wow. All they were doing now was waiting for Weiss to show up. It hadn't taken much time before the discussed time of their meeting for the knock to be heard and, seeing as how he ended up closest to the door, he quickly got up and went to answer it.

He felt a bit of surprise when he saw that it was Weiss standing outside, a slightly pensive expression on her face.

"Oh, Weiss? Hey there... you know you don't have to knock right? It's your room too." She seemed to twitch a little bit as he said that but before an apology could make its way forward she just sighed a bit.

"Izuku... can we talk? Just you and I for a moment?" Izuku blinked slightly as he turned to look towards Pyrrha and Nora. They both seemed to be nodding their heads, ushering him on toward the door from their own seated positions. He didn't know why they were so eager for him to go but in the end he just shrugged.

"Sure Weiss, no problem." With a quick nod to Pyrrha and Nora he closed the door behind himself and Weiss, turning to the white haired Schnee Heiress as she stroked at her hair a bit.

"Izuku... I'm going to speak for a bit. Get some things off my chest. I would appreciate it if you didn't interrupt till I'm done... and I don't want you to apologize 'at all'. I want to just get this all out in one go, okay?" He blinked a few times, a bit confused by her stipulations but he nodded his head in slow agreement as Weiss sighed.

"Izuku... I want to congratulate you. Your first day at Beacon... you've performed well above my expectations. You're studious, determined, goal-oriented, a clever mind for tactics and you try your best to do well by the three of us... even if the situation is difficult. I haven't had one complaint about you so far today... and if this is your state of being, I imagine I will be quite pleased with your role as leader of Team MNVW." He blinked a couple times, a bit confused by that.

'Okay?'

"But... I also want to apologize. Those expectations I set were abysmally low because I was looking for whatever excuse I could manufacture in order to give myself a reason for... for feeling like Ozpin made a mistake in making you leader. To give me a reason why i should feel like I should still be leader, when you haven't fallen down on the job yet and when... I have few reasons to suspect you would. Even before Initiation you went out of your way to introduce yourself to me, not knowing who I was, in order to help get along with more people here. And... well, it's an honesty I've only seen continue. Yet still, I on some level... want your position. I wanted to be the leader of Team MNVW. However, wanting it and deserving it are two different things. Ozpin chose you and you've so far lived up to your responsibilities…"

"I want to be able to be the best teammate I can be for Team MNVW, just like you're trying to be the best leader you can be. I want this out in the air so that there's nothing... smoldering under the surface. I want you to know that I may be... impatient at times... but I do want you to succeed. And I'll do my best to be the best teammate I can be." Finally, Weiss Schnee brushed off her combat skirt as she looked up at him, having said her piece.

'Well... that was... that was a lot…'

Izuku took a steadying breath as he looked at Weiss head on, a smile on his face.

"Weiss... you don't have to apologize." He shook his head to start off with, watching her blink in surprise as he looked down at his own hand. "When I got here... well, I was just glad for the chance to be here. I had no expectations of being made a leader myself. I didn't think I'd have the opportunity or that I would've been able to earn it. And now... being the leader of this team, when all of you are so much stronger than me? It is terrifying. Humbling, but terrifying." He looked back to Weiss, a determined look on his face. "I'm learning how to be a leader for the first time in my life... and I know I'm going to make mistakes. Still, I want to be able to do my best for you all, to be the best leader I can be... that means I'm ready to accept any criticism you might have of me."

"If you don't understand why I'm doing something, don't hesitate to ask. If you have your own ideas, don't think that I won't welcome them. I want you to be able to feel confident that I can be a leader... I don't want you to have doubts whenever I'm making a decision or when I'm in battle. So I want to know what you're thinking." Finally he gave a final determined nod as he smiled at her. "So how's about this; I'll help you be the best teammate you can be... if you and everyone else helps me be the best leader I can be. How does that sound?"

For a moment, there was a pause in Weiss' body language, a hesitation that he saw locked in her eyes. It was almost as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing or hearing... again. Eventually though that lockdown softened a bit as she gave Izuku a polite smile and a slight nod of her head.

"That sounds quite ideal Izuku, thank you. Now... shall we get inside? I do believe we have official matters to hash out before we get into anything else."

"Of course... and Weiss..." She looked to Izuku for a moment, having turned to face the door, as he scratched his arm slightly. "If... if I can't apologize, then can I say thank you? For trusting me with this and believing in me." There was a moment where Weiss stopped again as she took in what he had said and, again, that polite smile came forward.

"Izuku... you're welcome." It was all she could think to say it seemed but he could tell the gesture was well received. Eventually the two entered their dorm room, finding Nora and Pyrrha doing their best to look inconspicuous.

* * *

 **A/N: And that's the end of the First Day! For the next while we'll be entering a bit more of a Slice of Life phase of the story as we chronicle the growth of Izuku's abilities and relationships here at Beacon Academy. There'll be action, there'll be drama and, eventually, we'll get into the swing of some major plot points again. However, for the foreseeable future in terms of chapters, expect My Huntsman Academia to be a bit more light and episodic than strict and arc based. That's how the original Quest was designed and this was the best way to translate that.**

 **Hope you all have enjoyed so far!**


	14. Soul and Body

"Alright, let's start with Mistral. They'll probably have some Hunters who're a bit closer to household names for you so that'll be easier to use as a base of information for your studies than just starting with Hunters you've barely heard of... or that everyone's heard of."

"Sounds reasonable to me."

Well Izuku and Pyrrha were glad of that, cause honestly, he wasn't entirely sure how the tutoring was going to go down himself. Back in Mountain Glenn, not a lot of kids would actually approach Izuku for any of his information. Sure if people were desperate when it came to an assignment or last minute studying for a test they might end up asking Izuku to crack open his notes and help them out... and Izuku being the guy he was would do so. Just because they were jerks didn't mean it would've been right to just abandon them when they were asking for help. Izuku wanted to be a Huntsman and a Hero... not a whole lot of room for petty reprisals in that dream, in his opinion.

Of course as soon as they didn't need his help anymore they'd go back to their old ways but... well, it was something he'd gotten used to. His knowledge was something sought out in desperation...

It wasn't something people usually reached out for when they just needed some help with their studies. Yet again though that was where he knew he had gotten lucky with Pyrrha; in exchange for a very good session of Aura training not too long ago in which she gave him all sorts of tips and knowledge in how to shape and control his Aura, he just had to sit here and talk about something he knew...

Admittedly he was actually going to have to 'teach' and tutor someone now, a skill he wasn't exactly great with... but it was a start nonetheless.

As it turned out his initial lesson went gangbusters. By using more common names in Mistral, he was able to branch out and use the weapons, themes and abilities of those hunters in order to explain more complex concepts. Taking the obvious that everyone could see, he was able to work his way back into more basic Hunter tactics. How certain weapons that might be common among them were used for certain tactics. The difference between the more urban and the more rural hunters, etc. Pyrrha really seemed to be absorbing the information he was giving her, a flurry of writing flowing from her hand as she took down Izuku's lessons as best she could.

They both continued on for some time before they took a moment to stop, partaking in some snacks that they had gathered up. As the two enjoyed the break, Izuku looked up curiously at Pyrrha. For as much as Izuku had talked about himself, he really didn't know too terribly much about his partner...

"So." Pyrrha turned to face him, all the while he was munching on his snack a bit as he thought what to ask, "What's it like? Mistral I mean. I've never actually been to Mistral... probably no surprise. I've only ever read things about it but I realize this is probably my best chance of asking someone who grew up there what it's like. If you wouldn't mind sharing, that is..." Pyrrha just smiled warmly as she shook her head, her ponytail waving around her.

"Of course I don't mind. I may have left but Mistral is my home. I'd love to tell you about it... though I'll admit, it isn't all great." Pyrrha tapped her fingers against her book as she thought for a moment, thoughts crossing her green eyes as she sought to organize them. "Well... I have no doubt you've heard about Mistral's reputation for being a hive of criminal activity. Even people who know very little hear about that. As much as it pains me to admit it... that is a thing. There's a lot of criminal syndicates that dot Mistral and their influence, historically, has run pretty deep. Thankfully this new Era of Hunters has started to tap down on that but... well, old connections run deep in Mistral."

"I started with that because I wanted to get the bad out of the way first." Pyrrha practically answered Izuku's question before he could ask it as her eyes lit up. "Because honestly, Mistral is such a beautiful place to grow up. There's been a long focus on refinement, culture and art over the years and it really shows in everything. Statues that line the streets, beautiful arches that tower over the major intersections, the buildings, the landscape, both natural and tended to... it all comes together to just make this place of beauty that isn't like anything else in the world. It's all set into a mountain too so there's this sense of scale to the city that... don't get me wrong, Vale is a very efficiently laid out city and it has its own charms but... Mistral is just something else entirely. There's this Grand Structure that sits at the top of it and a waterfall flows forth down from it! It's... ah, I'm sure you've seen pictures of it, but to actually live in Mistral, to get to see it up close... aaaah, it was amazing."

A slightly mischievous grin formed on Pyrrha's lips as she looked over to Izuku, with an almost unnoticeable hint of red along the bridge of her nose "It's not allowed by law, but it's common practice for kids a little younger than us to dive into the reservoir at the bottom of the waterfall." Izuku actually chuckled a bit. He didn't think he'd ever do something like that, or at least, he wouldn't have done it after the fallout with Bakugou, he definitely would've done it way back when he and Bakugou were still... close? He guessed he would call it? Still.

"It sounds really nice. Have you ever done that Pyrrha?" The smile that was on her lips faded a bit as he asked, her green eyes glancing off to the side for a moment before she shook her head.

"No, ah, afraid not. My parents were very aware of my schedule. I was... quite busy." Pyrrha said plainly as she shrugged.

Izuku nodded, 'I can imagine being a... sports star?' he blinked for a second, 'I guess? Would be a pretty busy lifestyle. And her parents probably wouldn't approve of her doing things that, technically, flew in the face of the rules.'

"Sounds like you really love home though." Pyrrha's smile returned in full force as she nodded, turning towards him.

"I do. It has its faults, like I said, but... well, I can't imagine you wouldn't say the same of Mountain Glenn."

"And you're right, I wouldn't." Izuku admitted with a small smile. Eventually the two of them returned to their tutoring, going back to teaching Pyrrha about Mistrali Hunters and their tactics.

* * *

 _Izuku drew his fist back, pivoted his hips and shot his jab forwards with all of his weight, the sound of his knuckles smacking against the punching bag echoing through the oddly silent gym. It was getting dark outside, most of the lighting having already been turned off by the other occupants as they left to get some shut eye, yet he kept on his routine, continued to drive himself further forwards. He needed to, even as he brushed one of the sodden green locks of hair from his fringe, forehead covered in perspiration and face red with effort._

" _You're doing it wrong by the way." Yang called out from the doorway, her voice sending a jolt down Midoriya's spine, making him jump slightly in surprise, much to her amusement._

 _Turning to face her, he blurted out "I'm sorry. I'm still figuring out this combat style and putting theory into practice is more difficult than not without a skilled teacher, nottosaythattheoneswehaveareinadequteoryouhaeaunfairdisadvantage…." slowly descending into a nonsensical mess of murmers and horrified assumptions that he might have insulted her.. Izuku's hurried apologies and multiple bows were quickly stopped by Yang's arm holding him in place, causing the young man to quickly turn red with blushes._

" _What? I mean, I get it, I really do. Not everyone has the advantage of awesome teachers like me and sis, even if dad's a bit to well...dad. But you're learning it all from a book? No wonder you're getting it wrong. Come on." Yang quickly pulled Midoriya towards the ropes of the boxing ring._

" _I appreciate it, I really do, but I'm focusing more on a grappling style rather than boxing. I don't want to hold back your own training."_

" _And I'm not your type oh mighty buff bookworm? I'm almost insulted by the implication you wouldn't want to grapple with me." At this Midoriya began to look like he was about to suffer a heart attack at any moment, wondering at some still working part of his brain who would get his Toshinori merchandise if he were to be found dead from cardiac arrest within the school gym. Hopefully his Mom wouldn't throw it out. There were some pretty expensive collectors items in it._

" _Besides, its the largest clear space in here and i need a partner to spar with. Best to help you learn how to do your kung fu without any bad habits as i work out the rust from my guns." Yang explained, stretching out her fingers as she turned to face today's opponent. "Day of desk study and a combat training ignored by Goodwitch makes a very unhappy Yang." Treading lightly, she circled him, forcing Izuku to turn to remain facing her, predatory smile on her face. "Now shut up and hit me."_

 _Izuku narrowed his eyes, gave his trademark smile of determination and nodded sharply. Stepping forwards he rocketed forwards, clenched fist hurtling forwards and passing smoothly through the location Yang once occupied. Next thing he knew, he was heading towards the ground, his legs swept away and the floor rushing upwards to meet his descent._

" _You haven't been doing this for that long have you?" Yang asked, offering him a hand up, one which he gratefully accepted. "I mean, you can throw a punch at least, but you don't seem to be throwing the right kind."_

" _What do you mean?" Izuku questioned, fishing out his scroll and a bottle of water, taking in a refreshing gulp._

" _You're overextending yourself too much. If you're trying to go all out, then fair enough. That Nevermore showed everyone you can give the Grimm the bird, whenever you want." She cackled silently at her wit, eying the vents just in case her partner was hiding nearby. Izuku continued to listen intently, rather than complain about her humour, a point to him and extra approval for his friendship with Ruby it seemed. "Throwing your weight behind your punches is a good way to deliver a little extra umph, but it leaves you wide open. You need to hold back a bit, strike faster and smarter rather than harder." Yang explained, reliving old lessons from her old man._

 _Looking at her silent audiences reaction, she found him typing her wisdom into his scroll's keypad, murmuring about combat styles, targeting of weak-points and endurance training to shore up his defense and so on, eventually devolving once more into an incomprehensible babble. Not that she disapproved of being paid attention to, but that sure was a tad unsettling. It was like watching Ruby go full out nerd on the subject of weapons, or cookies. Never a good sign for mental wellbeing, no matter how dorky or cute it was in her little sis. "You sure know alot about this." Izuku spoke, breaking the awkward silence as they sat on the boxing ring's floor._

" _Well, I can't have the other shotgun enthusiast show us up, can I? Besides, hand to hand was Dad's area of expertise. I might not need most of it to dish out twice the damage i take, but it doesn't mean I wasn't paying attention. It just means I spend more of the fight working on my punchline….get it?" Izuku may have only given out a nervous chuckle, but she'd take what she could get at this point. It was a better alternative to her partner's tongue lashing._

 _..._

Izuku stared at Yang, who slammed her fist into her remaining open palm.

"Come on maggot, let's see what you've got!"

'How...how did we get from there to here?'

What happened was something that often happened. After she began to show him how to fight better, he began to copy her form. And he had done pretty well. Well enough that...well, Yang had gotten that look in her eye.

It was the look of Cat about to eat a mouse…

'I guess that fits for Team TABY,' Izuku thought to himself, before returning his gaze to Yang, 'Well, if she wants to spar, I'll give her a spar!'

He suspected she would kick his ass but hey, if he learned something then it'd be fine. In the end they both decided on a set of rules; no Semblances, Izuku for obvious reasons as he had no doubt that One For All would kill Yang, and Yang because he wouldn't use his against her and she wanted a fair fight. They also both decided on not using their gauntlets... as it was a spar meant to help Izuku improve his form, there'd be no point if a blow from Yang's weapon, Ember Celica, knocked him out of the fight in just a couple rows.

'Which, to be fair,' Izuku conceded, 'it looks like Yang is going to do that on her own no sweat.'

Other than that, the rules were standard Sparring; if a fighter got knocked down to the red in their Aura, they'd both call the fight and be done with it. The sides of Yang's mouth curled ever upward, and she then said one terrifying sound.

"DING!"

And then she disappeared. And the next second, Izuku was coughing up air.

Yang was faster than him, it was plain enough to see. Before he could properly react Yang had run up on him and had driven her fist into his stomach. He couldn't even parry it with his arms up in their defensive position, the blow just hammered into his gut. He choked out, body tensing as his muscles tried to resist the force of the blow. Immediately he tried to throw his fist down at Yang, a slightly desperate throw as he attempted to get back at her, but it was far off thanks to the force of her blow.

"Come on there Slugger, you've got to focus if you want to even have a chance at hitting me!"

'Sad thing is that if I were brawling like I'm used to, the blow might've had a chance to hit,' he thought. 'But... but I am trying to improve. To fight in a way that would give me more opportunity to hit harder and better. Something more advanced.'

'So I have to focus on improving here, rather than trying to just win the fight.'

He had been rewarded for his determination by Yang throwing an uppercut, slamming her fist into his lower jaw. He, once again, couldn't reach his hands forward in time to stop her and the blow just plowed into him, knocking him back slightly as, for a moment, he swore he was lifted up off his feet from the sheer force of it. A slight growl escaped his lips as he threw a fist forward, trying to connect and finding himself wanting. It looked like Yang's about to get ready to playfully jab at him again verbally as she threw a fist forward... that time though, he did manage to deflect the blow, sending it off course as the lilac eyes of his sparring partner gleamed a bit.

He tried to follow up that success with another blow, only to find it wildly missing. He might've knocked off Yang's attack, but the force had been enough to knock his own stance out of whack.

It was a sudden rush of trades as the two of them began to fall into a rhythm of exchanging blows. Or, Izuku attempted to exchange blows with Yang and failed while she landed multiple on him. After his failed attempts to strike back at her, she rushed forward and threw a punch toward his ribs. Despite his best attempt to dodge he felt her fist slam in, causing him to cough and hack again as his Aura pushed back. He groaned but did what he could to push forward, pulling his fists back and attempting to slam them into Yang. The blows were on a direct course to hit and it seemed like Yang smiled at that but... well, with two well-timed slaps she moved both of his hands away, sending them flying off to the side.

Immediately after, taking advantage of the opening, Yang threw another fist and again he couldn't do much to push it away as she once again landed a blow in his gut, causing him to cough as he momentarily bent over from the force of it.

"Come on! That was a love tap there Slugger, you can't quit on me now!" Izuku groaned as he reared back and threw his fist at Yang, once again heading straight for her. Yet, once again, Yang slapped the blow away but she still seemed very pleased. She again threw a fist and it slammed across his cheek sending him rearing back... he could feel his Aura flicker. It was exhausted. Before the system could even register it, he knew deep down that he'd gone into the red... he'd lost and he knew it. Still, he wanted at least one good showing. One to give Yang at least one good punch before the fight ended! He'd have to give it his all! Yang honestly seemed surprised when he ground his teeth and threw himself back toward her and, despite his exhaustion, he actually managed to throw his punch.

A wide grin stretched across Yang's face but, as before, she managed to slap his hand away from her, sending it flying off. Finally the buzzer went off, signaling that he'd fallen into the red and that the fight was over. Izuku groaned slightly, sounding disappointed as he collapsed onto his hands and knees. His head was ringing and his gut was sore as he sweated heavily, taking deep, gasping breaths as he tried to get air back into his lungs.

"Man Slugger, I gotta hand it to you. You held on there... for someone who just unlocked their Aura, you lasted longer than I thought you would." Yang scratched her chin a bit as she tilted her head to the side, watching as he continued to shake a bit from the effort. "You're also not bad for someone who's been training on their own with this for just some odd months..."

'Well-'

* * *

"Come on Midoriya, follow through on the throw! My style's not just about throwing it's about resisting being thrown! Plus you gotta learn the base forms if you really want to get this down so let's see you roll with it this time! You gotta learn by doing Midoriya, let experience be your teacher!"

"WAAAAAAAAAH!"

Toshinori was right about one thing, the new training... well, he'd been surprised when he got to it. It was a pretty big shift: he was used to the training from Hell from before, of course, being so exhausted that he could barely move at the end of it... and then going back home to pick up his own training and studying. Now though it seemed like Toshinori was using the fact that he had Aura as a reason to push him even harder and faster than before.

In that case, it involved throwing him repeatedly around the room, his screams echoing off the walls as he got sent sailing. Thankfully, Toshinori had the foresight to put down some mats before commencing the training...

Bad news was that he was still being tossed around by Toshinori. Sure, he was learning as he walked through his forms, showing him each step in the process... but still, he was being tossed around by his mentor. It wasn't exactly fun... then again, it wasn't meant to be fun. It was meant to teach Izuku what he needed to be a Huntsman, a Hero. So he'd take his lumps from Toshinori, doing what he could to learn what he could and get better.

In the end, Toshinori lived up to his promise too; he did his best to teach Izuku and he was put as much of it into it as Izuku did. Plus having someone who 'really' knew what he was doing teaching was a lot better than trying to do self study. Even with only a couple hours he felt like he managed to make some serious progress.

* * *

'-A few odd months and one odd day to be technical.'

"But?" He gasped out as Yang just nodded.

"But you've got a ways to go. I was going at it with about as much as I've got... well, as much as I've got without a Semblance. You're a ways behind me in terms of raw strength and poise there... honestly I'm surprised you asked me to keep going with everything I've got. Sure you don't want me to tone it down a bit? Gonna be hard learnin' if I'm kicking you around while you're trying to learn."

"If... if I'm going to get better, then I have to give this everything I have and more. I have to try harder and work harder and... and if that means taking my lumps, then I'll do it! If you hold back, then I won't learn anything about fighting a serious opponent. Not criminals, not the White Fang and definitely not the Grimm!" Izuku got up as he said this, holding onto his fading bruises as he looked up at Yang. "I'll learn and get better from this!"

"Now that's the kind of spirit I like to hear from a sparring partner!" Yang belted out with a laugh as she slapped him across the back, nearly launching him forward onto the ground as she did so. "Alright there Slugger, you're a bit winded at the moment though so... eh, take some time. We've got a while before we've gotta go our separate ways. Might be able to squeeze in another quick round before we have to get going. What do you say?"

"Yes, definitely..." Izuku said with a firm nod as Yang just showed a wide grin.

"Great!" With that, Yang plopped down herself, dabbing at her forehead with a cloth produced from her shorts as she took a bit of a breather herself. It was fairly clear between the two of them that she'd definitely had the lesser workout... though it might just be that she'd knocked the wind out of him so many times now that he just looked like he'd had a harsher workout than Yang. Still, he did get her blood pumping which seemed to have been enough for her. As he continued to take labored breaths, he just leaned back a bit, his body supported by his arms, as he looked up at the ceiling.

"Now then, to actually get down to what I promised you; telling you what you're doing wrong and helping you improve." Izuku flinched a bit as he turned to Yang, the young woman looking down over at you with her lilac eyes as he nodded. "Now, don't take anything I'm gonna say too personally alright; you've been training by yourself for a while so it's actually just really impressive that you've gotten as far as you did on your own." He nodded again, somewhat hesitantly, as she took a bit of a breath.

The next hour or so was Yang basically breaking down his form; A LOT of it is what he was doing wrong as she showed him with her own stance what he'd been messing up when it came to his punches and kicks. More of it was also how he'd not quite focused well when it came to his blocking and how he had let his motions carry him out of his stance. It was all very informative and he made sure to take notes on his Scroll where he could and, eventually, the hour drew to a close and he did feel somewhat revitalized. When Yang noticed that she quickly dropped the teacher visage, grinned in a predatory manner, and dragged him back onto his feet. The next round began!

They both settled back into their stances, Izuku taking advantage of Yang's lessons in order to adjust himself into a better one, as Yang just cracked her neck a bit. She was giving him a grin as, same as before, she dashed forward. Her hands were at the ready to resume beating him up but this time, he felt like he was much more ready. He took a breath as Yang reared back for a punch and, in a crystallizing moment, he punched his own hand forward and knocked hers way off path, leaving her guard open. Yang's lilac eyes went wide in surprise but he didn't waste a second just sitting around as he quickly brought his own hand back and, in as fluid a motion as he could, punched forward to try to strike her. Yang flinched a bit and it was clear she was trying to bring her guard back but, well, it just didn't come in time. You manage to land his first blow against Yang in the entirety of these two rounds, a slight smile reaching his lips as you felt his fist bury itself in her gut...

Only to know for a fact that it did absolutely nothing. Her Aura tanked the entirety of it without even fluctuating, he realized. Before he could get discouraged however, Yang just started laughing boisterously.

"Now this is what I call improvement! Maybe I need to take up teaching!"

With that Yang threw herself back into the melee and Izuku, distracted by his attack's failure, ended up getting caught across the face by the blow. He ground his teeth together and dug his heels in to try to force himself back into his stance to throw a punch, but his head was still swimming form the hit. He ended up missing by a pretty wide margin, one wide enough that it let Yang dip back into his guard and, without much effort on her part, land another hit to his gut. He gasped a bit as he felt the air leaving but he just bit his cheek a bit as he fought to regain his standing.

He threw another blow at Yang and it still missed wildly as he still felt shaken off by the blow. Though the next time Yang reared around to try to beat him upside the head for his mistake, he managed to bring his arm up in time to bodily block the hit before shoving it off and away from him. He followed this up with an attempt to strike Yang once again but found there was no element of surprise working for him that go around as she caught his fist before it could connect. Both of them having knocked the others hand away, they both realized they each had an opening again. Both clenched their fists and, in near synchronization, forwent defense in order to try to land one last hit.

Yang did, connecting with Izuku's cheek as she plowed her fist into his face. He did too, surprisingly, but as before the blow to Yang's ribs was tanked almost entirely by her Aura. He heard the dinging of the system as he sighed. He'd once again fallen into the red without even leaving a mark on Yang. How-

"Man, that really was some improvement there Slugger. You couldn't even land a hit on me last round and here you are landing two! Man, I really do have talents I know nothing about." Yang grinned as she scratched at her nose, Izuku looking up at her with a somewhat weak smile, knowing she'd just tried to soften the blow.

"Yeah but... those attacks didn't even do anything to you."

"Yeah I know, Aura tanked them almost entirely. But hey, we're not here to work on your damage, we're here to work on your form and, man Izuku, I'd say we took a nice step in the right direction here." Izuku smiled a bit as she patted him on the back, he himself just barely managing to keep standing as she grinned. "Now, while we make sure you actually make it back to your dorms in one piece, how about we go over what you still did wrong in this fight, eh Izuku? You still got some stuff to learn." Izuku just nodded enthusiastically, gripping his fist.

"Whatever you've got to tell me, I'm ready to hear it." With just one more nod he and Yang left the arena and started heading for their dorm rooms, Yang giving Izuku pointers here and there as they went.

* * *

 **E/N: The flashback before the spar with yang was "How To Throw A Punch" by Dovasith. Fun Fact: That was the first omake to be extensively edited for the sake of better integration rather than just the basic perspective and tense changes everything gets.**

 **-Shovern**

 **Most of the changes were minor, but it was necessary to try and keep the tone of the scene.**

 **Really the big push was to make the transition between the outtake and the original scene fit with each other.**

 **-Wind-Waker**


	15. Clash

When Weiss had said she would teach him how to dance and other bits of high society interactions, like actually talking with women appropriately, he admitted to having certain images flashing through his head. Ballroom dancing, fancy-talk, and generally just close contact with a girl. He was embarrassed by those thoughts but, well, he wasn't going to lie and say that there wasn't a certain appeal in them.

"Your footwork needs a lot of work Izuku. Outside of running, you just don't have it. Keep up the steps, come on now, one-two-three, one-two-three."

It turned out there was less embarrassment but more exercise. For the hour after he and Weiss finished up his tutoring, Weiss had been drilling him on proper footwork when it came to dancing. Drill being the operative term; those felt more like the sorts of quick footwork drills he'd do with either Toshinori or back in his combat school, to help with his agility. With Weiss, however, the operative goal wasn't to be able to move as fast as he could without missing a step, but to actually move in a coordinated manner that wouldn't leave him flat-footed in the future, either with himself or with another dance partner.

He was not proud to admit it, though with the intensity Weiss was putting him through his paces perhaps he could be a little easy on himself, but it did actually make him break a sweat.

"What, you didn't think it was an easy thing to learn to dance, did you? Dance takes dedications and weeks and weeks and weeks of exercise and preparation and that's just to be passable! In high society there's rules of engagement during balls, whole dance routines that you are expected to memorize as part of showing your cultured upbringing and, most importantly, proper hand placements so as to not appear uncouth. Dance is not just flopping your body around with rhythm. It is an art, a flow of motions that must take up every-ounce-of-your-focus you are losing rhythm!" He yelped a bit as he picked back up to the rhythm Weiss had been setting for his footwork.

On the plus side, that really helped with his footwork outside of dancing as well. And Weiss was a very receptive student to his teaching earlier. Still he really did need to give every ounce of his focus to it, both to honor her own effort and to improve himself. Three times harder than anyone else, after all.

* * *

"BEACON... SMAAAAAAAAAAAASH!"

A roar of wind and sound exploded from the end of Izuku's fist as he threw his punch, nearly being knocked flat on his ass by the kickback of his use of One For All. He cried out in pain as his left arm cradled his right, the intense pain surging through his body was immediately apparent as he looked down at the broken limb. Even without a target being struck, the kickback from One For All was still enough to shatter damn near every bone in his right arm. He took deep, labored breaths as he walked over to a nearby bench and had a seat. It would be a while before he could get up to take another swing with One For All, but Glynda and Ozpin allowed him to rent out that particular staff training room for quite a while. He didn't want to risk breaking both of his arms at once... though it did occur to him that he could switch up what arm he was healing and that, in all honesty, healing up one arm almost totally before Smashing with the other, breaking it, and then finishing up his other arm before letting the newly broken one heal would be a more efficient use of his time in there...

Efficient but not painless.

Training One For All 'hurt'.

It 'hurt' so bad.

But he needed to do it. One For All wasn't his yet, the pain was proof enough of that fact. He needed to master it, he needed to be able to use it to its fullest potential. He was going to be the next Symbol of Peace one day... and that meant he had to live up to Toshinori's example. The first part of that was mastering his Semblance, mastering One For All.

He winced, having lost track of time from having been so lost in his thoughts, as he felt the bones in his arm begin to pop back into place, reforming under the guidance of his Aura. He was getting exhausted doing that, Aura being spent not on protecting him but healing... but it was all part of the process.

It'd be worth it. One day, when he mastered One For All, it'd be worth it.

For now, he just had to suffer through it.

'Though I'm definitely not looking forward to telling my team about this... especially after last time.'

* * *

Izuku dragged his beaten and battered form into his dorm room where his teammates stared at him in shock. His clothes were ruffled and torn. There were scratches all over his body, and his arm was bent in a direction that it definitely shouldn't have been in.

"Izuku!" His teammates shouted as they rushed over to him.

"Are you alright? What happened?" Pyrrha was the first to ask questions.

"Your arm is broken!" Weiss shouted out.

"Did you use your semblance again?" Pyrrha asked in a worried tone.

"Again!? How many times do we have to tell you not to use it so willy nilly!" Weiss stated, outraged. "This is the second time this week!"

"Yeah, fearless leader. How could you leave me out of all the fun!?" Exclaimed Nora.

"Ah, uh, but I-"

"No buts! You are going to lie down and let us fix that arm of yours" Weiss demanded.

"Yes! Ow!" Izuku responded while trying to salute with his broken arm.

"Ah, I get I'll get the kit" Pyrrha said and walked into the bathroom to fetch said kit.

Both Weiss and Nora helped him to his bed. Well, Nora rattled on about all the cool things that Izuku did without her instead. It was not his fault that Toshinori had some insane training techniques.

"Honestly, You're going to lose that arm one day" Weiss' chastised him.

"It's not that bad, I-"

"No, it is that bad. Aura can't heal all wounds. And I refuse to be in a team with a disabled leader so you are going to lie down, shut up, and let us treat you!"

Izuku flinched, went to open his mouth, flinched again when Weiss gave him a cold stare and finally gave up. He could never argue with Weiss when she got like that.

Pyrrha came back from the bathroom with what looked like a first aid kit but with the words 'Izuku's done something stupid kit' written on it. She set it down and pulled up his sleeve as gently as possible so as to not cause him any pain.

"It's not as bad as last time so you should be okay" Pyrrha said as she analysed the damage.

"Okay? Okay!? How is this okay!? There shouldn't even be a last time!" Weiss exploded. "And there definitely won't be a next time, right Izuku?"

"Y-Yes!" Izuku shouted in full fear of the womanly rage in front of him.

"Good. Now stay still while we fix this mess"

Izuku cried inside. Not because he broke his arm or that Weiss told him off…

But that he never got to explain that he fell down the stairs.

* * *

Izuku grumbled a bit, having finally recovered from the most recent bout of training with One For All. He had managed to avoid the worst of the scolding when it had turned out that only Pyrrha had been in the room, and of his team, she had been the most accepting of his training habits. It was likely due to that that Izuku had had enough time to recover alone, before he finally was confronted with a major problem.

Izuku looked over at his at his tattered workout clothes, and groaned. The shirt could barely be described as scraps any more, with the piece having been utterly torn apart by the use of One For All. His shorts weren't much better, and all that left Izuku with conundrum.

He really needed to fix those clothes, it was his only real workout outfit, yet he couldn't keep getting someone to repair them all the time. He was already budgeting his money with the costs of dust and equipment as it is. Spending more lien to repair his clothes whenever he used One for All, while not the most costly thing, was starting to add up.

That's when the idea came to him. Why didn't he repair the clothes himself? It'll save him money and he'll learn a useful skill in the process. Besides, it couldn't be that hard, right?

He went to leave the dorm room when Pyrrha stopped him and asked where he was going. Luckily, It turned out that Pyrrha used needles to practice fine control of her semblance and she was willing to let him borrow them. Now all he needed was some Yarn.

He stepped out of his dorm room and caught sight of Blake. He and Blake hadn't talked much. Then again, Blake did not talk much period. But he decided that wouldn't stop him from going up and saying hello. They were friends after all. Or at least, he thought they are.

"Hi Blake" Izuku greeted.

"Oh, hey" Blake curtly responded. There was a brief moment of silence between them before Blake spoke up.

"So, I'm going to the library so…"

"Oh! That's fine! Ah, before you go. You don't happen to have any balls of yarn, do you?" Izuku asked. He figured that since Pyrrha ended up having something he needed and was willing to lend it to him then there was the opportunity of it happening again.

Blake's eyes widened in shock before narrowing. Izuku wasn't sure why she had such a reaction. He had only asked for some yarn.

"No… Why would you think I would have some?" Blake wearily asked with a sharp tone. Izuku was not sure how but he knew that he has offended her somehow.

"Ah, I-I just wondering if you had any I could borrow so I wouldn't have to go all the way to Vale to get some. Sorry if I offended you!" Izuku panicked.

"N-no! Why would I be offended by that!? It's not like I'm a cat faunus or anything" A flustered Blake blurted out.

"I'm really sorry! Wait, cat faunus?" Izuku tilted his head to the side in confusion. It was quite an odd thing to bring up after all.

"Gotta go, bye!" Blake ran away, leaving a shadow clone behind before her sentence even finished.

* * *

Blake was not happy. She was not remotely close to the emotion called happiness at the moment. Out of all the thing that could have done, she somehow arrived at deciding to do the single most stupid thing possible.

'I revealed I am a Faunus,' she tightened her hand, 'to a classmate…' She didn't even know how it happened. She just panicked over suddenly being apologized to and it just... slipped. Granted, she hadn't specifically state she was a faunus but there was no way Izuku couldn't put two and two together.

Blake slumped in her seat and sighed.

'Why did ask me if she had any balls of yarn?' a spark of fear shooting up her spine, 'Could it be that he knew all along?'

She thought for a second, before shaking her head, 'No, with the way he acted, he was genuinely panicking over the fact that she took offence to his question.'

Blake put that to the side for the moment. She had something much more important to think about, 'What would I do now?'

The answer was obvious, 'Make him be quiet about it.'

Then came the follow up, 'How?'

'Maybe asking him would work?'

Blake could only chuckle at the naivety of that thought. 'If something could be achieved simply through assking then we would have equality by now. No, I need something to make sure Izuku keeps his mouth shut.'

Then it clicked. She knew of a way to make sure he didn't talk. It was quite simple really. All she had to do was give him a reason not to talk. Make it so that revealing her secret would be detrimental to him. While she didn't have anyway to give him said reason, she was sure that her stealth skills were enough to learn a secret or two.

* * *

"Salutations my fellow Team Leaders! I hereby call this first meeting of the Beacon Academy Leadership Council on Tactics, Training, Leading and Team Cohesion to order! I'll start with a simple role call! Izuku Midoriya, Leader of Team MNVW?"

"... Uh... here?"

"Very good! Ruby Rose, Leader of Team RSBR?"

"Present!"

"Excellent! And obviously I, Tenya Iida, Leader of Team TABY, am present and accounted for! This meeting may therefore come to order!"

... Well, at least Tenya was enthusiastic. And Izuku really couldn't fault him for the amount of preparation he'd put into the meeting. He'd managed to convince one of the teachers to use their classroom as part of a 'Club' Meeting for the evening, had gathered up a plate of varying snacks, most notably a rather large plate of cookies that Ruby seemed to monopolize, and even managed to find an honest to goodness round table for them all to sit around. As it was just the three at the moment, they were all a bit scrunched up at the top of the table, sitting with enough space to leave them all comfortable but close enough to be able to talk rather plainly with each other.

Still...

"Tenya, you can see the both of us right here. Did you really need to do a role call?" He munched on a potato chip as he said that, Tenya stiffening slightly as he turned to him.

"Of course Izuku, we are the leaders of our respective teams. It is of the utmost duty that we take all of our responsibilities with the utmost seriousness, sincerity and integrity. We have an example to live up to now, after all!" he nodded as Tenya enthusiastically waved his hands around. He saw the taller man's point, of course. Heck, he even agreed with it. Still, to someone as socially awkward as Izuku, Tenya's enthusiasm felt like a little much.

"Well then!" Tenya exclaimed while Izuku just shook his head, and Ruby stuck another cookie in her mouth, "LET'S GET STARTED!"

* * *

"Well I'm not going to lie Miss Rose, that does sound like an issue."

The meeting had actually gone rather smoothly so far. The three of them started off by exchanging their experiences for the past week (or almost week) as leaders to see what worked, what didn't and what the three thought were good philosophies. He talked to the others about the difficulty with Weiss on his first day, but that also then allowed him to work around to discussing how things worked out generally because he just tried his best to show that he was going to work hard at it and he respected his team. Or, as Tenya put it, he showed "strong resolve in respecting his team members and earning their respect in turn!" He didn't know if he had actually earned their respect, he still felt like he was a ways off from deserving it, but it did sound like Tenya was on the right track.

For Tenya, his discussion was more in balancing out the various personalities of his team. While he and Blake, in his own words, "got along quite well by being serious, hard working and diligent." Blake's more quiet and subdued nature didn't exactly play off well against Tenya's enthusiasm, he thought. Then there was Yang, a wild card in their Team to be sure, who was pretty much so different from most everyone else. Not that it was a bad thing; Yang's energy, enthusiasm and sheer, in Tenya's word, joyous energy brought a certain amount of 'spark' to the group. Still, her propensity for teasing and bad jokes did make her a handful at times. Though Tsuyu helped with the bad jokes aspect, it didn't exactly make it completely easy as she would still try her hardest to make her puns. Then there was Tsuyu, who was almost like Blake in the not often speaking regard. However, when she did speak, she spoke far more plainly than Blake and it seemed like she was more into interacting with the team.

For Tenya, the challenge and opportunity was working with all aspects of the team to make it a fully functioning unit while also managing to respect what made each of his subordinates unique. Izuku certainly related to that; while Pyrrha was a great partner, Weiss and Nora couldn't be more different as people and Nora's energy was just... well, wow, he could barely keep up with her sometimes. But he enjoyed it; it brought something new to living here at Beacon that he enjoyed. And he wasn't gonna lie, seeing what Nora could pour that energy toward was a source of fun in and of itself.

All of which then brought it down to Ruby who actually greatly sympathized with both of their challenges... mostly because she had both problems wrapped up in Bakugou. The Explosion user had a very... strong personality. He also had his own idea on how he should act as part of the team and how he should respond to Ruby's orders as a leader. Now, Ren and Shoto were great in Ruby's own words, they were following her orders or making suggestions when they thought they could add something, which she definitely welcomed, and they were pretty great. Quiet and sometimes hard to talk to, but great. Bakugou however was just an explosive element that she had a hard time working with, no matter what she tried. Even Ren's pancakes didn't seem to make a dent!

"It's like I've said before Ruby, Kacchan's the kind of guy who respects strength."

"I know, I know... but I would've thought passing Initiation would've shown that I was strong!" Ruby whined a bit as she ate another cookie, and Tenya tapped his chin as he nodded.

"True, but I do think that this is a bit more significant than whether or not you're a strong Huntress in your own right. You're two years his junior and it's clear that Bakugou thinks highly of himself. Even if he might recognize that you belong here, he might not recognize you as his superior or someone he would bend for when it came to orders." Izuku nodded in agreement as Ruby looked up at the both of them.

"Ruby, just like you got here early for a reason, Ozpin picked you to be a leader for a reason. He picked all of us for one reason or another. If you just keep being you then... I think Kacchan will at least... maybe not violently kick you away whenever you give an order." Tenya and Ruby sweated a bit as he said that, Ruby's eyes threatening to tear up.

"You don't make it sound so good."

...

"Well it is Kacchan..." He admitted with a slightly weak chuckle, Ruby just groaning as she placed her face into the plate of cookies. At first Tenya patted her on the shoulder reassuringly... before noticing that Ruby was mostly doing that just to hoover up the remaining cookies.

"MISS ROSE, THIS PLATE WAS MEANT FOR ALL OF US, YOU'VE HAD ENOUGH!"

"CAN'T YOU SEE I'M DEPRESSED TENYA, LET ME DROWN MYSELF IN BAKED BREAD SPRINKLED WITH CHOCOLATE!"

'You know, this meeting turned out rather well... I think.'

* * *

"Owari Meisai will be one of the participants for the next round. Is there anyone who has not fought in the previous class or today that would volunteer?"

"... Uh... I guess I will Professor Goodwitch!"

"... Very well. Mr. Midoriya shall fight Mr. Meisai. Both of you report to your lockers to retrieve your gear and return here."

He was cheered on by his team, or in Weiss's case was wished good luck very calmly, as he took a deep breath. He looked across the stands to see he opponent... sleeping. He was sound asleep. The rest of his team turned to look at him, one of them slapping him upside the head slightly to wake him up. At first all that did was upset the parrot that the guy had perched on his shoulder but, soon enough, he did snap awake, blinking his eyes blearily as the rest of his team informed him about what was going down. He yawned a bit as he nodded, his parrot perching off of his shoulder and onto his seat as he got up to leave alongside Izuku. The guy... didn't look terribly strong. In fact, he looked pretty physically meek if he had to guess. His Aura would enhance his strength, speed and durability sure enough, but he definitely didn't look like a fighter to Izuku. Still, he couldn't underestimate his opponent just from what they looked like; He knew that lesson better than most.

As the two went down to the lockers, Izuku slipped on Emerald Gust's various pieces, smiling to himself as he tested out Mei's upgrade one last time. Smooth as silk the metal layer slipped on over his hands along with the mechanism for Emerald Gust's shotgun. he loaded up on his Gravity Dust Rounds as well, sliding two changes of the ammo into your back pocket as he cocked the shotgun. When the fight begins, it would be ready. Turning the safety back off, he looked over his shoulder to see Owari messing with his own locker, pulling out three softball sized orbs, or at least what he could tell from that distance as orbs, and shoved them into his pockets. He heard the mechashift of a weapon from his locker as he additionally pulled out a spear and nodded at it. Reaching back into his pocket as he lazily let his spear lean against his shoulder, he pulled out one of the little spheres.

With a content smile and a bit of five-o-clock shadow, Owari turned to Izuku and offered a short nod before walking off. Returning it, he followed him out to the arena.

As they walked up to Glynda so that she could check over both their gear, ensuring that they haven't carried anything into the arena that wouldn't pass muster, she gave them both a nod. As Owari moved to his position, he felt Glynda grab him by the shoulder. His emerald eyes turned to meet hers and she seemed... pensive.

"Mr. Midoriya... I hope that I don't have to tell you that you shouldn't be using your... Semblance in this fight, correct?" He tensed up a bit and nodded fervently. It hadn't even crossed his mind to use One For All against another student. With a nod she let go of his shoulder and allowed him to move into his position. When they were both settled Glynda gave both of them a look before syncing their Scrolls with the monitor up top, showing their Aura levels.

"Alright then. Owari Meisai versus Izuku Midoriya. Begin!"

Izuku tensed up; both of them were well within striking distance of each other if one of them were to run up on the other. Izuku was expecting Owari to come at him with that spear of his, maybe even using its length in order to poke him out a bit. Instead... he actually ran back, getting as much distance between the two of them as he could. His spear in one hand and the black orb in the other.

While Izuku felt he needed to be cautious of whatever it was Owari had in his hands, he couldn't just let him get away from him without giving him a little something to worry about. Cocking the shotguns of Emerald Gust he reared a fist back and, taking careful aim, punched out. A spray of pellets immediately soared through the air and, while they by and large scattered, one did seem to be on the right track towards hitting him. However, his target hasn't taken his eyes off of him even while trying to gain his distance and, in a show of movement pretty surprising to Izuku, he ducked to the side to dodge out of the way of the one pellet. As he did that izuku just grouns his teeth together as he began moving toward him, feeling the mechanisms in Emerald Gust turn as they place another round into his shotgun's chamber.

Owari's eyes remained on Izuku as he squeezed down on the black orb and, to Izuku's surprise, tossed it at the ground just a ways in front of him. He skidded to a stop before it hit and, while it was a small bit of distance from gim, that distance was rather quickly made moot as the orb exploded. He covered his face, fearing some kind of trick, but then looked back a moment later when the was no feel of fragmentation striking him. His eyes went a bit wide in surprise when he saw that in the floor in front of him, a rather large area was now littered in caltrops. Small little spikes, twisted so that no matter how they landed a spike was always facing up, had covered the floor in a 3 yard by 3 yard space in front of him. he looked back over to Owari as he heard his weapon Mechashift once more, that time going from his spear into a bolt-action rifle, something he'd seen before with Pyrrha.

Having had no idea what he might be planning with those, whether there was an additional trick up his sleeve with that gadget or not, he went cautious and fired off his shotgun again before moving around the trap. His aim was even more true that time than the last but it seemed all for not; A jump to the side and Owari dodged several pellets of Izuku's shot while he tried to work his way closer.

The next moment was a bit of a blur in his memory. He watched as Owari leveled his rifle, the eye he'd used to look down the iron sight... practically bulging out of his head as he took aim at Izuku. He took a slight breath, his entire body going steady.

And then Midoriya's world was one of pain.

He choked as the bullets pierced his Aura and then tore straight on through his body, punching right through his right shoulder and exiting just out of his back. Immediately he felt both his body and his Aura going to work, the former resisting the bullet as best it could to keep it from just tearing him up inside while his Aura immediately went to work patching him up after the bullet had made its pass. There was blood, because of course there was, but it was in a quick spurt as the bullet just carved a path straight through him. The holes were soon enough patched up and he knew that his Aura was getting to work on fixing the internal damage...

But the damage had been done.

"Izuku Midoriya's Aura has been unwillingly pierced. Owari Meisai wins now drop your weapons." Izuku saw his opponent flinch a bit before his eye closed, sinking back toward his skull as he just stood up fully. He shifted his weapon back into its spear and then let it lazily hang off his shoulder as he approached you. Izuku grinded his teeth together through the pain as he reached a hand up to put pressure on his shoulder as both Glynda and Owari made their approach. Glynda looked between the two of them for a moment and sighed, turning her attention to Owari. "Mr. Meisai, while I appreciate that this is how you will be conducting yourself in the field, and your marks in the shooting range haven't gone unnoticed, this is a combat class. Learning how to deal with your opponents close up here will help you should the situation come to a brawl in the field."

"I understand Professor, but if my opponents never reach me because of my team or my traps-"

"You'd be surprised how quickly established plans can go wrong in the field Mr. Meisai. Do not fail to broaden your skill set simply because you have a plan that will work sometimes. Failure is always an option even for the best laid out designs. In the future, I want you to 'try' to fight your opponents." Owari just nodded his head slightly before she turns to Midoriya. "Mr. Midoriya, your thoughtful approach to combat has been noted in both Initiation and here. You didn't know what your opponent is capable of and you didn't rush to meet him due to this lack of knowledge. However, in this scenario you erred on the side of caution, allowing your opponent to gain the space he desired as signaled by the beginning of the fight."

"But professor, you don't exactly sound like you disapproved of me not rushing in." Glynda sighed as she re-adjusted her glasses.

"Because I don't. You were dealt a poor hand Mr. Midoriya; you didn't know what your opponent had up their sleeves and yet you couldn't allow them to get the distance they wanted. You would've had to make a poor move based in ignorance either way... but that is how the business of being a Hunter works. The only way you'll be able to find out which times to take risks and which times it is better to remain cautious is through experience and better judgement... or to pray that you have information on your opponent before the battle. Do you understand Mr. Midoriya?"

Izuku just nodded dumbly as he winced, feeling his Aura go to work. Glynda sighed again as she tapped on her Scroll. "There's only one more fight left. Stay and watch it if you please Mr. Midoriya but I'd ask you go to Professor Peach's office after this to be checked out. Understood?" He nodded quickly as did Glynda. "Very well then, you both are dismissed. Now then... Ruby Rose will be our next fighter. Is there anyone who would volunteer to go against her?" The arena went a bit quiet as he walked off, still cradling his right shoulder to keep pressure on. Just as he and Owari were about to exit, he heard it.

"Yeah, I'll take the runt on." Before anyone else could volunteer, barely a moment after Glynda made the call for volunteers... he heard it.

Bakugou had just put himself up to fight Ruby.

* * *

 _"Ruby, you know you didn't have to accept right. There is the option to turn down these fights and, well, it's unusual for Teammates to spare against one and other in combat class... much less your partner! I'm sure Glynda wouldn't think much of it if you passed."_

 _"I know, I know but... it's like you said Izuku, Kac-... Bakugo respects strength. If I just flaked out on my first combat class spar, and against him no less? Might as well kiss making Team RSBR work out goodbye. I've got to at least fight him... and hey, I can at least try to win." He nodded as Ruby gives him a quick, and very nervous, thumbs up. "Wish me luck."_

As Izuku sat back down with his friends, his team worried for a moment or two about the shoulder wound which, he assured them, was closing up nicely, everyone's attention soon turned to the fight. Ruby and Bakugou showed up on the arena floor in their respective normal outfits with weapons at the ready. Bakugou with his grenade gauntlets and Ruby with Crescent Rose. Izuku swallow nervously as he looked at that, knowing that the fight was gonna be rough...

"Just a word to the wise Izuku, if your bully-friend down there upsets one little hair on my sister's head, I'm going to pulverize him."

"Yang no, this is a spar."

"Yang yes, that guy's a jerk."

Tenya just sighed at his failed attempt to corral his subordinate, and Izuku couldn't help but nod with both of them.

'While Yang probably knows there is nothing she can do to Kacchan if he does beat Ruby in that spar, I can see why Yang would be upset. Kaachan isn't exactly an easy person to get on with and it was clear he is at least somewhat upsetting to Ruby. If he does just kick her around then it's going to be natural for Yang's frustration with the guy to boil over,' Ren and Shoto just watched the argument carefully, the pair exchanging a look for a second... before nodding.

"You're all jumping to conclusions too soon. I'd say Ruby stands a solid chance here." Ren remarked quietly as he looked back down at the arena, Shoto nodding in agreement.

"Indeed. Even Bakugo will probably recognize that he doesn't have this fight wrapped up... which might end up reneging on Ruby's advantage." Shoto remarked afterward as everyone just stared at the partner pair.

"You... you two didn't even say anything..." Blake remarked, almost numbly, as Ren and Shoto just raised their eyebrows at her.

"Psssh, of course they said something Blake! They said loads! You just don't get it cause you haven't spent as much time together with Ren as I have... and by that I don't mean together-together." Everyone nodded at Nora's explanation, deeming it as the only one that made sense, before Glynda's voice rose up from the arena.

"Alright. Ruby Rose and Katsuki Bakugou are ready. Let the spar commence!"

All of them knew Ruby was faster than Bakugou. Her Semblance practically guaranteed it. However, what was also clear was that Ruby also knew she was faster than Kacchan... and yet she stood there and didn't go in for him. She readied Crescent Rose and waited for Kacchan to come to her. Probably wise as it would be inevitable that her opponent would close the gap between the two of them. Like clockwork, that was exactly what Bakugou did, sprinting forth, one of his hands drawn back for an Explosive Impact as he jumped a bit at the last second. However, something was off; from years spent around Kacchan, Izuku knew what it looked like with Bakugou was getting ready for one of his bigger explosions. That... that was not one of those times. It seemed Ruby had also managed to pick up on that in the short time knowing Bakugou as, rather than duck out of the way in any extreme manner which would throw her off, she just parried Bakugou hand away. A few minor explosions went off but they were nothing major. Nothing compared to what Bakugou could pull off if he put Aura into it.

Bakugou ground his teeth together at having been seen through so spectacularly as Ruby Rose hefted up Crescent Rose for a swing. However as she did so Katsuki brought his other hand up to block the hit, a small amount of minor explosions trailing up his arm as he did so. It was in a quick flash as Ruby cried out, Bakugou gripping her hand at the same time one minor explosion ripped from his palm. Ruby dropped Crescent Rose to the ground on reflex as her opponent let her go, the silver eyed warrior gasping as she quickly moved to pick her weapon back up.

"DIE!" Bakugou's all-too familiar battle cry was heard as he reared his left hand back, explosions trailing up it and into the gauntlet as he prepared an attack on Ruby. For a moment, Ruby got ready to dodge away from that hit before something caught her ears. It caught Izuku's eyes as well but, Ruby being momentarily distracted, it took the sound for her to take a look. Bakugou's actual attack was coming from his right as a much, 'much' larger explosions trailed up his arm. He had been using his left hand to try to feint her. Ruby quickly ducked back and away as an Explosive Impact roared out of his right hand, Ruby quickly moving away from Bakugou as the attack gave away. Ruby took a few solid breaths as she twirled Crescent Rose around a few times, obviously having the weapon at the ready for when Bakugou came in close again...

But Bakugou didn't. The red eyed teen just glared at Ruby for a moment before his right hand sunk into the grenade part of his gauntlet. He reared his arm back as he did that and, soon enough, a bright orange and red light began to emanate from the opening of the gauntlet.

'Oh no.' He was... he was going big for this next one.

Even from his spot in the arena he saw that Ruby's eyes go wide as she quickly shifted Crescent Rose around, going from Scythe to Sniper Rifle in the blink of an eye. She brought the rifle up so that she could just barely get sights on Bakugou before she fired her rifle. Bakugou's eyes went wide, likely not having seen that coming, but grinding his teeth regardless. Even as he tried to dodge instead Ruby's bullet hit him dead on in the chest, causing Bakugou to grunt and scream slightly as the slug just pounded him dead center. After a moment of digging his heels in he roared and his Aura absorbed the full force of the bullet, Bakugou laughing slightly as he gave a slightly maniacal grin.

"LET'S SEE YOU DODGE THIS ONE RUNT! DIE!" With that, Bakugou reared his right hand back and, in one fluid motion, swung his entire arm around as if he were throwing something right at Ruby. The glow from his gauntlet disappeared and, for a moment, it seems like nothing happened.

And then Izuku had to shield his eyes from the explosion. As if drawn from a particular point of impact a plume of fire and smoke erupted from the ground in front of Ruby and exploded right in her face. Ruby had ducked out of the way slightly, but only managed a small amount of distance between herself and the core impact of the explosion before it roared up on her. Izuku heard Yang cry out as she placed her hands over her mouth, Bakugou just laughing as he looked at the fire.

"DIDN'T DODGE THAT ONE DID YOU RUNT? HOW'D YOU LIKE THAT ONE?"

"MY BUTT'S ON FIRE!"

Ruby quickly jumped out of the slowly dying flames and smoke of Bakugou's explosion, a roaring flame covering her almost entirely as she hopped around. Ruby hollered and shouted a few times as she quickly wrapped herself up in her cloak and dropped to the floor, Izuku and the others watching as Ruby quickly stopped, dropped and rolled until the fire was out. Once it was she quickly hopped off the ground and rolled out of her cloak, taking deep, gasping breaths as, despite her Aura absorbing the real damage, a few scorch marks were left on her body. Ruby took a good look over herself as she tried to make sure she was still not on fire, a relieved sigh escaping her mouth, and Izuku's, as he saw she put herself out.

"DIIIIIIIE!"

Welp, it wasn't over yet. Ruby's silver eyes snapped open as Kacchan was immediately on top of her again, arm reared back for a blow. Ruby brought Crescent Rose up... only to realize it was still in its sniper form. With a quick 'eep!' Ruby ducked out of the way of Bakugou's hit, barely getting away in time to avoid the more contained explosion of Bakugou's Explosive Impact. Midoriya saw Ruby's silver eyes were wide as she 'immediately' backed off and away from Bakugou, moving even outside of his own range before mechashifting Crescent Rose back into its scythe form. Now nine yards away, Ruby gave herself a moment to take a breather. Surely Bakugou wouldn't be able to-

"DIIIIIIIIIIIIE!"

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"

Indeed. Bakugou took a running start and, before anyone had a moment to realize what he was doing, he was soaring through the air in a long jump, one of his fists reared back for a punch. With a quick roll Ruby dodged out of the way of Bakugou's attack... and everyone all noticed it. A big explosion didn't boom forth from Bakugou's hand. He was holding back his energy. A glance up at the screen above the arena gives the answer why; both he and Ruby were nearly spent. While Ruby hadn't spent a lot of energy, Bakugou's explosion took a lot out of her Aura to protect her. Katsuki, meanwhile, had spent so much energy attacking and tanking Crescent Rose's attack. Bakugou must have know he was reaching his limits... he was trying to get a low cost hit in to put an end to this fight without exhausting his Aura.

The next several seconds of the fight were just more of that. Izuku watched as Ruby used her superior speed to dip out of Bakugou's range, always taking advantage of the fact that Bakugou would just throw himself at her again in order to try to make an attack. It was a game of the two of them exchanging blows and very nearly falling to each other's hits multiple times, their Auras being the only thing to save them as they drew upon them to move out of the way. Finally, after barely dodging an attack by Bakugou, Ruby ducked back and away, readying Crescent Rose for another swing...

Only to be met with tired laughter from her opponent.

"So is this really how this fight's gonna end there runt? You drag me along and I keep dodging your fancy toy there and we just wait for the other person to screw up... or worse, wait till we just exhaust our Auras dodging." Bakugou gave a wild grin to match his wide-eyed look as he shook his head, withdrawing his hand into his Gauntlet. "That isn't my style." Everyone looked up to the screen to see Bakugou's Aura dip even lower. Everyone knew that he was on his last legs and they knew that even if that won't put him into the red, one bad hit could land him right in there. He was putting himself in a very dangerous position...

And Ruby seemed to realize that. There was a moment of hesitation on her face as she tried to decide what to do. Izuku could imagine what she was thinking; a shot from Crescent Rose might just end with Bakugou getting pierced like he did. Meanwhile if she went in to attack Kacchan and he managed to dodge... then she was right in front of him, her face practically to that explosion.

She's trapped between not wanting to hurt her partner and wanting to win.

Ruby took a deep breath as she swung Crescent Rose around. She was going to try to take the chance.

"That's what I like to see. NOW DIE!" Without hesitation Bakugou swung his hand, again nothing seeming to come out of it. This time Ruby seemed far more ready, already in the air before the explosion went off... unfortunately for her, it still didn't end up being enough that time. The explosion roared forth, catching Ruby near dead-center, and once more Ruby was ablaze. Izuku heard her shriek as she quickly tried to put herself out, to no avail that time. The flames stayed on her, licking at her Aura which began to flicker dangerously. Bakugou immediately moved in, jumping with his fist reared back for a punch. Ruby, looking up and noticing this, quickly ducked back and away, just barely avoiding Kacchan's hit. While Deku's bully-friend grinded his teeth together, Ruby again wrapped herself up in her cloak, rolled on the ground, and came out of the cloak with the fire snuffed out and Crescent Rose still at the ready.

"JUST DIE ALREADY!" Bakugou roared as he ran forward, both hands pulled back. There was a glint in Ruby's silver eyes as she took a shuddering breath. She ducked back and away from Bakugous hit... but not as much as she normally would. Instead she stayed only just outside his reach, causing Kacchan to grasp out for her as she prepared her swing. It was only when Bakugou realizes that he's been baited that his eyes went up to meet Ruby's.

With one powerful swing, Ruby sent Crescent Rose's blade into Bakugou's side, his Aura absorbing the entirety of the blow... but Izuku heard the ringing of the bell, as did everyone else.

"Ruby Rose has dropped Katsuki Bakugo into the red. Ruby Rose wins."

It was slow watching the two of them slowly stand up. Without Bakugou's screams or Ruby's shouts of being on fire or frustration, it was a bit harder to hear as Glynda brought them both around to give them private advice on their battle. Far from looking annoyed, Glynda looked rather impressed with both sides... a sentiment that seemed to by and large be shared by the audience. Except for a few...

"Man, not only does that Bakugo guy go around picking on frail little girls, he gets beat by them too! What a chump. After seeing this fight, I'm sure I can take him!" There was a boisterous voice not too far behind Izuku's group, Yang immediately turning on the voice, a team of all guys, and shaking her fist at them.

"What are you losers talking about?! Were you watching the same fight? My baby sis did awesome and she's definitely 'not' frail! If you keep talking crap like that I'll come up there and stuff my fist down your throat!" The team immediately quieted up as Yang said that, before the blonde brawler grinned and turned back around to see Kacchan and Ruby leaving the arena. "Holy cow. Hoooly cow. That was a pretty good fight." Izuku saw a flicker of a smile on Tsuyu's face, one that was quickly squashed, as she turned her otherwise monotone expression towards Yang.

"So that mean you're not going to beat Katsuki up for setting Ruby on fire?"

"... Eh... I'll save it for when he gets called up for a spar. I'll volunteer and kick his butt." Yang said with a laugh as she leaned back.

"Hmmm... you would be able to go toe-to-toe with Bakugou, Yang, but do mark how close it was for Ruby... and she had a tactical advantage in speed over Bakugou. You would be the face of his explosions the entire time... and he doesn't look like he's the sort to hold back under any circumstance." Tenya spoke with soft hand motions, Yang just snorting derisively at his assertions... but, notably, she didn't talk back or entirely ignore them either. Soon enough Ruby and bakugou returned to Izuku's part of the arena. Bakugou going a long way off from the rest of them all, sitting by himself as he brooded. Ruby, for her part, just sat down with them all, a slightly thoughtful expression on her face. Before anyone could ask, Ruby spoke up.

"So... I went ahead and tried to ask Katsuki what his weapons' names were again..." Everyone perked up an eyebrow as she said that, Lie Ren and Shoto especially, as they all turned their full attentions to Ruby. "... King Explosion Murder and Lord Explosion Murder."

...

"What the heck kind of names are those?"

* * *

 **E/N: This chapter has two Outtakes! One after another. First of is "Another Broken arm" by thebebb, followed by "A Yarn of Trouble" also by thebebb. That last one gave us a bit of trouble trying to fit it in somewhere but eventually I had the idea to do what you saw above. Then I had the even better idea to tell Wind to do it.**

 **-Shovern**

 **The great problem with so many of these outtakes is that they all take place in the, "about right now", of when the main story is being told. And the initial rush of snippits and outtakes that came about just when people found out they could were allowed to write about this story meant that so many of these outtakes take place about the first few days of the semester. We ultimately just went with connecting the "Yarn" Snippet to the section right above it, to at least make it seem to flow better.**

 **This is obviously a good way to bring Blake into Izuku's story though, especially if they are not already teammates. Blake's antisocial tendencies would normally make connecting with her difficult, but her following around Izuku to try and keep her secret safe...well at least that seems to be in character.**

 **-Wind-Waker**


	16. Tales of Beacon I

Beacon is a special place.

It is the birthplace of heroes.

The home of the huntsman.

There are many tales to tell within its wall.

These are some of those stories.

* * *

 **Beacon Academy Student Application Form**

 _Personal Information_

Full Name: Izuku Midoriya

Gender: Male

Birthday: July 15, XXXX

Blood Type: O

Height: 166 cm

Address: 77 Horikoshi St., Shizuoka District, Mountain Glenn

Phone Number: 101-2008

Scroll Number (if applicable): N/A

…

 _Primary Combat School Information (if applicable)_

Name of Combat School: Birch Academy

Address: 120 Jump St., Niigata District, Mountain Glenn

Phone Number: 177-2014

…

 _Attached Final Report Card_

Grading Scale:

A = Excellent

B = Above Average

C = Satisfactory/Average

D = Requires Improvement

F = Failing

Combat Scores:

Power: F

Endurance: F

Speed: D

Dexterity: F+

Hand to Hand Technique: B+

Firearms Skill (Focus: Scatterguns): B-

Aura Usage: N/A

Semblance Mastery: N/A

Other Fields:

History/Current Events: A+

Grimm Biology: A+

Weapon Engineering and Knowledge: C

Survivalism: A

 _Overall Assessment:_

Despite having well-honed skills in basic hand-to-hand combat and close-ranged firearms usage, as well as a keen sense of battle awareness, Mr. Midoriya's inability to be awakened to aura usage means that he can never be a true threat to even the weakest of Grimm, and thus can never become a Huntsman. However, he would make a fine social studies teacher, and I believe he could thrive in even the top universities of Vale.

-Dr. Mantis Bloomsburg, Head Instructor of Birch Academy

 _Application Essay_

Topic: **What separates Toshinori Yagi and Enji Todoroki as the greatest and 2nd greatest Huntsman?**

Toshinori Yagi and Enji Todoroki are the most legendary and well-known partners in huntsman history, both having had an impact on not only how huntsmen operate and their social standing but also on all four kingdoms as a whole in terms of expansion, culture, academic studies, and even their way of life. This can be seen in the accelerated rate of growth of all of these aspects in all four kingdoms after the graduation of their team from Beacon in the year of XXXX. However, there is a notable difference in their personal reputations when compared to each other, as Toshinori does not only have universally accepted moniker of the Symbol of Peace and Hope, but is also noted to have the highest ratings in most huntsman popularity polls for the past decade and a half*, while Enji, though reported having the highest number of successful missions and skirmishes against the Grimm, has a less universally accepted position of #2 huntsman according to his slightly more unstable position in popularity polls (though still often on the upper-end, and never leaving the top five rankings). One can trace back the specific date of the start of their popularity as even before Toshinori's legendary defense of Mountain Glenn, as stated according to a study conducted by….

…but Enji has a higher number of defences against Grimm, and arguably, according to Wyvern, a higher number of lives saved. Wyvern, as controversial as he is in promoting Enji as deserving more praise than Toshinori as a huntsman, makes a good number of fair points. Yet as seen here Toshinori has never had a recorded casualty during one of his missions as compared by….

…and both clearly show a decrease in Grimm attacks on major and minor settlements alike, yet according to Dr. Brine Toshinori Toshinori still manages to have a larger effect on the emotions of the population, decreasing overall negative emotions by an approximate amount of 63% based on succeeding researches conducted by…

…not even getting into the sales of merchandise and formation of tourist spots which furthers the economy of an area, as noted in the hundred-thousands by different cities. The island of Patch by itself contributes eye-boggling numbers of….

…Footnotes

*The only popularity polls where he doesn't have the highest ratings are polls which don't include him, as shown in the annual public records of the Huntsman Media Association (HMA) last December.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

Ozpin paused after reaching the end of the first page of Izuku's essay, and quickly checked its length. Notably, the young man's application essay had somehow turned into full-on academic thesis of more than fifteen pages-all originating from a single guide question. 'Toshinori has certainly chosen someone _extraordinary_ to be his successor,' he thought as he reminded himselfmade a mental note to limit the word counts of future essays.

* * *

" _He's changed."_ Those were the thoughts of Inko Midoriya as she ate dinner. While she had expected her son to change after he had entered Beacon, she didn't expect for it to be that quick.

She could tell from his voice that he had much more self-confidence in himself. It still shocked her how much he had changed in two days… no, it would be more accurate to say how much he had changed when he had met Toshinori Yagi in person.

She still hadn't believed the results. While Inko never forget that fateful event and she would always be grateful for Toshinori choosing to fight a what was thought to be a hopeless battle, for being the reason why she and her son were still alive, never in a million years did she think that he would have a miraculous answer to Izuku's problems.

While she hadn't been aware of any of the details, Inko did know that he was the reason why Izuku had been working so hard, why Izuku regained hope that he could accomplish his dream, that despite everyone's words and beliefs he could become a huntsmen.

Ever since he could remember people praised Toshinori, so it was no surprise that Izuku became one of his fans as well. Living in Mountain Glenn had inflamed this feeling even further as the town adored Toshinori and many adults are very grateful for him saving their lives. Under those circumstances, Izuku wishing to be a Huntsman hadn't been a surprise but…

Even so she still couldn't believe it. When she had learned that her little boy had no aura and wouldn't be capable of fighting Grimm, the expression on his face crushed her. That expression was why she had never mustered the effort to convince her son that he should choose a different career path. Sure, she occasionally brought the option up but it was only a reminder at best. It was selfish but she hadn't wanted to destroy his hopes and dreams for good even if she were the best person (well except for Toshinori perhaps) to do so. If she had done so then her relationship with her son would've been permanently damaged. So against all common sense, in her heart, she had hoped that a miracle would occur. Luckily Toshinori answered the call once more.

She knew that being a huntsman was a very dangerous career with a high fatality rate but Izuku wanted to be one and Inko could tell that it had benefited him. He had gained some friends and some much-needed confidence. While she was still worried, she thought things should be fine. It was his first year at Beacon, as a student and a first year at that, Izuku shouldn't face much danger and while there may be a few bruises… he should be in good health. Still, it wouldn't hurt to be able to talk with him often just in case.

* * *

Izuku had gotten a message from Mei about his weapons being finished. As such, he informed his team and left his dorm room to pick up his newly repaired and modified weapons.

As he walked down the hall, he saw an odd combination. Ruby and Bakugo were together. Not team RSBR but just Ruby and Bakugo. Ruby was animatedly talking to Bakugo while the explosion user was visibly annoyed. Izuku knew from experience that it would be only a matter of time until-

"Shut up already, you little runt! I don't care about your shitty scythe thing!" Bakugo exploded, both literally and figuratively

Ruby flinched a bit and tears started to well up in her eyes. But it only lasted a moment. She hardened herself, stood up straight and puffed out her chest. Yet all that faded away the moment she saw Izuku.

"Oh, Izuku! I was just telling Katsuki about my baby, Cresent Rose, but he was meanie about it. Then he exploded and made me feel really really bad!" Ruby rattled on with a trace of tears still in her eyes.

Izuku wasn't sure how he could help Ruby with Bakugo. So he did the only thing he could think of. He patted her back and gave silent encouragement.

A small 'thank you' reached his ears before Ruby did a complete u-turn and return usual happy and excitable self.

"So, where are you going Izuku?" Ruby curiously asked while slightly tilting her head.

"Ah, my weapons have been repaired so I'm going to pick them up" Izuku responded.

Ruby eyes lit up at the mention of weapons but quickly changed to confusion.

"But shouldn't they have been repaired a while ago? A repair shouldn't take this long"

"Ah, that's because I asked them to be modified a bit"

Izuku swore that Ruby's eyes didn't just light up but beams of light came shooting out of them.

"Ooh, ooh. What did you get!? A new shotgun mechanic!? Change the metal alloy!? Can I come!? Please! Please! Please!" Ruby disappeared in a whorl of petals and reappeared extremely close to Izuku. Specifically, she was wrapped around his arm and animatedly jumping up and down.

Izuku's face went bright red as he spluttered words that even he himself didn't understand. All he could do was look for someone else to help him. Sadly, the only other person here was Bakugo.

Their eyes met. It was only a second but never before has there been such an understanding between them. For that brief moment, they both understood each other's pain. But that quickly ended as Bakugo smirked.

"She's your problem now, Deku" Bakugo proclaimed and sauntered away.

* * *

'I can't believe this!'

Weiss was busy unpacking her many...many suitcases. Each was filled to the brim with things she thought she'd need for her time at Beacon. One was filled with her clothes, with an outfit for every occasion she had thought of. One was for her toiletries and accessories, from her hair care products to her...lady products. Then there were a few others for things like her study materials, her musical pursuits, and her day to day operations.

She was also busy fuming. She had nearly torn one of her two formal dresses in her hands as frustration once again wormed its way out of the back of her mind.

'First, I find that the way that the great Beacon Academy assigns it's student's their team is by simple random chance...,' She stuffed the dress into her closet, just barely managing to make sure it was in there neatly.

'Then, in that random encounter, who do I encounter, but THE SINGLE WORST PERSON I COULD HAVE POSSIBLY BEEN PAIRED UP WITH,' she looked over at Nora. The orange haired girl had simply smashed her clothes, messily into her closet in a wad, all the while talking in a stream of non-stop syllables at Pyrrha, who was nodding desperately, at times offering up a few words, only to be completely talked out of the conversation by the shorter girl. If Weiss did not already know how bad Nora's choice in clothing was, she'd have felt bad for the crumpled up pieces of cloth.

'And then,' Weiss continued to seethe, finishing putting her shoes, including combat heels, directly in their neatest possible position at the bottom of the closet, 'I'm put under a stuttering mess of a boy who is so gullible that he literally rushes out into a room half naked at the mere sound of someone calling for help,' she just shook her head, 'and Nora didn't sound sincere at all.'

'I should have been made leader,' Weiss finished with the suitcase for her clothes, and placed it under the bed. She moved towards the next closest of her suitcases and nodded in recognition. That was the suitcase containing her dust, the very fuel her fighting style ran on. There was Ice Dust, Lightning Dust, Fire Dust, and several other different varieties, all allowing her a level of versatility that would be a terror for any opponent.

'I mean, I'm clearly responsible and careful enough to be made Team Leader,' she continued, opening the suitcase, 'I'd never put my teammate in dan-'

At the bottom of the suitcase, Weiss saw a small pile of red dust.

The world went still. A second later, Weiss picked up a vial that's top had not been properly screwed in.

'Form: powder, type: fire, quality: rank 2,' she recited almost clinically in her head as she examined the material, 'It is much lower rank from what I normally use but there are situations where it is better to use low rank dust,' she felt sweat begin to pour down the back of her neck.

'And one of the reasons why one would use this type of dust is that it is easier to activate than more complex qualities, in case of an emergency.'

'One bad shake, one bad run in...'

'...'

'I could have set the whole dorm on fire.'

'...'

"You're sweating a lot there, Partner" Nora spoke up from the side. Weiss nearly jumped out of her skin, before turning to Nora.

"It's just hot in here, that's all!" She rebutted, Nora just cocked her head to her side, and out of the corner of her eye, Weiss could see Izuku and Pyrrha beginning to bring their attention to her.

"Huh? It's not that hot-"

"How is Ren?" Weiss interrupted. Once that name was said, and once both Pyrrha and Izuku heard that name they quickly looked away as Nora's eyes widened in utter joy.

'Like an animal...chewing off my own leg to get out of the trap.'

"Ren!? He's the best! We're the bestest friend and always together, but not together-together..."

With the entire conversation now off of her, Weiss simply nodded along with Nora's words. At the same time, Weiss's hand daintily picked up the pile of dust and returned it to the vile it had spilled out of, corralling the dangerous material.

'My team can never know.'

'Neeeeeeeevvvvvveeeerrrrrrrr.'

* * *

Ren had been quite shocked by the outcome of initiation. He was sure that Nora would somehow find a way to get them to be together, she always did. But this time, not only were they not partners, but they were on different teams.

They had never been so separated before. They'd been together ever since they were kids. Ah, not together-together as Nora would say it.

Honestly, Ren was quite fine with his team. His partner, Shoto was much like himself when it comes to socialising so they quite easily understood each other.

Ruby was the kind of person that Ren was most familiar with. A bundle of energy with no end in sight. The fact that she shared that trait with Nora brought a smile to his lips.

Katsuki on the other hand, was a bit more difficult. He seemed to be perpetually angry at all times. The fact the he frowned even in his sleep was really fascinating to Ren. But Ren believed that he was not a bad person, just someone who had a hard time expressing themselves. In a way, he was the exact opposite of Nora so he was kind of like an anti-Nora. Either way, if he got to out of hand then Ren could always use his semblance to calm him down, even if he hated manipulating someone's emotions like that.

But what worried him wasn't his team but Nora's. He knew that some people didn't handle Nora's… personality very well. It had gotten her into some trouble in the past but Ren was always there to sort it out and make sure she never got hurt. But he couldn't do that there.

What if her team hated her? What if they ostracized her? What if they bullied her? Then there was her team leader, a male. What if he tried to make a move on her or tried to coerce her into doing something she didn't want to do? Nora could be a bit too trusting like that. That was not something Ren could allow.

 **xXxXxXxXx**

Izuku was walking back to his dorm room when he was suddenly pulled to the side. The person that pulled him to the side was someone he knew a lot about yet never actually talked to.

"Izuku Midoriya, right?" Ren said sharply as he narrowed his eyes.

"Ah, umm, y-yes!"

"Good. Tell me, what do you think of Nora"

"Eh? N-Nora? Umm, she can be a bit too excitable and I don't really understand what she says half the time" Ren's eyes narrowed even further. "but she's always knows how to lighten the mood and is always thinking of her friends! ...I think that I'm really lucky to have someone like Nora as a teammate and as a friend" Izuku stated while looking back into Ren's eyes.

"I see" Ren said with a nod and walked off, leaving a confused Izuku.

 **xXxXxXxXx**

Pyrrha got pulled aside by a fellow student. She put on the fake smile that she did whenever she had to interact with fans and prepared to sign whatever it was the boy wanted her to sign.

"Hello" Pyrrha said with her smile as fake as ever.

"Pyrrha Nikos, right?" the boy said sharply as he narrowed his eyes.

That was when Pyrrha noticed when something was wrong. That he wasn't some fan but someone who sought her out for a specific reason. A person that sees her as a rival, perhaps?

"Yes, that's me" Her smile turned a bit more genuine knowing that she was not dealing with a fan. Now that she properly looked at the boy, he looked a bit familiar. The strip of pink in his hair was definitely triggering some memories. Then it clicked. "You're Lie Ren, right? Nora talks a lot about you"

Ren's eyes widened slightly at being recognised but quickly recovered to their previous narrowed state. "So I've been told. Tell me, what do you think of Nora?"

Pyrrha didn't even need to think about the answer. Nora was someone who never brought up her fame even when she was well aware of it. She'd even say that Nora didn't even care about her fame.

"I hope to be great friends with her" That time, her smile was 100% genuine. A rare thing indeed.

"I see" Ren nodded and walked off.

 **xXxXxXxXx**

Weiss got pulled to the side by a fellow student. She swore, that if it turned out to be another guy trying to get a way into the Schnee family, she was going to lose it.

"Weiss Schnee, right?" the boy said sharply as he narrowed his eyes.

'Oh great. He must be one of the faunus right protesters who always accuse my family of doing things they've never done. Just because my family hire a lot of faunus, does not mean we are enslaving them. I wish they'd realise their human workers get paid exactly the same as their faunus workers for doing the same job.'

"I am. You are?" Weiss replied with equal amount of sharpness in her voice.

"Lie Ren"

"Ah" Weiss' eyes widened at the familiar name. How could she not know that name with her partner not being able to go an hour without saying it? "I apologize, I thought you were one of those people who have an issue with my family"

That time, it was Ren's turn to widen his eyes. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend"

"You're Nora's friend, right? She talks about you a lot" Weiss said with a bit of annoyance at the end.

"About that, what do you think of Nora?" His eyes narrowed once again.

"She can be a handful but I believe she will make a good partner in time" Weiss stated as if a matter of fact.

"I see" Ren nodded and walked off.

 **xXxXxXxXx**

After talking to all three members of Nora's team, he had the results.

First, the leader, Izuku Midoriya. He showed that he was well aware of Nora's unique personality yet despite that, he accepted it with both the good and the bad. He even stated that he was lucky to be her friend which was surprising. Still, Ren would have to watch the leader in case he got a bit too friendly.

Second, Pyrrha Nikos. She stated that she wanted to be friends with Nora but there was a possibility that she'd been putting up a facade. Her fame was definitely something that would give her the opportunity to build up a good facade. He'll have to watch her a bit more to see if she was genuine.

Lastly, Nora's partner, Weiss Schnee. That one was the one that worried him the most. She was the only one that didn't mention anything about being Nora's friend but instead mentioned her ability as a partner. It almost sounded like she was talking about Nora as if she was some sort of tool. A tool, like how people say that the Schnee family treated faunus. he'd have to keep watch over her the most.

In conclusion, he'd watch all of them for now but if they made one wrong move then he was going to tear them away from Nora, even if it meant leaving Beacon.

* * *

'This is...ah!' Yang internally growled as she stared at the ceiling.

Yang mainly became a Hunter in training because she saw it as fun and exciting. A way to travel across Remnant and seek thrills, living life on the edge. Fighting was damned fun and a good fight always gave her a rush, whether it was fighting Grimm or fighting others in school. Her Semblance reflected that quite well really, she wanted to fight all out and keep dishing out bigger hits while taking some in return to fuel it. A Battle Nut she was not, but an Adrenaline Junkie she sorta was.

When Ruby got bumped up two years and said she was going to Beacon along with Yang another reason was easily added for becoming a Hunter and it was to keep her safe and to make sure she made it back from every mission. Only natural for a mother hen lik Yang.

Simple and selfish reasons were what brought Yang to Beacon. Helping others while kicking ass was just an important side benefit really. She was still her Mother's Daughter after all and even if they had never truly met, Raven Branwen had left a wide mark.

Yang had thought that she had it figured it out...

 _...Because to become a Huntsman, to be a hero, it's my dream! So I have to give it my all and then some, just to catch up. I have to work three times harder and take every chance I can if I'm going to prove that I belong here. Every opportunity that I have to learn, even if it's dangerous, I need to grasp it. I mean... I took such a big risk just getting here, just being accepted so I thought... what's one more?"_

She was used to declarations of promise. Ruby had been doing it ever since she was four about being a Hero, a Huntress. As the scarlet reaper grew older her statements of being a Hero only grew more determined. Yang had nodded along because she knew she would never be deterred no matter the argument or the evidence in front of her. Ruby had grown on Statements like that for years... Yet why did Izuku's seem so much heavier? Why did it make Yang's own reasons seem so much weaker now in the face of that?

Yang just stared at the ceiling on top of her, 'What do I do now?'

* * *

"Do you feel the burn!?" shouted Yang.

"Y-Yes!" answered Izuku shakily.

"Then keep going!"

The blonde Huntress grinned in clear amusement as Izuku kept lifting.

Messing with him was way too fun, and the faces he made when she started teasing him were priceless! When Izuku had asked her to help him with his training she hadn't expected to have so much fun!

Yang's smile widened as she watched her gym buddy struggling to lift his weights. Another nice bonus to helping her new friend train was the great view she had while he was exercising. His now soaked tank top that wasn't able to cover his bulging muscles, the movement of his powerful arms as he completed each set of exercises and the wonderful shape of his rear end as he squatted.

'Damn.'

Regardless of anything else she was just glad to finally be able to get to know the green eyed Hunter a bit better.

And she noticed quite a bit.

The first thing she noticed was that Izuku had zero experience when it came to girls, and it was painfully obvious. As time went on and her clothes became more and more drenched in sweat her companion's speech pattern became progressively more erratic and strained, though it was more cute than annoying. She'd even seen him stare a few times when she'd given him a particularly good angle at her girls. After all, they were quite amazing if she could say so herself.

The second thing that she noticed was that no matter what kind of exercise he did he put as much effort as he could into every movement he performed, or to quote Izuku himself 'He put three times the effort of anybody else', which was a bit too much in her opinion. After all, from what she had seen till now, he deserved his place in Beacon more than most.

The third thing she noticed made her previously mirthful smile hard to maintain. At the beginning of their work out Izuku flinched slightly every time she came too close to him or started talking, as he got more comfortable with her presence he stopped but what she had seen wasn't good at all. It was almost like he expected to be yelled at or for someone to come out of nowhere just to hit him.

Yang clenched her fists and, unseen by the still training Izuku, her smile became a frown.

Yang already knew who to blame for Izuku's skittishness.

Her sister's partner, Bakugo.

She sighed, Yang knew more than anybody else that she was unsuited to stealth and subtleties, and whatever the problem between Izuku and Bakugo was it couldn't be resolved with bluntness or force.

The purple eyed girl shook her head and smiled. The best she could do to help Izuku was being a good friend and continue helping him train.

"Faster maggot!"

"Y-Yes ma'am!"

Her previous grin returned.

But that didn't mean that she couldn't have some fun!

* * *

It's almost kinda funny, Yang thought to herself, making her grin all the more at her sister's excited talking.

It first started with her asking Tenya about sitting with her sister. He hemmed and hawed, but she was pretty sure it was an act when he let her go. Shortly after, Nora practically pounced on that Ren guy, though for some reason she constantly said they weren't 'together-together'. As tempted as she was to poke a few holes in that, something much more interesting was going on.

After Tenya's little announcement of a leader powwow, team division to pretty much dissolved and left a nebulous and shifting mass of twelve huntsman in training that kinda sat where they pleased for various chitchat. Sometimes Weiss would sit with Iida and talk about Dust or his armor's mechanisms, or Bakugo would sit somewhere and glare at Midoriya until he pretty much moved as far away as he could and Ruby would move so she could yell at him for being a jerk. Just seeing that made something in her heart warm up, her baby sister growing up without her watching like a hawk.

And then Bakugo would talk, and she'd want to punch him in the face until he crapped out his teeth.

But today was a great day! She had Ruby on one side, going a mile a minute about some mechashift ideas that put her brain into overdrive. And on the other was Izuku, who she could put into overdrive with a wink and a lean in his direction. Oh he never leered at her like so many boys did, but he did turn a cute shade of red, glance a little bit her way, and then stare into his food like he was trying to broil it with a stare. It was really one of the things she liked about him, being adorably shy and polite a lot of the time. Then there were the times they got to see what she knew was really underneath it all, aside from supposedly great abs. His eyes would take on this intense stare, his back would straighten, and that cute stutter would just give way to a kind of conviction she was actually kinda envious of.

Even though they'd talked, and he'd given her a bit of an insight into his conviction, she still couldn't really wrap her head around it. Was that really it for him? Being a symbol of hope and saving lives?

Ruby ate it up, obviously, and every now and again she'd take on a tone that sounded a lot like his. The way they would sometimes sit together and just talk about being heroes made her feel kinda... hollow to be honest. Her baby sister was growing up without her, had her own great big mission, and met someone here that actually shared it. Encouraged it even. And her? Her own wants of just 'enjoying life and being free' just crumbled away and left her feeling adrift. Yeah, he said his reason wasn't the end-all/be-all, but it left her wondering what she could grab for. Maybe her heart just wasn't big enough to be heroic like them. She'd worked hard for her own selfish reasons, and now the taste of freedom was ashy in her mouth, causing her to grab her drink for a quick sip to distract her thoughts.

"Has anyone seen Tsuyu? I'm certain she should have gotten her food by now." Iida's pleasing voice drew her attention to the present, smirking as he turned to look at the lunch line. While he wasn't as much fun to poke at as Midoriya, Iida was an interesting nut to try and crack. Cute, but really serious, the challenge in him was trying to get him to relax a little, which her partner was actually an advocate of. According to Asui, 'Being too serious is bad for your health. Ribbit.'. Sure Blake seemed to be almost as against fun, well until she noticed the kind of literature she liked. She considered teasing her more about it, but was threatened she wouldn't share her 1st edition 'Ninjas of Love' if she did.

"She had to go back to the room to grab something. I'll go check on her." She was already moving to get up when she thought she heard Tsuyu's voice, turned, and suddenly lost her good humor. There she was, near the front entryway, trying to get her wrist out of Cardin Winchester's grip. She couldn't hear what he was saying, but the sneer told her what she needed to know. And from how the entire team table went dead silent, it seemed they knew too. No one else in the room seemed to even care, which only stoked her growing anger, but Midoriya was starting to stand so he could dispense justice.

No.

Yang placed her hand on his shoulder, drawing all eyes on her. She offered a smile that was more teeth then happiness, able to see the red glint of her eyes reflected in his own. "Leave this to me, slugger." She squeezed gently and moved to her feet to walk towards her partner. As much as she enjoyed putting some swing to her hips and swagger in her step, that time there was none of it. There was only a hunter, and all she could see was right in front of her, their voices getting louder as she drew closer.

"Look, just leave me alone, ribbit. I haven't done anything to you. Just leave me alone!"

"And let more of your kind just slink around our school? Doing whatever the hell you feel like?"

"I'm a student, just like you!"

"No you're not! You're a faunus. You should be grateful to even talk to people, you freak."

"Why not talk to me instead?"

They both looked at her, Tsuyu frowning and looking away in embarrassment while Cardin just snarled even more.

"This doesn't concern you, Xiao Long. Buzz off!" His chest puffed in a way his boyfriend probably thought was intimidating.

Yang had seen more impressive stares, and kept walking until there was barely a fist's distance between them. She could feel Tsuyu watching her. Her sister watching her. Her team watching her. The whole cafeteria watching her. She didn't give a damn. "Actually I don't think you should call me Xiao Long." She offered a smile of teeth and spite, a hand resting on her hip.

"I think you should call me _sir_!"

Her other hand moved like a snake, lashing out and grabbing his family jewels, his snarl of defiance turning into a whimper several octaves much higher. His expression went blank and his grip went slack, allowing the frog faunus to slip from his hold and move beside her teammate. Just to twist the knife, Yang twisted her wrist and pulled a little higher, forcing him onto his tiptoes before she spoke. "Let's get something straight. I've never gotten the whole 'faunus hate' thing. I don't know why you hate 'em, and I don't care. If I see you, or the rest of your girl band giving anyone here any trouble, you'll be crying it off with the nurse." She grabbed him by the tie with her free hand and pulled him to eye level. "And if you EVER touch my partner again, your last meal will be roasted nuts. Am I clear?"

"Yea-" _Ker-squeeze!_ "Y-Yes...sir." He practically spat at her, the two continuing their stare down before Yang let him go, Cardin stumbling back and rubbing at his neck. "I should've known you'd side with the faunus."

Her response was an eye roll and a dismissive hair flip. "I'm a huntress. We should be focused on saving humans AND faunus." With that she turned her back to him, making sure Tsuyu was willing to go before she firing a parting shot. "I guess that's just another way you come up short." With that she began to strut away, adding that familiar pop to her hips while keeping pace with her shorter partner.

"...I could've taken him." She heard Tsuyu mutter, looking over and smiling softly.

"I could tell, but that'd just given him the excuse he was looking for." Yang snorted loudly. "Losers like him just want a chance to prove their right. It's kinda sad really." Her shoulder finally began to untense when they made it to the table, rubbing the back of her neck. Her lilac gaze slowly swept over their assemblage, and she was unable to help her embarrassment when she saw their expressions.

Iida's face was calm, but he did give her a reassuring nod when she looked his way.

Blake was practically beaming with pride.

Nora looked like she was about to rocket out of her seat and hug them, and thankfully Ren was there to hold her back. But that didn't stop the small smile that curled his lips.

Shoto seemed actually impressed with how she handled that, eyes wider then she was used to seeing, while for once Bakugo didn't look constipated.

Weiss had been looking at Cardin with open disgust, which turned into a gleam of schadenfreude-eque amusement when she and Yang locked eyes. Pyrrha looked like she was trying not to feel the same, but the flash in her eyes said it all.

As for Midoriya and Ruby?

The sheer awe they were radiating was blinding. Yang almost wished she had her sunglasses on to help stand it. With a terrifying unison they were on their feet, their excited voices mixing together like a pair of excited chipmunks. "Yangthatwassoawesome!"

"IthoughtyouweregoingtoknockhisheadoffthenWHAM!"

"Itwasfunnyandhorribleandpainfulbutyoulookedsocool!"

She had no doubt there was more they were going to say, but she silenced them by holding out her hands. "Whoa, whoa. Breathe, you two. If you both pass out, I can only give one of you mouth-to-mouth." The blonde grinned as Izuku's mouth snapped shut with the speed of a steel trap, blushing as red as Ruby's dress while her adorable sister fumed and pouted. "Aaanyway, move over so my partner can sit." She made a shooing motion for her sister to move, letting her sit down with her sister on one side and a space open on the other for her partner.

As she sat and idly dug her fork into her food, she took a breath and basked in the moment. Maybe it was ok not to have the answers yet. It was great to have all that conviction, but it didn't mean she was useless. She didn't think she could care about the whole world, and maybe it was a little greedy to only worry about what was in her arms' reach. But she liked that kind of greediness. She liked protecting what was hers, and maybe protecting however much of the world her arms could reach while she was at it. If it let her have little moments like that, where her baby sister could still admire her, then that was good enough.

Just as conversation finally began to return to normal, Tsuyu finally made her way back over to the table, quietly sat down beside Yang, and stared at her food. "...thank you." She said softly, taking up her fork to start eating.

Yang grinned and put an arm around her shoulders. "Like I'd leave my partner in the lurch like that. But I have to admit, I was a little worried." She grinned more as several people looked at her. "Afterall, it was...touch and go for a second there. Eh? Ehhh?"

"...Ribbit."

*THWIIIP-WHACK!*

"OW!"

* * *

 **E/N: A chapter called "Tales from Beacon" and the second one takes place in mountain glenn. Aren't we good at our job?**

 **Anyway in order we have; "Beacon Academy Student Application Form" by Ambit, "A Mother's Thoughts" by Supa, "A Rosey Predicament" by thebebb, "Avoided Dust Problems" which was also written by thebebb then heavily edited by Wind, "Ren's Investigation" by, once again thebebb, "Yang's Challenged Mindset" by Lucker 13, "Work Out" by Mr. Lemonader and Finally "In Arms' Reach" by Preventer Squall.**

 **Fun-Fact: With 32+ canon and 68+ non-canon Outtakes, thebebb is the second most prolific writer regarding content inside the thread, behind only the author himself who sits at 292 story posts.**

 **-Shovern**

 **We did have to make a few edits. The one that was most changed was "Avoided Dust Problem", mostly because it felt just a bit undercooked. The idea was great, we just needed to expand it a bit more to get it to really feel like it was ready for prime time. So we kept what we could, but rewrote the general details around it to get it to fit in.**

 **Also...shipping war. As whenever Izuku is around a bunch of girls, a bunch of different people began writing for their best girls to end up with Izuku. You can probably guess which one of these was the most shippy of the ones included, and we had to tone that down a bit to make it slightly less...enthusiastic.**

 **Also, the main pairing has been decided, and if you don't want to be spoiled, please don't go to the Spacebattles thread or the TV tropes page. Most people seem happy about it, but spoilers abound.**

 **-Wind-Waker**


	17. The Chessmaster

Before Izuku's weekend could properly start, he decided to do some extra training. While his teammates did outwardly approve of his show of dedication... actually only Pyrrha and Weiss really bothered, Nora just groaned and bemoaned the point they were probably all thinking; that he was working himself to the bone and that he needed to relax. Which... to be fair, he did walk back into the dorm room earlier that week in dire need of the IDSSK, so he supposed they had a point.

'Still, before I can relax... I dunno, I just feel like I 'need' to make just a little bit more progress,' Nothing would ever be enough in his mind, especially after his poor performance against Owari, 'but... well, every little bit helps me become the Huntsman I want to be, right?'

So it was with that in mind, alongside his team's worries, that he decided to just go with some calm meditation rather than doing anything too hardcore. Well, 'calm' meditation. His Aura would still be put through a workout if he had his way. As he relaxed his physical body and turned inward, he tried to reach for that spark, that little flame he could feel constantly on the inside...

When Izuku felt a rush of power that threatened to overwhelm his physical form, he quickly stopped pulling on 'that' flame and searched out the other. A big part in mastering both One For All and his own Aura had been to quickly learn how to differentiate the two. Pulling on his Aura was a natural reaction in a fight that could very well save his life... pulling on One For All, with how poor his control and mastery was over it, was a recipe for disaster.

Today wasn't about breaking his body so that he could master One For All, though. Today was about gently manipulating, stretching and exercising his Aura to help strengthen it, to fine-tune his control over it and make it possible for him to make it stronger. If his Aura had even been that little bit stronger, he could've probably tanked Owari's hit... never mind that another one after that would've probably put him in Peach's office awaiting medical treatment.

It just underlined the point; Izuku needed to think carefully about his strategies and he needed to strengthen himself. Make himself faster, stronger, more capable. Training his Aura would be a start... alongside about eight or nine other things he really needed to work on to catch up.

Well, he said himself being here at Beacon wouldn't be a cakewalk. Now he just had to work as hard as he could to make it so that he did deserve to be there.

After a couple hours of meditation he felt that odd mix of rejuvenated and slightly exhausted that came with working his Aura through his body. It simultaneously refreshed his physical body while making his... for lack of a better term 'soul' tired. It was interesting stuff.

Or well, interesting stuff to Izuku. He imagined other people might find it a bit boring. Still as he logged his notes away for now he felt accomplished. He didn't manage to hit or pass a major roadblock but... well, he had felt his Aura grow. That just had to be good enough.

* * *

Izuku was feeling an odd mix of emotions as the elevator ascended to his destination. Honor was definitely first and foremost among them. After all, of all the big shots he'd met so far in his time at Beacon Academy... aside from Toshinori, who he technically met before arriving, Ozpin was probably the biggest name there. A Veteran, with a capital V, Huntsman with an astounding track record, keen mind, highly organized and the Head of Beacon Academy to top it all off. The number of people, out of all Hunters anywhere, who could claim to be the head of one of the four major Academies... well, it was a high position, meant for the elite Hunter and, even then, only those who were also judged fit of mind to oversee the raising of the next generation.

Needless to say, it was a big deal.

Izuku was also amazingly, incredibly, super nervous. The Headmaster had called him to his office. Heck, within hours of the first day of school coming to a close he got a text outright inviting him to come to Ozpin's office... provided that he checked in with Glynda Goodwitch first so that she could sneak him in at a time when Ozpin wouldn't be busy.

That he had been given that privilege, and the privilege of a 'private' meeting no less... it kind of shook him a bit.

So as the elevator door opened and he stood there shaking in his boots, trying his best to maintain his composure so that he could mind his manners in front of the Headmaster, Izuku thought he probably made for a bit of a sorry sight. Ozpin's office was... interesting. It had a clock theme going for it; gears in the walls, the table having clockwork gears underneath a glass surface... even his window was a clock's face. It was a bit weird but Izuku supposed that, given how old the Academy was, it wasn't Ozpin's choice in decor. It was impressive but it also felt oddly cold and metallic.

"Ah, young Mr. Midoriya. Welcome to my office... please, have a seat." He was snapped out of his thoughts, blushing slightly at having so thoroughly spaced out, as he saw Headmaster Ozpin sat at his desk, with a slightly amused smile. Izuku just nodded rapidly as he quickly stepped foot off of the elevator, just barely having avoided it closing in his face.

"Yes sir! Sorry sir! It's just that this is my first time in here and my first time privately meeting you sir, it's just kind of on honor sir I mean you're the Headmaster of Beacon Academy, the most-"

"Yes, yes. Please, take a breath Mr. Midoriya. It's alright." He did as the calm and collected Huntsman before him said, taking several relaxing breaths as he just grinned at his antics. "Please, don't feel the need to treat this meeting so formally, Mr. Midoriya. I merely wished to have the opportunity to meet you face to face before the semester got rolling too strongly and to do so in a more... easy going manner. After all, considering your status as One For All's Successor, you and I may be in a more... formal working relationship at a latter date. No need to stuff up these early, pleasant meetings with such stodgy formality, wouldn't you say?" The man's calm demeanor and kind smile ended up relaxing Izuku a bit, though he did still feel quite nervous. Especially at the mention of One For All. Before he could open his mouth, Ozpin waved his hand.

"But how rude of me, I've invited you to my office and known you were coming ahead of time and yet I haven't prepared a beverage for you. Tell me Mr. Midoriya... what would you prefer to have?" He waved to a seat in front of his desk, one sitting diametrically opposite to him... on the opposite end of a chess board Izuku only just then noticed. There was no way a man with Ozpin's attention to detail and sharp mind could have forgotten something so simple... it had to have been some kind of test.

Right?

Izuku blushed red a bit as he looked down at his boots. He knew at his age that a slightly more sophisticated beverage might have been called for. Some kind of coffee or maybe a fancy tea, like hot Earl Grey or coffee taken black, would be more suited to an 'adult' sort of image. But... well, He really couldn't help it. He knew what he wanted... but did he really want to ask for it from his own Headmaster?

"Ummm... you wouldn't happen to have... hot chocolate, would you?" He blushed even more red as he turned his emerald eyes to him. "Maybe with... little... marshmallows?" He forced out each word as they came and for a moment Ozpin looked a bit surprised. That surprise quickly faded away to a soft smile as Ozpin reached down into one of his desk drawers and pulled out... a package of tiny marshmallows and hot chocolate mix.

"Have a seat and I'll get this ready." Izuku blinked in numb surprise as he just nodded, sliding into his seat while Ozpin walked over to a nearby table by the wall. Opening up a little compartment behind the wall, using a gear that he barely even noticed as a knob, he actually produced a little machine that Izuku recognized from his own home's kitchen. From the same cupboard a steaming cup of water was poured into the machine as it got to work. He was further stunned when instead of just pouring the one cup, Ozpin poured two and quickly put some of those little marshmallows into both. All with the practice of an old pro like, just like his mom. As the headmaster walked over and set the cup in front of him, he realize that to someone just barely paying attention that it would look like a foamy cup of coffee.

"Let's keep this our little secret Izuku, what do you say?" Izuku looked up as Ozpin gave a bit of a wink, taking a sip from his own mug as Midoriya just nodded. After an nice, hot drink of cocoa, he felt himself relax slightly before Ozpin motioned to the chess board in front of him. "Tell me, Mr. Midoriya, have you ever partaken in chess before?" He looked up at the Headmaster with a bit of a side glance, before he shook his head, simultaneously lifting up his cup to hide his lips while he surreptitiously licked some excess cocoa off of them.

"I can't say I have sir... I've mostly only played dice games... and most of those I only played because I have my lucky dice." Ozpin nodded slightly as he said that.

"I find that nothing helps carry a conversation and stimulates the mind at the same time quite like a game of chess. Would you do me the honor of a game, Mr. Midoriya?" He blinked a few times as he sheepishly scratched at the back of his head.

"... Honestly Headmaster, I think you'd kick my butt in a game of chess..." He admitted awkwardly as Ozpin chuckled with a small amount of mirth.

"I don't doubt that either. However, playing chess against a superior opponent doesn't just have to be about winning. It can also be a learning experience and one that sharpens your mental reflexes... think of it like sparring against a superior opponent in order to push your body forward and learn more about fighting. Do you understand?" He nodded slightly, the analogy a little more clear to him, as Ozpin waved to the board. "Then allow me to offer you the first move Mr. Midoriya."

Izuku stumbled with a bit of uncertainty into that game of chess. He knew that Ozpin had years of experience on him and probably the intellect to match. Still, he'd offered him the chance to try and he didn't want to insult him. As they both sipped on their cups of hot chocolate they both went at it. He even made a few good moves, he thought, taking some of Ozpin's pawns even as he took some back. It was... actually kind of fun, when he thought about it. It was tense and made him a bit nervous with every move as the game went on but, well, that just made it exciting.

It's as the excitement rushed to his head that he picked up on something Ozpin said earlier in the conversation. A slight frown came across his face, though he squashed it before looking up to Ozpin.

"Excuse me, Headmaster?" Ozpin looked up at him after analyzing his move. "Is... the only reason you invited me here because I have One For All?" Ozpin took a moment to scratch his chin before turning back down to the board.

"I'll admit, of the two reasons I did, without One For All I probably wouldn't have invited you as early." Izuku nodded slightly as he said that. "I'm not going to beat around the bush Izuku... the moment you accepted becoming Toshinori's Successor, you became a 'very' important piece in a rather large puzzle. I wasn't fluffing your ego when I said that one day you and I may very well be working together in a more professional sense." At that, Ozpin moved his chess piece across the board. "However, One For All alone wouldn't have been reason enough either. I would've wanted to see what kind of person you were, how your mind worked, before I would've invited you... no, it's these two reasons together that I've invited you so soon Mr. Midoriya." Izuku arched an eyebrow.

"And the second reason...?" He trailed off as Ozpin smiled, reaching into his desk... and pulling out a several dozen page document.

"I knew that Toshinori wouldn't pick a man or woman of little intelligence to be his successor. Brains might not factor into One For All as much as brawn, but it's still useful." He slid the documents over to Izuku and he picked them up, his emerald eyes went wide. "What I wasn't expecting was someone capable of writing an Academic Thesis on the nature of Toshinori and Enji's placements as the first and second best Huntsmen, replete with numerous sources and a well thought out and constructed argument."

Izuku's essay. The essay he wrote for his entrance into Beacon Academy. The essay that helped get him into the school...

Ozpin. Ozpin The Headmaster of Beacon Academy, renowned for his brilliance, called it an Academic Thesis. He thought Izuku was capable of that. He thought it was well thought out!

'Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh-'

"THANK YOU HEADMASTER OZPIN!" Izuku's sudden shout seemed to take Ozpin off guard, the man very nearly spilling his hot chocolate onto the table as Izuku started repeatedly bowing his head. "THIS IS SUCH AN HONOR I'LL NEVER FORGET THIS DAY AS LONG AS I LIVE! I PROMISE THAT I'LL TELLMYGRANDKIDSSTORIESABOUTHOWTHEWISEHEADMASTEROZPINTOLDMETHATMYWORKWASACADEMICIMEANTHEYPROBABLYWON'TBELIEVEMEAND-"

"Mr Midoriya, deep breaths." Ozpin's voice was broken up slightly by a few laughs as he looked at Izuku, that having been enough to snap the younger man out of his state as he realized that he just had a full-blown freak out over Ozpin having 'complimented' his work. Izuku's face immediately went beet red as he begin to apologize profusely, the Headmaster just waving him off as he bowed his head. Sense having returned to Izuku, he quickly made a moved on the chessboard before cautiously proceeding with the conversation.

"So... Headmaster... u-uh... d-do you have any critiques, sir?" Ozpin raised an eyebrow slightly as he said that, though there was a ghost of a smile on his lips as he nodded.

"I do in fact. While your paper was quite well documented and informed, for what I was looking for it was a bit... long. Needless to say, I'll be instituting a word limit on future essays." Izuku blushed again and moved to apologize, though Ozpin quickly waved him off. "Don't think I myself was displeased, far from it, I found it a rather enjoyable read. However, these were more meant to give quick insights into your ways of thinking... and while this was an insight, it wasn't quick. My advice relating to this would be to remember who your audience is when writing. An Academic such as myself will appreciate the effort you put into papers like this... however, bureaucrats who're just looking for something to latch onto as far as critical thinking is concerned and even your fellow students might not want to go through an Academic Thesis to understand your point. Does that make sense, Mr. Midoriya?"

"Yes sir." He nodded as Ozpin made another move on the chessboard, his eyes quickly scanning it.

"I'd also note that given our career track, most people will be looking to see how you apply Academic knowledge like this to other scenarios. More real world scenarios, if you understand?" Izuku quirked an eyebrow, clearly confused, as Ozpin smiled. "I asked you to explain to me why Toshinori and Enji might be ranked as they are. It's a question that, on the surface, requires very little thought. After all, Toshinori is the Symbol of Peace and Enji is quite widely known as the Second Greatest Huntsman. It wouldn't be hard for someone to just come away with it that the idea is that image is everything…"

"However, you stepped up your game and looked into the factors that would lead to these images. The feats and prospects of the two that would lead people to declare Toshinori the Symbol of Peace and Enji his lesser. It shows that you consider the thoughts and repercussions of what these people do, what they are and how they perform in other people's decision making. This, on its own, might not seem like much. However..." A slight smile formed on Ozpin's lips as he reached into his desk again and tossed Izuku a sheet of paper. Izuku confused for a moment before he took a look at it... only to find his confusion even further amplified. It's a list of the names of his immediate peers; from Asui, Tsuyu all the way down to Xiao Long, Yang.

"Tell me Mr. Midoriya... in a 'short' essay how would you have ranked your peers in terms of leadership and ability? Who would've been at the top of your list and who would've been at the bottom." Izuku snapped a glance up at Ozpin, a slightly coy smile on his face as he took a drink from his cup of cocoa. "Points will be deducted if you use my decisions as justification for placing anyone else. These are based on your judgments of their character and ability, not mine.

"I hope your time spent training with Toshinori has not caused you to slack in your studies, Mr. Midoriya."

Izuku tapped his chin slightly as he considered Ozpin's impromptu question. After only a short time, since when he was made leader he gave that some thought himself just because he was flabbergasted at the fact that he of all people was made the leader of a team, he turned to Ozpin with an even expression on his face.

"Well... first I guess I'd go for process of elimination. The first set being those who would be a danger to their teams if they were to lead them." Ozpin nodded as he took a sip of his cocoa. "Based on what I've learned about my friends, I'd put Yang, Nora and Kacchan... I'm sorry, Katsuki in this group." Izuku realized calling Bakugo by Izuku's childhood nickname for him might not come off as terribly professional to his Headmaster, but he continued. "Yang and Nora are impulsive and passionate people and while they can certainly overcome this form time to time and, don't get me wrong, it speaks amazingly well of them that they can stay so positive... the time it would take for them to learn caution would be risky for a team. Not to mention how it'd undermine their authority while in the middle of learning this, authority that they'd need to build as leaders."

"Katsuki... he just wouldn't accept criticisms or disobedience as a leader and he's incredibly easy to provoke to anger. The latter two can be pretty useful in a more standard force, but with groups of Hunters who have the ambitions to actual pursue the career... it's just a Grimm Magnet. They wouldn't fold to Katsuki's presence or demeanor and so he'd be furious and it'd just spiral from there. There were glimpses of that in the Emerald Forest. It would just lead to ill will all around."

Ozpin nodded as he made another move on the board, he quickly followed up.

"Then you've got to eliminate people who won't take initiative. The kind of people who'd prefer to stand to the side or follow. For those remaining, that'd be Blake, Ren, Pyrrha, Shoto and Tsuyu." Izuku saw Ozpin quirk an eyebrow but remained silent. Clearly there was something in there that earned his attention or, at least, he was interested that Izuku was picking out. "Ren and Blake rarely offer their opinions unasked and, while this is great for a myriad of positions, a leader can't afford to do this. Their group needs guidance and they have to be willing to put it forward. Pyrrha, Shoto and Tsuyu aren't quite the same in that regard, but none of them really seek the attention that would come with being a leader. Sure, there's the idiom that those who don't seek power are the best suited to wield it, I don't think thrusting leadership on those who dislike attention period would be a good idea..." Ozpin nodded as he finally rounded off.

"Which just leaves the rest of us. Ruby's well motivated, talented and skilled in Hunter essentials, but her being younger than everyone else is an issue for her to exert authority... and she's too nice to do so by force even in positions where she could. Weiss is trained in a wide variety of leadership and practical skills, but she's prideful and can take first impressions a little too close to heart. If she were made a leader, those kinds of traits could be reinforced. Then there's me... I mean, aside from One For All and my knowledge is about all I can offer, so maybe leadership is good for someone who really doesn't bring much else to the table. I... really don't have a lot of confidence either, so that tends to undermine everything, including leadership."

"Finally, Tenya's pretty much the whole package. Skill, dedication, confidence, authority. You couldn't have gone wrong with him at all. So I guess I'd rank us like this: Tenya, Ruby, Weiss, myself, Tsuyu, Shoto, Pyrrha, Ren, Blake, Yang, Nora and Katsuki."

There was just a moment where Ozpin hummed to himself, taking another sip of his hot cocoa as he did. Finally he moved his Queen with a bit of a flourish. "Checkmate."

Izuku blinked as he looked down at the board that he and Ozpin had been playing on. Sure enough, he couldn't move his king anywhere without Ozpin being able to take it the next turn. He knew he wasn't entirely focused on the game but he didn't make what he thought were bad moves... heck, he thought he was doing well. But, thinking about the number of turns and the tempo... it felt like Ozpin had a lot of control over that game right from the start, even if he didn't know it.

"Also, I have to say Izuku, I'm once again impressed. Even with how little time you've had, you've managed to craft a very well-reasoned and thought out argument." Ozpin took one last sip of his hot chocolate as he gave a small sigh. "I believe that will be all for today Mr. Midoriya. This was... rather enlightening, would you agree?" Izuku shrugged slightly as he said this, finishing his own cup of hot cocoa.

"Yeah, I'd say so." Izuku'd gotten a little bit of advice off of Ozpin on how to write future papers, got tested on his friend's rankings as leaders and played a game of chess against one of the smartest men in Vale. He'd say that was enlightening.

"Then let's do it again sometime. Though, I'm rather busy to be doing it too too often... I'll send you a message as to when I think I'll be free again." Izuku nodded in agreement as Ozpin gave Izuku the go ahead to leave.

* * *

Katsuki was walking back to his room after some late training, it was a good workout and best of all he had no annoyances to deal with: No school work needed to be done, no team members he had to deal with, and best of all no Deku.

Unfortunately, that couldn't last as he had noticed for the past 5 minutes he had been followed and surrounded.

"All right, idiots you have a minute to come out and give a reason not to blow you up!" Katsuki announced annoyed. He could tell that there were four of them which while not bad odds was annoying considering that he was tired and that he had used up his aura earlier. Sure he recovered some of it, but he only had enough to do a few decent explosions at best, though he still had more than enough to beat the idiots who thought that they could ambush him.

At his announcement, he saw the four idiots who wasted their time harassing Faunus. Bakugo inwardly scowled at that. He didn't get racists, he thought it was stupid to be afraid of Faunus because they had a few different features from you. It's the same as hating someone for having a different semblance than the one you had. It was pointless and a complete waste of time.

Hating someone because they're useless and would only drag someone down was different in his opinion. Which was why he went after Deku so much, because without aura he would have been canon fodder at best and at worst a drag on whoever he was working with who would just leech off their efforts. Granted he somehow got his hands on some aura though, which while his explanation was bullshit, at the very least meant he wasn't a complete waste of a huntsmen now and could actually be somewhat competent.

"What do you want?" Katsuki asked rudely.

The idiot who was the leader decided to speak, "Well, I've noticed that you don't fit in with your team and their friends am I right."

"And?" Katsuki asked scowling, tempted to just blow the idiot up.

The leader idiot smiled, "Well how about joining us. Your personality fits us much more. We don't take shit from others and we just want strength."

"Pass," Bakugo said scowling "I don't give a shit about your stupid racist antics. Besides if I needed you losers to help me then I have no right to call myself a huntsmen."

"Is that right," Cardin said cautiously. Meanwhile, the rest of his team had spread out and were prepared to draw their weapons out.

Katsuki smirked, "I'll say it again, if I relied on the help of you pansy bitches then I should just kill myself right then and there."

Cardin took a moment and said, "You know, I can respect that pride of yours. Heck, I respect your decision... that said _you've just insulted the wrong team._ " And with that, he roared with rage, raised his mace up high as he and his team charged at Bakugo.

Katsuki got into his stance with eager anticipation for that upcoming fight.

 _A young Katsuki watched a video of Toshinori killing hordes of Grimm by himself._

" _No way," he said, his eyes shining with amazement. "He killed so many of them by himself."_

 _Katsuki leaped up into the air, "That's so cool! He's the strongest! It didn't matter that there was so many because he's the strongest!" A thought came into his mind._

" _I want to just be like him! To be the strongest huntsmen ever!"_

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

Katsuki walked into his team's room. Everyone in the room could see some bruises on him.

Ruby was worried and asked "What happened, who gave you those injuries?" While Katsuki was annoyed, he could at least respect that Ruby didn't ask that question out of pity, but because she intended to make the perpetrators pay. Though annoyance still won out in the end.

"It doesn't matter, I won." That was all Katsuki was willing to say on that matter. As he went into the bathroom ready to take his evening shower he thought to himself.

'It doesn't matter who, whether it's half-half bastard, the runt, the runt's sister, Deku's partner, or even Deku himself. It doesn't matter who stands in my way. I will crush them all and I will become the strongest. That I swear _.'_

* * *

"How'd your lesson plan go Toshinori," Ozpin flipped through his notebook as he and the decrepit form of the world's greatest hero sat across from another. It was nearly nine, and Ozpin could tell that Toshinori was exhausted, and he almost felt bad having him come to these monthly check up sessions. But, well rules are rules, and Toshinori was the newest teacher, and one of the perks of seniority were forcing your most recently arrived colleagues to come in to mandatory one-on-ones last.

Them's the breaks basically.,

"Oh, pretty well I'd say," Toshinori nodded, flipping through his notebook, "Most of the class seems to be understanding the point of strengthening their bodies. Ms. Rose seems to be having the most trouble, but I suppose that is to be expected.

"Yes," Ozpin nodded, "Ruby does face certain challenges. I have never seen someone her age be so in control of her aura, but her age means that she has not grown to be quite as physically capable as her classmates," Even Weiss, despite her lack of height, was simply further along in her physical development, "But ultimately, that is but a small obstacle for her. She will grow in ways that you can't possibly imagine."

"...One of your plans?" Toshinori's eyes, sunken almost completely into his skull, stared directly into Ozpin's.

"Basically."

"You're one of a kind Ozpin," Toshinori chuckled, then stopped, when he heard Ozpin place his mug down on the desk. That was unusual, Ozpin had just gotten another cup, and if there was one truth that defined Ozpin, is that he would never actually put down a cup of that warming brew. Toshinori looked up from his notes, and saw a small glint in Ozpin's eye.

"Something wrong...Ozpin?"

"...Nothing," Ozpin picked up his mug again, and took a long swig. For a second, Toshinori wondered if the headmaster's brew was spiked with some sort of alcohol, but quickly dismissed that notion. Ozpin would never indulge in something that could dull his mind and body.

"Okay then," Toshinori looked back down at his notes, "I was thinking that next, we could try a mixing of teams. I understand that having partners is very important, but the modern hunter needs to be prepared to adapt to any team composition that is around them, and fill out their role in it accordingly," he looked at Ozpin, who nodded consent to continue, "I was thinking picking teams of four out of a hat, then sending them against two Atlesian drones. Not at full power, but just enough to provide a challenge."

"Seems like a fair enough plan," Ozpin nodded, "Bring a detailed lesson plan to Glynda on Monday, and then we can try it sometime soon."

"Damnit," Toshinori grumbled, "Glynda's idea of detailed is something I really am having trouble getting used to. Never let's me play to my strengths."

"Winging it?"

"Yup," Ozpin just shook his head, "Before you go, how is Izuku's training going?"

"Great," Toshinori's hands flew out, causing Ozpin to stumble back, "I mean, you wouldn't believe how far that kid has come. Sure he fanboys a bit too much. Sure he is still just trying to figure out how to even use One for All in his pinkie toe. But I'm telling you Ozpin, I could not have asked for a better successor."

"I can imagine," Ozpin looked down into his coffee, "You know, I'd never thought I'd say it Toshi, but I'm jealous of you."

"...what?"

"Oh yes," Ozpin got out of his seat, stretching his arms out, "I am quite jealous of you Toshinori. So jealous that it actually kind of ticks me off."

"But, why?" Toshinori just stared on in disbelief.

"It's not because of your fame or popularity," Ozpin chuckled ruefully, "I'm not quite as petty as Enji. But...," He stopped himself, trying to put his words together correctly, "I just can't believe that you got the closest kid I have ever seen to my ideal heir as your successor."

"WHAT!?"

"SHUSH!" Ozpin's finger flew in front of Toshi's mouth, "Glynda is still in her office. Do you know what would happen if she walked in right now?"

"She'd ask about the fact that your thinking about a replacement," Toshinori accused, his sunken eyes narrowing.

"No, she'd be mad at me and make me organize my desk," Toshi looked back at the desk, and nodded in agreement, "but yes, I do think that Izuku Midoriya has all the qualifications to take my place should something ever remove me from the game...permanently."

"But...you-"

"One must be prepared for all eventualities my friend," Ozpin chuckled, "I have a few back up plans, but should our enemies, both known and unknown, manage to truly wipe me from the face of this planet, we must have a plan for who would take my post as its guardian."

"But, Midoriya wouldn-"

"Oh, he absolutely would," Ozpin smiled, "The young man has a encyclopedia for a mind. Enough training, and he would be perfect for understanding all the information I am confronted with about how Remnant operates. He has shown a good deal of skill in both tactics and logistics, and when allowed to stretch his wings, he is more than capable with forming connections with those that will allow him to move up into higher social circles."

"You know, I don't think the boy thinks that's what he is doing when making his friends."

"Obviously he doesn't think that, but that doesn't change that is exactly what he is doing," Ozpin took another sip from his coffee, "He is able to remember Hunters' histories and relationships on a level even I have trouble replicating. Heck, his ranking of leadership ability for the teams he was grouped up with was almost exactly identical to my own, and the only reason he was off was because he underestimated himself."

"So, I almost wish that instead of meeting you, he had just sent that essay into me on his own time. I could have attempted to cultivate him, aura or no aura, and trained him to follow me. To learn how to make the difficult calls, to see the world from the eye of an eagle, and protect the future of humanity."

"Ozpin," Toshinori reached out slowly.

"Oh, sorry," Ozpin stopped, and brought up a familiar smile, "Coulda, woulda, shoulda as it were. Izuku is your successor, more than likely destined to be one of the top hunters this generation. He is almost certainly going to do the world a great deal of good, no matter how much this old man may whinge for some young gun to take his post away from him. Anything else you wish to discuss," Toshinori shook his head left and right, "Well then, see you on Monday. Good Night."

"Good Night," Toshinori tossed back, getting out of his chair. For a moment he felt a sense of dread at the back of his head, and thought about the boy who followed his footsteps.

'Unfortunately Ozpin,' Toshinori thought as he walked out of the great door to the rest of Beacon, 'I don't think he could be your heir. Izuku,' he saw a young boy rushing to help a classmate despite a complete lack of combat ability, 'could never sit back on the sideline. He could not take your role as grand master.'

Toshinori looked back at the now closed door, 'You are civilization's great defender, but I have faith that one day, Izuku Midoriya will be-

'Remnant's Greatest Hero.'

* * *

 **E/N: This chapter is finished off with "Heir" by my fellow editor Wind Waker. Who was also the one who decided to put it there. Perks of being editor I guess. Before that we also have Katsuki and Team CRDL by Supa. Which I almost failed to attribute.**

 **-Shovern**

 **I actually wrote Heir as my second shot at an omake style snippet for this story. The first was an attempt to bring one of the underutilized in the story My Hero Academia characters into the limelight a bit. I'll talk about that story in the future, but for the meantime, Heir was a fairly simple idea I had, about how Ozpin likely would like someone like Izuku to be the next...whatever he is. It's not too complicated, deeply insightful young man with unusual level of charisma and dedication to do the right thing comes before him, and Ozpin can't help but wonder if he missed a real shot at actually choosing the next leader of the fight against evil. Of course, Toshinori tends to disagree with that, and the difference between Toshinori and Ozpin will come up again.**

 **-Wind-Waker**


	18. Red, White and Black

"Ummm... hey, Izuku?"

"What's up Pyrrha?"

The two of them were alone at the moment in their dorm room. Weiss and Nora headed out to grab some supplies they all needed for their pancake breakfasts next week... or more on the point, Nora declared she would make sure that the team had what was necessary to make pancakes and dragged Weiss along because, "the acquisition of pancake material is a great bonding exercise for partners."

It would have sounded like a lame excuse to Izuku and everyone else if it weren't for the fact that it was perfectly reasonable that Nora would think like that. So he and Pyrrha just waved Nora and Weiss goodbye while Weiss, after initially putting up an effort to resist being dragged off, ended up just accepting her fate when Nora, after meeting resistance, just picked her up off the ground and carried her off.

'It always astounds me how incredibly strong Nora is…' Izuku admitted, 'it certainly makes the idea of sparring against her kind of scary.' He then stared over at his shoulder, a small amount of ache still there, 'Still, not like it can go worse than having a bullet tear through me, right?'

He looked over to Pyrrha, who was dressed a bit more casually than her full armor get up or her school uniform, a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, as she fiddled with a strand of her hair, her eyes deep in thought as she bit her cheek before speaking.

"So... you know I'd never intentionally hurt your feelings right?"

"Well... of course. You're way too nice for something like that Pyrrha. Why are you asking though?" She smiled a bit at first before she returned to that slightly constipated expression on her face, as if she were trying to force herself to speak up.

"So... it's just that... you know, I'm just kind of curious is all. It'd be alright if I asked questions that you weren't uncomfortable asking right? You'd know that I wasn't trying to hurt your feelings on purpose, right?"

"... Yeah. Pyrrha, what's this about?" She seemed to be really working herself up to ask whatever was on her mind as she sat there, the Invincible Girl taking a deep breath to gather herself as she looked over at Izuku.

"I was just wondering... what's it like? You know... growing up thinking you were... Born of the Moon?" She seemed to catch herself at the end there, catching a slip of the tongue that Izuku would've been all too familiar with before it could even exit her mouth. The both of them sat there for a moment, a slight silence permeating the room as Izuku's own cheeks went a bit red.

"Oh... right. That." Immediately Pyrrha's face turned scarlet as she raised her hands up.

"You know what this was a bad idea, I'm sorry. Please, just forget I even asked about that it was totally inappropriate I was just really curious and I'm really sorry, like, really, really so-"

"Pyrrha! It's okay." Izuku quickly threw his hands out in a placating gesture as he tried to help her calm down, Pyrrha just slamming her mouth shut as she hid her face behind her hands.

"I'm sorry it's just... you don't meet people like that often, or at least, you don't knowingly meet them... and the way Bakugo and you talked about it in the forest, it sounded like you both thought that was the case... I just was really... curious... oh, I'm sorry, this is awful, I shouldn't be asking about this."

"No, really, it's okay! I asked you about Mistral and about how you fought and stuff before, turnarounds fair play right? Plus, I know you're not trying to hurt me by asking." Izuku scratched the back of his head. He supposed being Broken would be a point of curiosity with most people. Of course, he was still trying to put up the front that he was never actually broken and it was just his Aura being too weak to manifest normally or be seen. Still, the fact that he and Kacchan spoke so openly about it and with such certainty probably made it the next closest thing Pyrrha would ever know.

'Who wouldn't be curious about such an odd condition,' Izuku almost inwardly slapped himself on not expecting this, 'People, being born without the ability to manifest their Aura, a loss so tangible that it can be measured. While it wasn't the Stigma it used to be, that just made it a curiosity.'

'I can't fault Pyrrha for wanting to indulge in her own curiosity.'

"It's not exactly an equal thing Izuku. That was just some small talk or stuff you should know as my partner or stuff that I could easily share... this is pretty personal. I really shouldn't ask... but, I just..."

"It's a weird thing and you're curious, I understand." Again Izuku spoke softly, his hands waving her down as his partner slowly but surely calmed down.

"Yeah... I'm sorry."

"Really it's okay Pyrrha. You don't mean anything by it and... yeah, if I were in your shoes I'd be curious too." Izuku smiled as reassuringly as he could, placing his hands on his lap. "Please, you've already told me stuff about you. Let me give back a little bit. Feel free to ask anything you're curious about."

"... You're sure?" Izuku saw her green eyes looked a little uncertain, his own emerald eyes just beaming back as he tried to convey his seriousness.

"Absolutely. I promise I won't get upset or anything." With that Pyrrha took a bit of a breath as she placed her own hands on her lap. It was clear that Pyrrha was still nervous about this as she twisted her ponytail around, but it seemed like she was ready to at least go forward with her curiosity. Izuku knew how she was feeling.

'Heck, I'm nervous most times I've met new people or come across situations he wasn't totally prepared for. Not to mention all the times I've,' he blushed as he remembered Toshinori's words, 'nerded out,' he shook his head, ' so I need to meet this nervousness with patience as I wait for Pyrrha to organize her thoughts.'

Eventually the green eyed tournament fighter took a breath as she finally seemed ready to go ahead.

"... You say you haven't had your Aura for a long time now... and I can tell that pretty easily." He winced slightly as he nodded, Pyrrha still messing with her hair. "... You wouldn't have been able to get into Beacon if you only attended a combat school for as long as you've had Aura... that's just not how the system's designed. So I'm guessing..."

"Yeah... I tried to become a Huntsman even before I realized I could have an Aura... when I thought I couldn't." Pyrrha nodded slowly, a small amount of disbelief on her face.

"It's just... I can't imagine it was easy. I can barely even imagine the combat schools..." Izuku saw her button her lip up before she said more, though she just smiled softly, if in a slightly strained manner.

"Would let someone Broken into their school in the first place?" Izuku saw her face go beet red as she said that and Izuku quickly rushed in to cut her off before she could apologize. "Pyrrha, I understand... and well, they did. It was pretty clear they didn't think I'd actually become a Huntsman but... well, if mom and I were willing to spend the money I guess they couldn't say no." He scratched at the back of his head. "As for the other question... it wasn't. A lot of training exercises were especially hard because I didn't have an Aura, even if the instructors would usually give me an out before I hurt myself... to say nothing of the spars I'd take place in. You thought it looked bad with Owari, it was even worse before I had Aura." One hit. All they had to do was get one hit on him that could draw blood or bruise him and he'd be out of a fight. It was for safety reasons of course; without an Aura he could've died.

"That... wasn't the hardest part of it though." He admitted as he looked off to the side. "I didn't exactly endear myself to a lot of my peers or teachers, thinking I was some Broken kid who wanted to be a Hunter. Most people thought it was a joke, that someone like me would even try... and they weren't shy about letting me know it." Pyrrha tensed up slightly, a clear amount of conflict in her eyes.

"That's terrible Izuku... but... there had to be people... I mean... it couldn't all just be people taunting you. There had to be some people who'd... want what was..." Pyrrha shook her head. "No, that's not the right way to say it, not with how you've turned out."

"It's okay. When people thought I was broken... yeah, there'd be those who'd think it'd just be best if I gave up, if only for my own safety. Not everyone was cruel... or at least, not intentionally so." Pyrrha looked down to the side a bit, still toying with her hair. "I still gave it my all because it was my dream but... even then, deep down, I understood viewpoints like that." It was silent for a moment, the air stifling somewhat before Pyrrha turned to face him.

"For what it's worth... even if it was dangerous, I'm glad you didn't listen to people who would've asked that you stop." Pyrrha tried her best to smile at that and Izuku, well, he just returned it.

"Thanks... I am too. But, well, I had help in making sure I'd end up here." Izuku scratched at the back of his head.

"... Speaking of dangerous..." Pyrrha fiddled with her hair a bit as she looked at him. "It's... kind of unusual for people to develop Semblances so early, you know?" He freezed up as Pyrrha said that, his face going pale for a moment as he viscerally began to feel that he'd already been caught. Before he could start to spiral into that well of panic, she continued. "I mean... unlocking your Semblance before you've even had your Aura for a while is just such a rare thing. It speaks to the strength of your own Aura that you've managed to do so early and that it's such a... strong Semblance." Izuku inwardly sighed in relief as Pyrrha continued.

"But... most people think the usual pattern of development is for a reason... your Aura can help protect you while you're learning to control your Semblance and use it... in your case though..."

'Yeah... in my case, One For All does a Hell of a number on my body... and the worst part is that I don't think it'd get better 'just' by getting a stronger Semblance. My body is just too weak to handle One For All.'

"I know you tell us not to worry and we have the kit in case something happens... but, Izuku... I do worry. Are you going to be okay with such a dangerous Semblance?" He couldn't help but smile at her worry as he just nodded.

"Yeah, I think I'll be alright... I just... gotta get better at controlling it is all. I'll eventually get the hang of my Semblance... it's just that I haven't had the advantage of having it and my Aura for years, so I have to build it up slowly. I'll get there... and I promise I won't do anything too risky until then... but you have to know that if something like what happened in the Emerald Forest happens-"

"You won't have a choice... I know." Pyrrha smiled slightly as she shook her head. "I guess I'm just a bit worried is all. I've never actually seen a Semblance 'hurt' its user before..."

"I promise, it'll be alright." It had to be alright, after all. He had to succeed Toshinori. He had to master One For All. No matter how hard it was, he had to keep moving forward with his training if he was going to be the kind of Huntsman he always dreamed.

"... So..." Pyrrha coughed a bit as she rounded about. "... You know what, this one is 'really' stupid. You actually had the ability to have Aura and just didn't know it, it's not like..."

"Pyrrha, just ask." Pyrrha nodded after a moment and turns to Izuku.

"... So... having such a weak Aura... I mean, I hear people who're supposed to be Born of The Moon don't feel... whole? Like I said, it's silly to ask, but..."

"Did I ever feel that way?" He shrugged a bit as he said that. "It's... a weird feeling... I mean, growing up I never felt like I lost out on anything. I was just... weak in Aura, so maybe that was it." Honestly, it was weird to think about. He didn't 'feel' broken. He didn't feel like there was something missing in his life. Izuku was just Izuku, Broken or not. Then... " But... when I finally... manifested my Aura... I just... I felt overwhelmed. I felt like it was something I was always meant to have... something I was missing out on my entire life. Like an old friend I didn't even know I had or whose company I was yearning for. Comparing myself between then and now, I really don't understand how I felt like that. To have this power rushing through me, healing me... protecting me. It feels as natural as if it's always been there. As if it was always meant to be there."

"That... sounds pretty wonderful." Pyrrha admitted, a soft smile on her face. "I wouldn't have worded my own awakening quite so profoundly... I felt different but no so different... it sounds like it was quite the experience for you."

It was, it really was. In all honesty, while he hadn't felt the full effects of One For All till he summoned it forth, when he first felt his Aura pouring through him... he actually cried.

For once, it was a time when Toshinori hadn't reprimand him for doing so either.

"Izuku... thanks for telling me. It was personal and I was just curious but... thank you for indulging in my curiosity. If there's anything you ever feel like you need to know or want to know, just ask, alright? It's the least I can do at this point."

"Actually, there is something I'm a little curious about asking, if you wouldn't mind indulging me?" Pyrrha just nodded vigorously, a quick 'Of course' said with very little hesitation as he placed his hand on his chin. "What made you decide to become a... tournament fighter, right?" Pyrrha actually blinked as he asked that. She didn't seem too surprised by the looks of it, perhaps expecting some variation of a question like that. However, perhaps it was the way he asked it that surprised her. "I mean, I don't understand much about the Mistrali Regional but I assume it's some kind of sports thing right? I mean, obviously if you won something like that you were good at it but... I dunno. It just doesn't seem like something that's up your alley Pyrrha. You're a very calm sort of person and, well, aside from maybe Yang the only person who I could imagine being a competitive fighter is Kacchan... and those two aren't exactly calm." Pyrrha nodded her head in agreement as she tapped her chin.

"I suppose I see your point. Yes, it might seem a bit odd but... well, hmm..." Pyrrha was clearly wracking her brains for a moment, trying to think of the best way to discuss this, as she looked back to him. "Something you have to understand about Mistral is that, in spite of what things about it are amazing, it's amazingness is distributed... poorly. There's a very well connected, very rich class of people who spend most of their time thinking about art, culture and sports, all those things like that and... yes they do run the Kingdom as best they can but... well, we have earned a reputation for being a haven for crime for a reason." Pyrrha brushed at her hair a bit with her fingers as she looked to the side. "A lot of people in Mistral don't have those sorts of opportunities and so take up work with the criminal elements, using that as a means of advancing themselves... so in Mistral, either you're born into your wealth, you're good at something the wealthy take immense glee in or... well, the less said about the alternatives the better." Pyrrha looked to Izuku. "There is the Hunter's Academy, don't get me wrong, and it has been growing these past couple decades thanks to Toshinori's rise in popularity but... well, even with Toshinori, not everyone ends up wanting to risk their lives as a Hunter."

"I was... born with a fair amount of talent for fighting. I was born stronger than a lot of people my own age, even boys... and I'm sure you've noticed that I'm... kind of taller than all of our friends..." He saw Pyrrha blush a deep shade of crimson at that, as if it was something she was slightly embarrassed about. "I suppose it adds to the 'Invincible Girl' image that even in terms of stature there aren't a lot of people my age who stand above me." She said that with a slightly sardonic chuckle before continuing. "Anyway... I was young when I had my Aura unlocked. Back then, I was very taken with the idea of Toshinori and being a Huntress, as most children are. So my parents were willing to indulge... after all, if I became a Huntress, that would be one way for me to make a living. To say nothing of my talent for combat once I unleashed by Semblance... it was taken notice of immediately."

"It wasn't as if I could say no when people involved in the industry approached me. Earn a lot of money and in doing so help my family by doing what I do best? And I was still technically enrolled in the Academy. 'Technically' mind you, if my knowledge of things actually involving Hunters tells you anything... well, I couldn't say no. So I got involved with the Mistrali Tournament scene and the rest is history. I was never beaten and I ended up not only attracting the initial contractors in the industry who liked what they saw, I also ended up gaining other sponsors like Pumpkin Pete's."

"You mean the cereal with the bunny mascot?" Izuku tilted his head to the side as Pyrrha nodded.

"The very same. It's... not very good for you." Izuku nodded in ready agreement.

"Yeah, when I was going through my training to prep for Beacon I was on a pretty strict diet."

'Thank you Toshinori,' he couldn't help but think to himself. At that Pyrrha actually smiled, an amused tilt to it.

"Well then I guess we have something in common." He could see Pyrrha shift a bit nervously in place as she said that last part, combing strands of hair behind her ear. Her discomfort was slowly becoming apparent even to Izuku. As much as she said he could ask anything, it was pretty clear that she'd came up onto a limit.

"Well... thanks for telling me Pyrrha. I appreciate it." He smiled warmly as he reached over and picked up a text book. "How about we do a little bit of tutoring while we wait for Weiss and Nora to come back? Something to pass the time?" Pyrrha nodded in ready agreement as she picked up her own textbook.

"Yes, let's."

* * *

As Izuku approached the door to his dorm, he stopped himself before he reflexively entered it. It'd been some work to slowly ingrain that habit into himself, especially after spending his most of his life with his own room. But it was necessary. He didn't want a repeat of the first night again. He raised his fist to the door, and rapped his knuckles on it.

"Hey, it's me, Izuku. Anyone in?"

"I am but it's fine Izuku, I'm decent." He nodded at the sound of Weiss' voice as he entered the dorm room, Weiss having turned in her seat to watch him enter. "Thank you again Izuku. What brings you back to the dorm?"

"Well it's getting to be a habit at this point, thankfully." He said with a smile as he closed the door behind him. "And nothing much. I just got done with a quick meeting and I figured I'd do a little bit of studying in private. Get some peace and quiet, you know? This first week's been a bit of a change for me compared to Mountain Glenn, so I'm just trying to settle in for this weekend."

"Sounds quite reasonable. Very well, don't let me stop you." With that Weiss turned back to her desk, scribbling on a piece of paper as she did so. Izuku looked over her shoulder a bit and saw that it was a plain, letter-sized sheet of paper set out in front of her, some text written in Weiss' very prim and proper handwriting set on the paper as she continued to work away.

"What about you Weiss, what are you up to?" She paused a bit as he asked that, turning her head to look at him with those cool blue eyes. She studied her leader for a moment before visibly relaxing and shaking her head.

"Oh it's nothing much. I remember Pyrrha saying something about you calling home at the start of the week and I just remembered that I've failed to send correspondence home to my own family back in Atlas. I figured I'd correct this mistake." Izuku's face lit up a bit as she said that, a smile on his face.

"Oh that's nice. Anything about us in there?" She freezed up a bit as Izuku said that, her eyes glancing over to the sheet of paper as she coughed into her fist.

"Oh just a little but. Not much really." Izuku nodded understandingly.

"That's cool though, I told my mom about you girls as well... I think she'll really like you." and he returned the cough, remembering the fact that his had mom fainted over the phone and the... 'talk' the two had about proper behavior around girls and not wanting to be a grandmother.

Izuku still couldn't get past the whole holding hands thing for what it was worth.

"Well, it's nice you included us while catching up on your family. Don't let me stop you." Weiss just nodded a bit numbly as Izuku said that, Izuku collapsing onto his bed as he popped open one of his text books to quickly study.

Weiss turned in her seat for a moment before returning to her work, looking down at the page of text she'd written. Izuku hear her start to mutter a bit, something catching his ear about 'well... should I really say it like that' and '... there really isn't much about wondering how she's doing and if she's alright in here...'. Weiss just sat there for a moment, staring at the one-page letter before she sighed, running a hand through her hair.

Izuku saw her turn in her chair a bit as she looked back at him, a curious expression on her face.

"Tell me Izuku... when you talked to your mother... how... frank were you with her about us? How much did you talk about us anyway?" Izuku blinked a bit as Weiss asked that, tilting his head to the side.

"I pretty much just told her the truth." Izuku saw Weiss grimaced as he said that, though he was not sure why. "That I was made the leader of a team and that my teammates were all pretty amazing Huntresses... and that I was kind of nervous to be in that position." The grimace gave way as Weiss just blinked for a moment, coughing into her fist as she turned to face her own letter.

"Well, I mean, obviously you would be. Nora, Pyrrha and myself are, as you say, rather strong Huntresses in our own right. Plus the initial night was... rather nerve-wracking." She coughed loudly into her fist again and, even as his own face went red, he swore he saw her ears turn a bit red.

"Y-Yeah... in fact, a lot of the conversation revolved around my team before we got to catching up..." Mostly because he had to assure his mother that he wasn't going to end up a teenage father and that she wasn't going to be a grandma anytime soon. "But I was fine with that. It was the biggest thing to happen in my life at the time; being made team leader, having Pyrrha as my partner, having you and Nora as teammates. I was really lucky and I wanted my mom to know."

"... Yes. Of course... but, I mean, it isn't 'all' the truth, right?" Izuku quirked his head to the side as Weiss poked her pencil into the paper. "I mean... I was being rather... rough with you the evening before. I wasn't putting my best foot forward and you now know why. Nora was... hyper-active and... well, the less said about the shower incident the better. And Pyrrha, while amazing, is a little... passive, don't you think? I'm just saying, if you wanted to tell your mother the truth, wouldn't you include that?" Izuku tilted his head a bit as Weiss phrased it like that.

"Well... I mean, I mentioned it sure, but to me that wasn't what I wanted to leave her with an impression with... and it's really not that I had a problem with any of that. I understood that you might be uncomfortable with a boy, and I just thought Pyrrha was nice. Sure Nora's a ball of energy but... that's what makes her Nora." Izuku shrugged a bit as he leaned back in his bed. "I mean, I doubt my mom would like to hear that kind of stuff about my teammates, and I don't want her to think badly of you guys. So... I didn't lie but I didn't focus on it."

"I see..." Weiss poked her pen into her paper again as she thought. "Your mother sounds quite nice Izuku." He smiled a bit as he nodded.

"She is... she tried her best to be supportive of me and my dream even when we all thought that I couldn't manifest an Aura..." Izuku left out the night the family all actually found out. Just like he didn't want his mother to think badly of his teammates, he didn't want his teammates to think badly of his mother. "My dad wasn't around a lot, always working... but he sent money home. And mom stayed home to raise me. She worked really hard at it too... I don't think I'd be the way I am without her being there for me." Weiss nodded slowly as he said that.

"It... it sounds really nice." She spoke in her usual tone, though it sounded slightly strained.

"Well... I think it was anyway." Izuku nodded his head to look at her back. "Why are you asking all this Weiss? Is it about the letter?" Weiss paused for a moment before continuing.

"It... is. My family is a bit more... exacting Izuku. They have... standards I'm meant to live up to, and anything that might go awry with my education or my team would be of interest for them to know... my sister is a Huntress herself and Headmaster Ironwood's right hand woman at that. I want to send back something that speaks the truth but... you all don't deserve to be spoken of as harshly as I might be expected to, given the situation. After all, I'm a Schnee. Exact details and an understanding of my position is paramount."

"... I didn't even think about asking Winter how she was doing in the first draft of this either..."

"Well... why not just say the truth?" Weiss blinked as she looked back at Izuku, scratching his head sheepishly as he look around the dorm room. "You're on a team with Pyrrha Nikos and she's as skilled as people talk about. She's also... very well-mannered in private? Your teammate Nora is super strong and super reliable, and she's always full of energy and... optimistic. Me... I've got nothing..." Izuku kind of muttered to himself before shaking his head. "And even though you haven't been made leader, I come to you a lot for advice and to help me brainstorm ideas because I know you're reliable and invested as much in this team as the rest of us." Weiss blinked as he said that, a soft smile coming over her face.

"That's all very nice Izuku and I suppose it is all true enough... but it's all a little too nice don't you think?" he just shrugged as she asked that.

"Just because you have to be detailed doesn't mean you can't say nice things. They just have to be true, right?" Weiss chuckled slightly though she doesn't immediately go to reprimand or correct him.

"I suppose that makes sense in its own way..." She turned back to the letter as she prodded her pen against it, a slight frown on her face.

"And Weiss... it sounds like you and your sister are really close... or at least that you hold her in high regard. If you haven't spoken to her in a while... I dunno, I'm sure she'd like to hear about how you're doing. Pretty sure you'd like to know how she's doing too." Weiss humed slightly, sounding very slightly like she was agreeing with him, before he moved forward. "Hey think about it like this; if you put her on the spot by asking how she's doing, then you can treat her to the same feelings you're having right now, right?" At that Weiss honestly choked as she turned to him.

"Izuku! I couldn't do something just to make my sister uncomfortable! That's... that's just not how things are done." he flinched back a bit, nodding his head.

"Sorry! I guess I just don't know much about having siblings. It just seems to me that you might want to make these letters with your sister fun, rather than being another source of pressure you have to put on yourself here at Beacon." Weiss actually paused as he said that, but he took it as good a sign as any that he'd probably overstepped slightly. "A-Anyway... I think I'll go ahead and head to the library, let you have your privacy on this. Sorry for butting in..." Izuku quickly gathered up his textbooks and such, Weiss giving him a slightly distant nod as she turned back to the page in front of her.

"I'll talk to you later Izuku..." She said in a slightly distracted manner as she gave a wave. The last thing he heard before closing the door behind him was the sound of a sheet of paper being crumpled up and thrown in the trash, a new one being slid onto Weiss' desk.

* * *

"Izuku... do you have a minute?"

Izuku looked up from the library book on Aura he picked out today as he looked at his new guest. He'd spent the last couple hours here in the Beacon Library working away at his notes on Aura, trying to supplement his own experimentation with more official books and tests done on the subject in the hopes that it'd help him along with his own progress. It had been involving work, with stacks upon stacks of books lining up around him as he took in all the information he could... at some point Izuku imagined he probably started muttering to himself, if the way people sat some distance away from him was any indication.

Izuku's eyes met amber ones as Blake Belladonna stood before him, a book at her side as she looked down at his own pile.

"Oh hey Blake! I guess it'd make sense to meet you at the library. How have you been? Did you just arrive?"

"... Actually I've been here for the better part of an hour. There was this book I wanted to take notes on real quick so I thought I'd stop by to chat but... well, you looked a bit busy at the time. Figured I'd drop by and say hi before I left though."

'... Oh Gods, I was muttering again wasn't I?' He blushed a bit, the red rising on his face as he shook his head a bit.

"S-Sorry Blake, I was just a bit wrapped up in this." Blake smiled slightly as she looked through his stack of books again.

"I can tell... lots of books on Aura here. You never rest, do you Izuku?" He chuckled slightly as he scratched at the back of his head, ruffling his very messy hair as he did so.

"Yeah but... well, you know by now. I have to work harder if I'm going to catch up. That spar showed just how far behind I was... if I was faster I could've caught up to Owari before he had the chance to shift his weapon or throw down his trap... more Aura could've allowed me to tank his hit without having it pierced or having to stop the fight. There's a lot I need to improve on and Aura's just one thing... but it's an important thing." Izuku chuckled a bit as he scratched his cheek. "But I figure I've been working at it really hard this entire week... my team would probably worry if I kept this up too hard, so I'm taking a break by writing some notes."

"'Some notes' he says... only you would call this 'some notes' Izuku." Blake said with a shake of her head as she looked down at his pile of books. "Anyway, I really don't want to disturb you if you are working hard at this, so if you don't have a minute-"

"Oh no Blake, I'm fine, please, I can spare a minute." He put his writing stuff and books aside as he tried to make space for Blake, a bit of a task considering just how many books he'd pulled up to him. The black haired young woman just nodded as she took a seat once he'd cleared the way, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"First things first... I never got the opportunity to thank you Izuku." He blinked a bit as she said that, Blake setting her book to the side of the table as she brought her hands up and folded them. "It... was a bit of a shock, seeing you punch out that Giant Nevermore... but more than that was seeing you and Pyrrha run up to Tenya and say that you were there to help us. We weren't sure if help was coming or if we'd have to outrun the Nevermore ourselves... and, to be honest, while Tenya was confident, I had my doubts. To see you of all people come to help... and then seeing you destroy that thing yourself, at the cost of shattering your arm? That was... that was a sight. One that I've never said thank you for. So... thank you."

"Blake you really don't have to thank me." He smiled genuinely as he said that, his emerald eyes shining. "I mean, that's what being a Hunter's all about right? Helping people who need it, even if it doesn't involve you? I wasn't going to just let anyone who was there be hurt by that thing... and besides, I only needed to do that in the end because my plan put you guys in danger. It was my responsibility so I had to do something about it."

"That's... we agreed to your plan Izuku. It was as much on us as on you... and it wasn't a bad plan. You don't need to hold yourself down like that." Blake said somewhat firmly as she shook her head. "But that's not what I wanted to talk about... and I didn't want to just thank you." Izuku quirked an eyebrow a bit as she looked at him with those amber eyes. "Like I said, it was a surprise that I saw you come to save us... because... well... I kind of... wrote you off." Izuku flinched back a bit as she said that and he could see her 'wince' at it.

"When I first met you and saw how nervous you were... well, aside from how skittish and scared you seemed, I thought you were trying to hit on me for a start." His face went beet red as she said that but she barreled forward. "But when I realized you were just bad at talking... I didn't think you'd be passing the test. I... wrote you off as someone too scared or too skittish to really be a Hunter." She lowered her head a bit as she rested her chin on her folded hands.

"And then... you saved my partner and I. And the next day you take out a Boarbatusk in one blow... and then... you communicate these ideals of what being a Hunter means to you. How important that is... how... how much you want to save people and how you're willing to do whatever it takes to be a hero. It... it made me realize that I'd jumped to conclusions. I took one look at you and saw a nervous, scared hu... boy... and I decided that's all you were. I judged you before I even got to know you... and... that isn't fair. That isn't the ideal I want to live up to, because I know I'd hate it if someone did the same to me."

"So... I'm sorry Izuku. I shouldn't have written you off. I should've actually gotten to know who you were before I decided that you weren't worth being a Hunter... when, really, you're probably trying your best out of most people here."

"Well... you weren't wrong to think that way Blake." He saw Blake look up at him, thoroughly surprised at his statement as he just sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "We didn't know each other for more than... what, one conversation? And one conversation I spent half of stammering and stuttering at you? I'm not sure if you've noticed Blake but... I'm not the best at meeting new people... or talking to people... or not weirding people out, especially when I start going on a rant and start muttering to myself..."

"You do need to work on your people skills a bit..." Blake admitted with a slight smile, a chuckle escaping Izuku's lips as she shook her head. "Still though, I shouldn't have judged you, like I said-"

"You didn't do it maliciously, Blake." Blake blinked as Izuku, of all people, interrupted her. "It sounds to me like you were focusing on qualifying and just trying to get into Beacon like most people. I'm certainly not going to feel insulted that you were more focused on that than trying to get to know me... heck, I didn't get the opportunity to talk to everyone who was taking the test." He smiled at her, a slight nod coming from him as he did so. "I think you're being too hard on yourself Blake. Sure, we didn't start off immediately as friends, but I know without a doubt that if I'd been the one in trouble that you would've come to help me."

"You... you really don't know me that well..." Blake admitted, a slight blush on her face from the certainty Izuku spoke that last bit with. "You can't know for certain... or at least, not that for certain. I'm not exactly the heroic seeming type if you haven't noticed."

"Maybe... but nobody's what they seem like at first glance. Or at least, most people aren't. Knowing a person takes effort... and after you stood by the rest of us in that forest, took part in my plan even if it meant sticking around and risking your neck... I think that I know enough to be certain that you'd help if Pyrrha and I were the ones in yours and Tenya's position." She actually seemed a bit taken aback by that, her mouth slightly open as she blinked at him. "And... well, I appreciate that you, as that kind of person, thinks so highly of me now Blake.

"So how about this: we start from the beginning." He held out his hand as he gave her the best smile he could. "Hi, my name's Izuku Midoriya and I'm here to be the best Huntsman I can be. Nice to meet you!"

Izuku stayed there, awkwardly holding his hand out and smiling, as Blake just gaped at him for a moment. Before he withdrew back into his cocoon of awkwardness from just how silly he must have looked, Blake... chuckled.

"... I can't even ask if you're being real or not. Seeing is believing at this point with you." He saw her gently smiled back as she reached a hand forward and, with practiced grace, shook his. "Blake Belladonna... and I'm trying to be a Huntress because... I want to help people too."

He just smiled back and nodded as, slowly but surely, a new understanding was formed between the two of them. Izuku kept his focus for as long as the handshake held and maintained it even after Blake gathered up her books and departs. Once she'd out of eyesight and hearing, he immediately collapsed onto the table, blushing fiercely.

He just touched a girl's hand.

'AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!'


	19. Flash Freeze

"Beacon... SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!"

Izuku sent out another great torrent, which lead to another great rush of wind and, of course, to the excruciating feeling of bones snapping in his arm as he cried out in pain.

'I still haven't managed to get any better with One For All!' his arm still broke, even as he tried his best to keep his power together. It was a frustrating thing to have each failure in attempting to train with One For All underlined by the rush of horrific pain that came with his arm just collapsing under the strain of using One For All but... but he needed to do it. It was necessary. He had to get better at using his Semblance... he had to become stronger.

'My other arm was still recovering but... it should be alright now. Just a little smash and-'

His body stopped moving, completely outside of his ability to control it. A slight golden glow enveloped his body, almost causing him to go cross eyed.

"I've learned to recognize that look by now Mr. Midoriya. You're resting until that arm of your is 'completely' healed by your Aura. You're not going to break it again a moment before."

"But Professor, I-"

If the tone in Glynda Goodwitch's tone hadn't been enough to tell Izuku she would brook no argument from him, the look in her eyes only solidified it. It was hard to describe the look in her eye; not quite a glare but definitely 'not' a pleased expression, her brow was furrowed and there was a slight scowl on her lips as she looked him right in the eye.

"... I... was just thinking that too. Sure, let me just rest another half hour..." Glynda nodded as she readjusted her glasses with her other hand, the woman allowing him to stand and move under his own power as he released a relieved sigh. Waking up to find himself bandaged up without his teammates around had been one thing when he had trained One For All in his spare time a couple days ago... having done so and then having his professor, Glynda Goodwitch, chew him out for what a reckless idiot he had been was another thing. Everything from 'you could've been stuck in here for who knows how long before someone found you' to 'what would his team think if they found their team leader collapsed, arms pulverized, the day before class'. It wasn't pretty, it really wasn't pretty.

So it hadn't been a surprise when Glynda had pretty much declared, on the spot, that she'd be supervising his training with One For All from that day forward.

"Well, don't just stand around there, come over here so I can take a look at the damage."

It wasn't all bad, if he could admit it. He wasn't able to push himself to the degree he had before... but then maybe that was a good thing considering the state he'd left himself in. Plus Glynda was surprisingly capable as far as First Aid was concerned. Usually he had to use up the entire IDSSK in order to make sure he'd be fine for the rest of the day, but Glynda could work with less and seemingly come out with more. As she looked over Izuku's arm she frowned slightly, confirming his frustrations as she wrapped up his broken arm to help speed up the healing process.

"It's... different from last time. Worse, admittedly, but still different. It shows that you are at least having an effect on the level of damage you're taking... but you're gaining and losing it in between each punch, and you're not yet to the degree where your level of control is where it needs to be for you to use One For All without breaking yourself." He winced as Glynda said that and, also, as she tightened the bandage around him to keep the slight cuts from bleeding further, putting his arm into a sling while his Aura went to work on it.

"Yeah, I've been noticing that too... it's frustrating that I'm still not where I need to be, but I suppose that's its own kind of progress..." Indeed, when he wasn't wracked with pain and in the middle of beating himself up, it was a bit easier to take a step back and think about his progress with One For All. Forbidden from actually smashing again before his other arm finished healing he decided he'd crack his notebook open and put down some more notes on what he was learning.

"... You're taking this quite seriously. I have to admit, when I first saw you collapsing onto the floor, arms bleeding heavily and bones broken to the point I thought they may as well have been powdered, I thought you were being far more... careless about your training." He blinked as he looked up at Glynda, his emerald eyes watching as she looked over his copious amount of notes.

"Well... I need to right? Being a Huntsman... it means I'm going to be someone's hero. It means that I'm going to need to be strong to save people. If I can't even use my own Semblance to do that, then I'm not worth much to them, right? So I need to take my training seriously if I'm going to get to where I need to be." He saw that Glynda actually seemed a bit surprised as he said that, though she nodded in agreement. He turned back to his notes as he quickly finished them up, though he could 'feel' that Glynda was still watching him as he jotted his notes down.

"... Well, I suppose if I have to fix someone who's breaking themselves using One For All, I'd much rather it be because you can't control it than it being because you can't control yourself." Izuku actually blinked a bit as Glynda said that, turning his head to face her as he saw she'd been shaking her head.

"Wait, are you talking about Toshinori?" Glynda just looked down at him and nodded, while re-adjusting her glasses.

"I didn't know about One For All at the time, but Toshinori was capable of controlling it from the get go. A bit of a natural with it... but Gods, did that fact make him careless. He'd rush into these training exercises and situations that would just end up breaking his bones anyway and he'd always come to me asking to fix him back up. I'm surprised that he even had the energy leftover to do much of any other kind of training... though that's probably my own fault for tending to his wounds in the first place." Glynda couldn't help but shake her head, while Izuku's eyes grew a bit wide.

"Oh hey, does that mean that the G in Team EGNT?"

"Yes. **G** lynda or **G** oodwitch, whichever you'd prefer to use. My partner and I were teammates with Enji and Toshinori."

"Man, that is so cool! So it was you, Enji, Toshinori and... and..." He frowned, his brow furrowing as he brought his non-broken hand to his chin. After a moment's consideration, he looked back up to Glynda. "Um, who was the fourth partner on your team anyway?" He saw a faint smile crossed Glynda's lips as she shrugged.

"I suppose it isn't a surprise that you're so... uncertain, both about my having been part of the team and my partner's. I ended up going in teaching not long after graduating, wanted to help mold young minds of future generations. It took me a while to build my own reputation after that. Meanwhile my partner... well, he chose a different career path soon after graduating." Glynda sighed as she shook her head. "You haven't met him yet but his name is Naomasa Tsukauchi. He started on the Hunter track because he wanted to help people... but as I'm sure you've heard by now, Hunters were a different breed back then. More focused on the Grimm than on the increasing troubles in human settlements. The increasing tension between Faunus and human, the rising crime... the general despair. With Mountain Glen being founded and the Grimm, seemingly, pushed away Naomasa had quickly grown disheartened with his career as a Huntsman and switched. The Vale police were eager enough to accept a trained Huntsman into their ranks and Naomasa's been busy at work, rising through the ranks... now he's a detective, able to traverse the Four Kingdoms rather freely."

"Wow." He muttered as Glynda nodded in agreement, though a smile was on her lips.

"Toshinori sometimes teases him about it from time to time of course. Says that if Naomasa had just been patient and waited for him to do his work in Mountain Glenn, then he would've been able to keep being a Huntsman and fulfill his desire to help the average person. Naomasa takes it in good humor though... and, honestly, he might be an even better detective than he was a Huntsman. Certainly been a big help in a lot of ways..."

"Does he know about One For All?" Izuku asked and in response Glynda just nodded. "Does that mean Enji knows too?"

He was surprised by her reaction. After all, it was not every day that he saw Glynda Goodwitch bark out an honest to goodness laugh.

"No. No, no, no. Enji doesn't know." That ended up bringing him to his next question, one that'd been in his mind.

"So... was it really that bad between Enji and Toshinori? That he still hasn't told him about One For All? I got that it was bad at first but from the way Toshinori talked about it, I thought that things had gotten better." Glynda smiled a bit wistfully as she sighed.

"It did... from Toshinori's end." The woman sighed as she re-adjusted her glasses. "Understand this; the conflict between Toshinori and Enji was all about Ego and those two swinging around theirs. Toshinori felt spurned that he wasn't picked for the leadership position and Enji felt justified in holding Toshinori's nose in it till he got in line. Enji was a good leader... but he was a prideful man. He wouldn't broker any disobedience and did his best to bring Toshinori in through a battle of their personalities. He was capable, organized and possessed of a powerful personality... and in the end, it was those very same traits that ensured that he and Toshinori would fight and that Enji wouldn't be the one to back down..."

"The fighting stopped when Toshinori finally let go of his pride. When he tried to be the best teammate he could be and recognize that Enji was best suited for the job... heck, once Enji had Toshinori's loyalty, the two almost started to get along. Still... Enji never did let go of his pride. Of his ego. It was only satisfied by Toshinori relinquishing his. That's... that's what caused things to turn again." Glynda sighed as she finished bandaging up his arm. "When Toshinori became The Symbol of Peace... there was no out and out fighting. Toshinori had let go of that ego, of that desire for personal acclimation, that had driven him to fight against Enji... but Enji's pride was slighted. Naomasa and I, we cared that Toshinori was doing his job and was saving people. We didn't feel slighted that our choices had caused us to fall out of the public eye for a time... we were just happy with our teammate's accomplishments."

"Enji... Enji couldn't accept being shunted to the side. His pride, even to this day, remains great... so great that it's a rare thing for most of us to talk with Enji. I don't believe Toshinori's heard one word from him in years, perhaps since his injury." He watched as she shook her head at the thought. "Naomasa and I could be told about One For All because Toshinori felt we could be trusted... Enji... who knows. I want to believe my team leader's Ego isn't so great that he would take the information about One For All and abuse it... but... the man Enji is can be terrifying at times. Especially when it comes to 'usurping' Toshinori's position as the Greatest Huntsman in Remnant."

"The guy just keeps sounding more and more intense." He muttered to himself as he sweated a bit, Glynda nodding in agreement.

"He is that... but whatever else he is, he's also the second greatest Huntsman in Remnant and earned that title. A lot of people are still alive today because of Enji's endeavors. Despite how hard Enji makes it to remember that, it is worth remembering." Glynda readjusted her glasses one last time before turning on him. "Hmmm... that does raise a question. If you would not mind my asking?" He shook his head, having already taken his fill of asking her questions. "You're a very studious young man. A lot of research, a lot of facts and figures and information on Grimm, Huntsmen and Huntresses... even notes on his own Semblance and Aura. It makes me wonder something. Why Toshinori?"

Seeing the confused look on his face must've caused her to continue. "Enji has had far more successful missions than Toshinori. He's been more active, effectively saved more lives... he's done a lot in order to save a great number of people. Toshinori has saved numerous himself, I'm not discounting him... but it surprises me that a young man such as yourself would agree with the general popular notion of Toshinori as the Symbol of Peace. Pleasing, don't get me wrong, but surprising..."

"So that's why I'm curious. Why choose Toshinori's successes and model of heroism to try to follow so faithfully over Enji's?"

He bent his head down slightly as he considered that question, his thoughts gathering in his mind before he turned up to look at Glynda.

"Well... for me, it isn't about success. It's about hope." The Goodwitch raised her eyebrow at him as he said that, but he kept on ahead as he looked to explain. "I'm not saying that Enji doesn't deserve accolades. He is where he is for a reason, like you said, and I wouldn't take away the lives he's saved for anything... but his approach has always been very systematic. He deals with the problem at hand, maybe gives out a press statement, and then leaves without much fuss, always looking for the next assignment. Toshinori though, he actively stays and rallies the people."

"It's true that Enji has more successes, but Toshinori lacks in that department because he stays in a location he helps for a lot longer. He helps with rebuilding and rescue efforts, helps clear out remaining Grimm so that people can relocate if their homes have been destroyed and actively does his best to help organize better patrols for when he's not around anymore. Grimm attacks fall dramatically wherever Toshinori goes compared to Enji, and that isn't an accident. The Grimm are drawn to people's negative emotions, it's what brings them in and what nurtures them... but places Toshinori goes just don't have those negative emotions in spades anymore. He might spend more time in one place, might do 'less' overall... but the hope Toshinori is able to inspire in the people by staying, by being their hero for more than just the moment he's there to save the day... it stops the Grimm from coming in force for a long, long time."

"If it was all about the numbers then sure, Enji's approach would be preferable... but it isn't just numbers we're dealing with. It's people. People who might lose hope for a better future, who might end up believing that, after a Grimm attack, that it's their fate to suffer through more. That's why I find Toshinori's approach so much more inspiring. Because he gives people a hope for a better future by staying and by being a the Symbol of a Peaceful future. That's... that's what I want to do. That's what I want to be for people too."

"... I have to hand it to you, Mr. Midoriya. You've given this a lot of thought." Glynda spoke in an approving manner as she re-adjusted her glasses. "Now then... I do believe we still have some time booked for this room... it looks to me that your other arm is in good condition again. If you're dead set on breaking it and having it fixed before we leave, I suggest you do so." He jumped slightly as Glynda said that, quickly running into the open space of the arena to get ready for another smash.

He didn't miss the nostalgic look on Glynda's face as he turned though.

* * *

"Alright, let's try it one more time! FLASH FREEZE!"

Weiss sighed as she quickly brought up her rapier, with a few gestures and a few flicks she began producing a small, swirling storm of ice and snow around the tip of her rapier. Nora Valkyrie grinned as she, at that moment, finished reloading Magnhild. As a full charge of Dust escaped Myrtenaster's loading chambers, Weiss then directed that Dust into two of Nora's grenades, causing them to seemingly freeze over. Nora took aim and, with a wide smile, pumped out the two shots, the grenades flying off towards two Atlesian Knights that had been set up as practice dummies. Nora's Dust Grenades were, ordinarily, interesting enough to look at; a rather powerful explosion acting as the core that would boom out as normal, an enticing sight for many already, that would then be surrounded by a charged cloud of electricity that danced around the area of explosion.

Flash Freeze, however, made that explosion even 'more' intense. Following the blast of lighting that would fly out thanks to the Lightning Dust charges at the core of Nora's grenades would be a small storm of snow that would surround the explosion, the group knowing by now that that outer shell betrayed a practical blizzard of Ice Dust on the inside of the explosion. The group waited for the air to clear and, finally, there were three smiles and one somewhat satisfied nod as the four looked upon the two Atlesian Knights; not only battered and sparking from Nora's base explosions but now utterly covered from head to toe in a layer of ice. Izuku walked up and experimentally punched one of the Atlesian Knights in the chest, the chest plate of the machine cracking under the pressure of the punch whereas, normally, it would bend or even rebuff his own fist.

"Alright! Flash Freeze is ready to go!" Nora declared as she popped Magnhild open again to reload it, Pyrrha clapping her hands slightly as she smile at the team's effort. Weiss just shook her head slightly as she looked at the scene.

"Don't you guys think this is kind of overkill? I mean, Nora's grenades along may very well be enough to destroy a whole group of Grimm, especially if she fires all of them out at once. Adding this effect on top just seems... I dunno, wasteful?" Izuku looked back over at Weiss as she spoke.

"I understand what you mean Weiss but think of it like this; things 'can' avoid Nora's grenades if they move away quick enough. The pure damage they can put out won't exactly be great the further off they get from one of her explosions. By adding this effect on top of it we can at least guarantee that Nora and I might be able to contribute more to a fight if her initial volley ends up not softening an enemy up enough."

"Besides! It looks so cool!" Nora declared pridefully as she placed Magnhild back on her back, Nora just nodding as she looked over at Weiss.

"It is a good way to ensure that our foes are debilitated at the state of a fight, even if they manage to avoid the bulk of the volley." Weiss sighed as she places her hand on her forehead.

"Fine, fine... I really don't see how this could come into use though."

* * *

"Alright, Team MNVW, are you all ready?" Each of them nodded their heads as Toshinori gave them all his signature smile, a small remote held in his hand. "In that case... BEGIN!" In the same instant that Toshinori pressed the button in hand to activate the Atlesian Knights he had disappeared in a flash of movement as they all turned their attention to the six droids in front of them. The droids remained still for but a moment until a red glow began to shine from their faces, their bodies immediately beginning to move as they fell into stances and positions more familiar, more human. They were still grouped up though... and that was where Izuku planned to soften them up.

"Weiss, Nora! FLASH FREEZE!" With a wordless nod the two immediately got to work, Weiss worked her 'magic' with her Dust and Nora presented the chamber of her grenade launcher to Weiss. Pyrrha hung back, waiting for the transaction to take place while Izuku just watched as the Atlesian Knights prepared to move. The Knights wielding pistols and knives shifted their knives into their dominant hands, the shotgun wielding members of the bunch readying their aim as they pointed at the team. Izuku bit his lip, hoping that Weiss and Nora would make good time. The telltale sign of Weiss' approving grunt followed by Nora's manic giggle told he that, why yes, they were both ready to go.

"EAT THIS!" Nora declared with a woop as she slammed the chamber of Magnhild shut, pointing the weapon right at the group of Atlesian Knights. With a series of quick 'pops' the grenades were all launched from Magnhild's chambers at once, the 'head' of the grenade launcher having opened up to allow the insane maneuver. his emerald eyes traced the grenades down as they approach the Atlesian Knights, two clearly having quickly caught on and done their best to get out of the way...

 **KA-BOOM!**

"AAAAAH! HOLY CRAP, WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" Yang's voice called out over the sound of the explosion as, he assumed, they were the only ones who covered their eyes in preparation for the explosion. Indeed, one of these explosions going off at once could be pretty intense, he'd learned that from experience, but all six going off at once? Even closed and with his arm shielding them his eyes still saw the sharp flash of light from beyond his lids. Even if they couldn't, his ringing ears told him that it was one 'big' explosion.

The sound of a shotgun going off and Nora grunting was what alerted him to the fact that the fight was still very much at hand. He slide his hand away, eyes blinking slightly as he looked at the clearing smoke and the last flashes of electricity. Four of the Atlesian Knights remained standing, three covered from head to toe in frost. While it may not have looked back, he knew from seeing it firsthand that flash freezing the droids in a blast of Ice Dust like that would have severe effects on them... and hopefully other enemies. The one knife wielding Knight that had been at the dead center of the group was turned into little more than a pile of blasted parts and the sword droid had fallen to the ground, inactive. One shotgun wielding droid had fired off at Nora and he could tell by looking that 'a lot' of bullets had nailed her head on. He and Pyrrha grimaced as they both rushed in, him rearing his fist back and Pyrrha pulling her blade back, as they both went in on the last standing Knight wielding a shotgun, looking to deny it a chance to do the same.

Izuku's blow landed true and the blast that followed absolutely 'shredded' the chest armor of the Atlesian Knight, the metal shattering thanks to the Ice Dust having made it so brittle. Pyrrha's sword cut in quick and deep as well, causing further damage. While the droid didn't drop immediately it soon did, its red lights dimming as it fell backwards, barely recognizable as an Atlesian Knight after all the harm it took. The two knife wielding Knights immediately charged for him and Pyrrha. His partner easily blocked a stab with her shield while he ended up taking a knife to the gut... only to find that his Aura pretty much bounced it off, leaving him unharmed.

"Everyone, once Weiss charges Nora, you guys know the plan! Weiss, Pyrrha, you'll handle the pursuit and Nora and I will clean up here and follow you soon after." Pyrrha and Weiss nodded, immediately going to work. Pyrrha took one last parting shot at the Knight in front of her, slicing clean across its chest. She frowned as the sparks produced by the hit don't send it falling immediately but she quickly fell back and away. Weiss, meanwhile, began to take time to produce a small spark of lightning at her finger-tips and the tip of her rapier, channeling the Dust carefully as she tried to-

 **ZZAAAP!**

"Agh!" Weiss snapped back as the collection of Dust suddenly went up, very nearly in her face, as her hair lifted up under the force of the electric shock, a frown on her face. She didn't move, however, intent to see the plan through. Nora, however, seemed to lack the patience to wait for Weiss as she immediately ran up to the shotgun wielding Knight and took a swing at it. While her aim was true the speed of the Knight ended up being a bit much at the moment as it dodged back. Izuku delivered a blow into the chest of the Knight in front of him; the shotgun blast tearing more of its circuits and metal plating apart. Pyrrha's previous opponent fell, the additional stress on its systems too much, but the heavily damaged one before him just kept on keeping on, attempting to stab him to no avail; as he slapped the knife away before it could get close.

The shotgun wielding Knight in front of Nora stood in place as it leveled a shot at her... but the shotgun misfires before it could aim true and the force of the recoil sent it flying from the machine's hands. leaving it unarmed in front of Nora. It was a bit of a sight to see the normally bubbly orange-haired girl roar out as she lifted her hammer and swung twice in rapid succession without needing to stop... it reminded him of how powerful the young woman was.

The fact that she caved in the head of the Shotgun Knight, or nearly did so, as it collapsed to the ground inactive only reaffirmed that impression. Weiss and Pyrrha, for their part, didn't break off into a further run... the two seemed to be watching and waiting, almost as if in disbelief. Izuku himself delivered another punch to his opponent, one that produced a great deal of sparks in its chest... sparks that eventually burned bright before dimming, along with the red visor of the Atlesian Knight. Heavily damaged, but not destroyed, it fell to the ground, inactive...

They all blinked as they realized that, in a matter of seconds, they all ended up destroying all six of those Knights, leaving all four of them freed up to go on the chase...

"So uh... how we gonna be chasing down these last four Knights, Fearless Leader?"

"Alright so here's the plan! Pyrrha and I will break off and start running toward the general direction of the exit to look for these things. If we find a group bigger than one, we'll call you guys for help. Otherwise, we'll handle it one on one and let you guys pick off the rest." Everyone nodded in understanding before Izuku turned to Weiss. "Find and guard the exit! If you see any of them approaching with the package beforehand, do your best to distract them and send us a signal of your location on our Scrolls, alright?"

"Simple enough." Weiss declared with a nod as she quickly bolted off in the direction of the exit. He watched as Weiss hopped up into the air, moving her hands around and flicking her rapier as a handful of Solid Glyphs formed platforms to help her climb up to the higher ledges and buildings of the campus.

"Nora, follow Weiss but fall back to the area 'around' the exit. If she needs help, you go to her first and foremost. If you need help, call us on your Scroll. We don't really have time for you to reload just now but-"

"Hardly a problem Fearless Leader. If I do come across any I'll just Smash 'em!" With that Nora grinned nice and wide as she turned to follow Weiss. As they ran off he turned to give Pyrrha a nod, one the red head readily returned, as the two sprinted off.

He was on their trails almost as soon as they all sped off, spotting plenty of signs. They weren't being careful; they'd just charged through the various paths of Beacon's campus trying to get to the exit. He could hear their metal feet pounding cement in the near distance and he could see signs of where they'd had to make quick cuts around corners, leaving scrapes on the ground or toppling over stuff that had been left behind by various students or professors. For right now, finding his first bit of prey wasn't the problem... and catching up didn't remain a problem for long either. Drawing upon the well of strength he'd built up inside of him, pushing his body as far and as fast as it could go, he managed to quickly gain ground. He jumped over small obstacles and quickly dug his heels in to speed around corners as he singled in on one potential enemy out of all of those Knights.

As he rounded a corner and into a more thin alley between some buildings on Beacon's campus he spotted the tell-tale red glow of one of the Atlesian Knight's face plates as it looked for a corner to turn off on to lose him. Izuku quickly cocked his shotguns as he prepared for a fight and the noise drew the Knight's attention to him...

The Knight's glowing face seems to take him in for a hot second, as if analyzing that there was only 'one' foe there. As it realized that the Knight pulled out a bastard sword and, swinging it around a few times, immediately moved in for him.

He was a bit surprised when it was the Atlesian Knight that met him in combat first, it's bastard sword raised above its head as it seemed ready to try and cleave into him. His shock was only momentary however as he quickly raised his gauntlets up and bashed the blade away, leaving him pretty much free and clear. He grunted as he reared a fist back, feeling the shotgun in his gauntlet cock with the motion before he punched forward. Again he knew his fist itself wasn't doing that much damage here but he just watched as the shotgun roared to life, blasting into the chest of the Atlesian Knight and tearing chunks of its armor apart. 'Say what you want, that Gravity Dust was a good investment.' However, now in such close range with the Knight, it seemed ready to just go ham.

It raised its blade again and brought it down into him and, that time, he couldn't quite parry as the blade caught him on the shoulder and sliced down. His Aura absorbed the attack and he could feel it weaken, so he wasn't too put off... until the Knight quickly brought its blade back around, catching him across the gut. He felt the sting of his Aura being pressured again, grunting as the sheer force of its assault fell upon him. He knew that was a lot of damage but, grimacing, he just went back on the offensive. The machine seemed slightly off its footing when he reared his fist back as it, again, couldn't quite move out of his way as you plowed his gauntlet into its side. The shotgun roared to life as a shower of sparks flew from the side of the Atlesian Knight.

The Knight stumbled and even nearly fell, the red lights of its face, flickering, but it seemed to hold itself together as it mechanically re-adjusted its grip on its blade. Again, the bastard sword was brought against him, the machine swinging twice as it sought to rend him. He managed to catch the blade by its face and push it away, expecting that to be that... but that expectation was what ended up costing him.

"AAAH!" He felt the blade sink into flesh as it sliced clean through his Aura, a trickle of blood following its trail as he realized that he'd been pierced. The wound was shallow, very shallow, nothing a little time and Aura wouldn't be able to patch up if he had the time, but he realized that he'd very nearly been beaten, already. He grinded his teeth together as he looked up to face his opponent who still glared down at him. Piercing his Aura must've spared him being recognized as 'in the red' as it still seemed ready for a fight as it brought its sword back.

Izuku roared out in anger as he reared a fist back and sent it flying forth, the Atlesian Knight too damaged to dodge his blow at all. With an explosion of sparks the core of the Atlesian Knight went up in flame as his Gravity Dust Rounds just tore through its systems all the way to the back. Its red lights shimmered and then died out as it fell onto its back, its blade clattering off to the side.

He resisted the urge to collapse onto his knees and take deep, wheezing breathes. He needed to get back out and start looking for the next few Knights. Even if he couldn't engage, he could at least signal his team as to where they were so they could converge. So it was with only a slight wince of pain that he stood up and proceeded to run forward, ready for another sprint and ready for another fight.

He was gasping for breath as he sprint as fast as he could through Beacon's Campus. As he forced himself forward he heard the sounds of combat; someone had made contact with the enemy. He bit his lip slightly as he charged on ahead, ready to assist whatever teammate of his had fallen into combat...

He immediately sighed in relief when he watched as Nora wrenched Magnhild from the head of one of the Atlesian Knights, a wide smile on her face as she turned to address him. "Hey there Fearless Leader... ooh, you're looking a little rough... and bleedy..." Nora walked over as she reached into her skirt to pull out a quick roll of bandages, something that Professor Peach had instructed them all to do ever since their first week in that class. Good for binding up bleeding injuries so they don't get worse. "Don't tell me you started running while you were gushin' blood like that?"

"It's just a flesh wound, I'm not really that bad o-OUCH!" Nora prodded his chest wound slightly as he tried to write it off, the orange haired young woman just sticking her tongue out at him as she quickly wrapped the bandages around his chest.

"Honestly, I know you're Fearless there Izuku, but you should at least bind up your own wounds when you're in this kind of a spot."

She threw her arms forward, and with a few quick, though powerful, flicks of her wrist, the bandages began to flow around him. It was almost a bit amazing how quickly the bandages fell over him. Though, perhaps it would have been better had Nora been a bit more careful in her placement, as by the end, the bandages basically ended up just draped around him.

"... Unless you mess it up like this. Then... you know, then you... ahem..." Nora's cheeks turned a bit red as she scratched one of them.

"... Still, you're right Nora. Sorry, I guess this test has me a bit in a rush..." He quickly set his own sights on fixing up his bandages... only to wind up with them wrapped around his arms and his chest, effectively binding them. "... How?"

"Hahahahahahaha!" Nora just howled with laughter as she patted him on the back, nearly bowling him forward as she wiped a tear from her eye. "Looks like we need more lessons there Izuku... but that'll have to wait. We should probably get back to running now." He nodded in agreement as he, awkwardly, forced his way out of the bandages and got to running with Nora. Despite his efforts though it wasn't long before the bell rang out loud enough for all of them to hear. Soon after, Pyrrha sent them all a signal on their Scrolls, giving them her exact location.

When he and Nora arrived he did so in time with Weiss and saw... oh... oh jeez...

"Thank you all for saving me!"

Toshinori stood, his hands bound but giving them all a thumbs up, as he and Pyrrha stood next to a nearby Atlesian Knight, cut into pieces by Pyrrha's weapons no doubt. Izuku palmed his face, not wanting to look Toshinori in the eye even as he gave them all his signature smile.

"You all did extremely well today. Although I will be having to take some points off of your performance." They all arched their eyebrows as Toshinori said that, the giant of a man turning to look at Pyrrha who, at that very moment, had her face in her hands... though her face was just as red as her hair. "After all, I doubt a civilian would take getting stabbed in the chest with a sword as well as I did."

"Pyrrha!" Weiss cried out, shocked, as Izuku choked slightly from the announcement. Nora just laughed and laughed as she wrapped her arms around her midsection and Pyrrha just shook her head.

"I'm sorry!" She called out from behind her hands as she just kept shaking her head, Toshinori by that point just letting out that booming laughter of his.

"Still, very good, all of you! You faced tough odds and, even with a lucky break, managed to come up with a plan that allowed you to overcome those odds! Your performances were each very good." Before any of them could ask they watched as Toshinori fished around his pockets with his bound hands to pull out a Scroll, the screen of which showed various videos from various vantage points of all of their work. "A slight hiccup at the end doesn't discredit all the hard work you all put into facing this task. Well done." They all nodded as Toshinori quickly dismissed all of them. As they all walked back, however, Izuku noticed that Toshinori hung back with him, his hands drawing Izuku's attention to him.

"... Next time we train, I'd like to talk to you about something." He blinked as he whispered that but nodded, the Symbol of Peace just continuing to smile as he finally strode forward.

Still, it felt good to win that with his team.

* * *

 **E/N: This chapter made me really glad I'm not the only one editing this. At the start of the chapter I had somehow managed to not put in the first half of the interaction with Glynda. Everything before Izuku starts babbling about how "That's so cool" was just missing. Which made it read really abrupt, unless like me you knew that Glynda supervises Izuku's OFA training, in which case everything seemed to check out. Until pointed out this is the scene where that gets established for you guys. So yea props to Wind for catching that.**

 **-Shovern**


	20. The Hornet's Nest

Izuku'd been fooling around with the idea for a while.

Every now and then a stray thought would cross his mind. 'Will channeling One For All into my lungs allow me to blow out strong gusts of wind? Would channeling it into my heart let me pump blood faster and boost my performance? What about my mind? Wasn't it also technically a muscle? However, understanding just how badly my body handled One For All has dissuaded me from really ever trying any of these out. After all, if what happened to my arm happened to my lungs, my heart or my brain I don't really suppose that I'd be making it out of that situation alive.'

Izuku had already guessed what would happen to him if he tried to channel One For All into his legs. It was a simple enough transfer. However... thinking of those other ways of channeling One For All, he realized that he'd been so far limiting himself. Yes, channeling One For All into an entire limb would let him pull off feats of strength similar to Toshinori's. His punch against the Giant Nevermore showed that. However, one question that remained steadfast on his mind was... did it only have to be limbs? Did he have to blow his entire arm on a shot with One For All, or could he limit the blow back somehow? Maybe by limiting where he channeled One For All to?

"SMAAAAAAAAAASH!"

As he screamed in pain following his smash, that was the question he was trying to answer. He reached down and grabbed at the middle of his forearm, the bruising having gone all the way up to the middle that time. He sweated and bit at his lip as he worked himself through the pain, Glynda already to start patching him up.

"It looks like your theory is sound, at least." Glynda said aloud as she immediately moved to begin bandaging the broken parts of his arm. Indeed, his entire arm hadn't been broken with that smash. Rather than going so close to his shoulder, that one drifted down to his forearm and was at its worst the closer it was to his fingers. He had something there, he knew he did... but there was something he was missing. Some piece that he didn't quite have a handle on yet.

It was that, after Glynda finishes treating his wounds, that got him to stand back up and get ready with his other arm. If Izuku could limit the damage One For All did to him in a blow, even if that blow would be weaker than a typical Smash... it gave him options. It gave him a way that he could use his Semblance in a situation where it was needed that 'wouldn't leave him completely helpless. He couldn't do much with One For All just yet, not with how little control he had...

However, he'd use what little he could control to the best of his ability. That was just how it was going to be.

* * *

Izuku tapped his foot slightly as he swayed in place, back and forth, as he waited for Toshinori to show up. It was actually a bit weird; Toshinori had been pretty good about showing up on time for stuff like that, so much so that he was generally there before Izuku was. Still, it's not like he minded; Toshinori was a busy guy and the fact that he was running a little late for once wasn't anything he could hold against him, given his previous good track record.

So he decided he'd just wait for Toshinori to show up...

* * *

'What am I doing here?'

Her name was Blake Belladonna. Former White Fang, Daughter of Ghira Belladonna, yes, 'that' Ghira Belladonna, and... and what was she doing here?

She sighed as the thought crossed her mind, scratching at the back of her head as she kept hidden in her little spot a ways down the hallway from where Izuku was currently standing. She realized that from an outsider's perspective, she looked completely ridiculous. She was currently hanging out far away enough from Izuku to, hopefully, keep him from noticing her and yet close enough that between her hearing and her eyes that she would be able to keep a good eye and ear on whatever he was muttering to himself or getting up to.

To anyone who knew her, but didn't know her secret, it'd just look like she was just following Izuku for whatever reason. Maybe trying to pick up on the secret of his Semblance or what he'd been doing on his own time away from his team, but whatever the case, it'd look ridiculous. After all if she really wanted to know anything, she could have just asked Izuku Midoriya right? Not like the guy wasn't open about talking to people... when he wasn't stiff as a board from his nerves.

But if anyone knew her secret then they'd get a better idea of what she was there for... and reminding herself of that got her to shake her head.

'Right. I'm currently stalking someone who considers me a friend and that, yeah, I thought was a good person over all so that I can get blackmail on him. Because I, being the 'idiot' that I am, blurted my secret out at him because I thought he'd pieced it together.'

Honestly, she was kind of surprised; literally everyone else seemed to have bought into her disguise hook, line and sinker. No one knew she was a Faunus, not even her Faunus teammate Tsu. Seriously, it was almost bewildering how well that had gone over.

It would've been literally everyone too if she hadn't slipped up with Izuku. Now he knew and she wasn't in much of a position to allow him to keep knowing. People finding out she was a Faunus was just one itsy bitsy step away from them figuring out she was part of The White Fang. She couldn't have that get out. She couldn't let people know about the sort of things she'd done or what she was a part of. She was here at Beacon very specifically to get away from that life and to try to start one as a Huntress. She couldn't afford to let one little slip up get her involved in a whole world of trouble with Beacon's staff or the students.

She wasn't a criminal anymore. She'd gotten past that life, she'd had a chance to truly be a better person. If her past got out... she'd have that new life ruined. So no matter what, Blake could not allow for her redemption to be ruined.

So she needed blackmail on Izuku.

If she had been taught anything from her time in the White Fang, it was that at times you just needed the right leverage to get yourself from over the barrel. Once she found his secret, she would be in a position to threaten him to silence if he ever even thought of revealing her secret. Now...all she needed was to find the dirt on her classmate.

It hadn't been going great.

She couldn't stalk him twenty four hours a day of course. She had her own team that she was responsible for training with and a partner who would probably notice, sooner or later, that she was slipping off if she did it too often. She had to be there with... Team TABY, seriously she still couldn't believe of all the names... anyway. She wanted to be there for them too. So that stopped her from doing it as much as she would've wanted given the seriousness of the situation. Then there was the fact that sometimes... Izuku was just involved in very innocuous stuff. One of the times she'd caught him was him working with his team on their combo attack that they used a couple days ago, Flash Freeze. It certainly hit hard and... well, while it was clear Izuku wasn't as much of a natural leader as Tenya, it was plain to see why Ozpin might've picked him.

'Say what you will about his nervousness, when somebody gives Izuku a task to work on and a purpose, he will get stuff done and Flash Freeze... well, I've see its results first hand.'

Before that she'd come across him in the library. Honestly, that was meant to be the first time she'd stalk him but... well, when he just sat down to study Aura, she pretty much figured that'd be that... and besides, even if she was trying to figure out one of his secrets, she did still have something on her mind. Something she'd wanted to talk to him about...

Their little conversation had made it hard to keep it up because it again showed just how much of a strange person Izuku was. Not in a horrible way, mind. Just strange in the way that he carried himself and his dream. The guy was genuine about wanting to be a hero and wanting to help people... and he was genuine about just wanting to be friends with folks. About seeing the best in them.

He honestly thought she would come to help him if he were in the same kind of danger she had been in... honestly, she didn't know for certain if she would. She'd want to, of course, she'd want to help people... but she didn't exactly fool herself into thinking that she wouldn't be terrified. Would terror and hesitation overwhelm her morality?

Izuku didn't seem to think it would.

Which of course made continuing with her plan all the harder but... well, hey, if she could just get one secret then it'd all be fine, right?

Which brought her to these past couple days... to call what she'd stumbled upon interesting... well, that may or may not be overstating it, depending on what was happening. She'd snuck up on Izuku when he was quietly trying to make his way to that area of the school. Now, she knew for a fact that that part of the school was pretty much where the staff did their training. They'd made that much clear in pamphlets and the general rules of the school. Students, while they weren't expressly forbidden from being back here, generally didn't have much of a purpose.

So when she watched as Glynda Goodwitch came around, opened up one of the arenas and followed Izuku in, she thought she had something juicy.

And she did...

Just not with something she had a mind to being reminded of again.

" _SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!_ "

It... was a disquieting thing. Sitting for a couple hours, or more, listening as someone shattered the bones in their arms again and again, crying out in horrible pain again and again and then listening as they tried to rationalize the results, spoke about how they'd improve on not breaking their arms every time they used their Semblance. Around when it was time for her to slip off before Izuku and Glynda noticed her, she had phantom pains in her own arms.

She'd seen the results first hand. She didn't have to 'imagine' what was going on just beyond the door. She'd seen the force of the blow as Izuku Midoriya one-punched a Giant Nevermore into non-existence. She'd seen the end results too; an arm shattered, ropy and bruised nearly up to the shoulder form the blow back from the punch. It... made sense why that was happening there and under Glynda's supervision. In the normal student arena, those... 'Smashes' would potentially devastate the much smaller arenas meant for the students. Having a teacher on hand nearby was smart too; it obviously kept Izuku from doing too much at once, from hurting himself while he tried to gain control over his Semblance.

It was weird for a teacher to go out of their way to help a student in such a personal manner... then again she supposed it was weird for a student's Semblance to actually 'actively hurt them' whenever they used it, especially if that wasn't part of the Semblance's design. Sure, Yang's Semblance required that she take some hits, but that was part of the balance of it all. If Yang got hurt, she could throw that hurt right back into an opponent's face and more to boot. It was an exchange that worked in Yang's favor.

From the way Izuku spoke about his Semblance... breaking his entire arm wasn't supposed to happen. Heck, not even Yang's Semblance required that she pretty much maim herself in order for it to work.

So as she found Izuku standing outside of the teacher's arena again, kicking his feet around as he waited, she sighed. If that was going to be another moment of him breaking his arm with his Semblance in order to try to get better with it, she didn't think she needed to stick around. Honestly, at that point, she was just sticking her neck out. She knew what was going down so why stick around where someone could possible find-

"I AM HERE!"

"AH!"

Blake nearly jumped out of her skin as she swung around on the spot, turning to face the sudden voice behind her. Her amber eyes went wide and her heart very nearly stopped as she caught sight of who it was, exactly, that'd found her.

Toshinori Yagi. The Symbol of Peace and Hope. A man who, scant months ago, was on her 'if you see him, RUN' list. A man she had considered closer to an enemy than a teacher at the time as well.

"Ah, ah, ah, Mr. Yagi, I mean, Toshinori, sir!" She saw his smile grow as she remembered that he preferred to be called by his first name, sheer panic on her face as those eyes of his looked down at her. "I'm terribly sorry for getting in your way sir, I'll just, I was just, I'm gonna go ahead and-"

"AH, HA HA HA HA!" That laugh of his again as he just shook his head. "Worry not Miss Belladonna, you didn't get in my way. I was just on my way here because young Midoriya has asked me to oversee some personal training for him. Well, I couldn't very well stand aside and let a student's request fall through the floor like that. So I informed him to come meet mere here so that we could do this training in an environment more suited to my own... style of training." She shivered slightly as he said that last part. She could only imagine what someone like Toshinori Yagi did for training.

"O-Oh! O-Of course!" It was simple enough, she supposed, and it did sound like Izuku." W-Well sir, don't let me stand in your way. I-I-I'll just go ahead and-"

"Not so fast Miss Belladonna. I think you and I need to have a word..." She froze in her tracks as Toshinori spoke up, swallowing a lump in her throat as she saw him arch his eyebrow. "Now, I'll admit, I'm an old man Miss Belladonna-"

"You aren't that old Toshinori..." She mumbled slightly, hoping that a little brown nosing might get her out of the trouble she was about to be in. Like she said, she knew how it looked... and by the Gods it'd look even worse to a teacher.

What's more, even worse to a Huntsman like Toshinori Yagi.

"AH, HA HA HA HA! Thank you, but at any rate, I've been out of the youth culture for some time now, so I don't quite understand how stuff like this is supposed to work." She... stopped being nervous and just started being confused. "Back in my day, you didn't stalk someone of interest to you. You just walked up and asked them what you wanted to know... or I guess for you all, what you feel like you 'need' to know." She... tilted her head to the side a bit. Was he... just saying to go up and ask Izuku what she was curious about. How did he even have an idea about what she was curious about.

"I'll say this Miss Belladonna, that you don't have nearly as much to worry about as you think you do." Seriously, how did he know? He couldn't be 'that' good, even if he was the Symbol of Peace.

"After all, Young Midoriya was quite flustered and worried not too long ago too. He asked... a close friend of mine about advice. While he said it wasn't advice about stuff like this, he did say that he was worried he made a bad first impression on you and messed up." Yeah, the two had talked about that, but she didn't know that Izuku had gone asking for others advice on talking to people like-

"He was quite intent on figuring out what he could do better about talking to girls, even if he later insisted that it wasn't for these reasons." -right, talking to girls like...

'Oh.'

'Oh no.'

'Ooooh nooooo.'

"T-Toshinori, sir, it isn't like that! I'm not-"

"Now Miss Belladonna, like I said, I may be old but you tell me; what else would I think walking up on this situation?"

... Crap.

Her mind immediately went back to Ninjas of Love. A young woman stalking a young man, just watching him without him noticing...

Yes, she supposed it would look like 'that' to anyone who had seen her stalking Izuku for any amount of time.

"Now like I said, if you're nervous and trying to figure out how young Mr. Midoriya might feel, then I assure you that it's quite alright! You just need to go up there and be blunt!"

If she hadn't had her own talk with Izuku about that last week, she'd be pretty sure she'd be freaking out right about now. Izuku made it pretty clear that it wasn't about 'that'... or at least, she really thought he didn't... unless he was better at hiding his emotions than she thought.

Nah, it was Izuku, the guy wore his heart on his sleeve. Still...

"Sir, please! I assure you it isn't like that!"

"Oh? Then tell me Miss Belladonna, for what other reason might a young woman such as yourself be doing stalking a young man like Mr. Midoriya here in these halls?" It's clear he wasn't accusing her of anything. It was clear that he just thought he had her cornered.

God, she was completely mortified. She could feel the red on her face...

...

'OH NO!'

Hearing Toshinori laugh again confirmed that he was of the same mind as she was, seeing her blush in embarrassment. Okay, so she was stuck in a corner... what the Hell did she do here to get herself out of this?

'Okay, okay, okay.'

'Let's consider your options.'

First things first, there was always the option of just telling the truth and getting it out there. She really thought about that option... on the one hand, it was just the truth. She could tell Toshinori the truth and then she didn't 'have' to keep dealing with it. All the lies, all the sneaking around. It would just be out there and could be dealt with…

On the other hand, she'd be exposed as looking to blackmail another student because she thought he knew some secret of hers. Then would come the question of what that secret was and why she's keeping it and why it was so important that she felt the need to blackmail a student and potentially get kicked out of Beacon for. I mean, what sort of secret could drive an otherwise well-behaved and talented student to such illegal ends.

What other illegal ends might she have pursued if that came so easily to her?

What would be even worse would be if they actually got her secret out of her. She'd already played out how that little game would roll in her head.

No thank you.

So then her other options came down to; lie by just blatantly lying, lie by playing along and lie by... running away. She didn't think she could run away from Toshinori though. As fast as she was and as stealthy as she could be, he was the greatest Huntsmen in the world and she'd seen, first hand, some of his speed. The guy probably wouldn't be all that thrown by her initial use of a clone either, so he'd probably just end up following her, catching her and then... who knows, maybe he'd drag her in front of Izuku and try to prod her into 'admitting' her 'real feelings'.

So that wasn't an option... and she really wasn't sure she could make up a lie that'd be good enough to convince Toshinori that was actually her intent. Either he'd see through her lie and think she was just trying to hide her feelings... ooor he'd see through her lie and realize that she'd been hiding something a little more detrimental than a school crush.

She resisted the urge to place her face into her hands and groan. She really didn't want to do it, she really didn't to give Toshinori those sorts of ideas... but it was her best option.

God even thinking that felt awkward. She really hoped she wouldn't have to talk to Izuku for a while after that.

"Y-Yeah... you're right Toshinori, sir." She did her best to sound embarrassed which, given the circumstances, was quite easy as she did feel a mortified blush come to her cheeks. "I... I kind of do maybe have a crush on Izuku... but it's really... silly. I mean, I don't know much about him and I only have these feelings..." She tried to keep herself from choking on her own words as she spoke.

'Ninjas of Love don't fail me now.'

"... So I wanted to know if there was more to an attraction to him than just him saving my life in the forest. I was too embarrassed to just walk up and talk to him though so..."

'Gods, please take the bait, please don't make this for nothing, 'please' don't say you just coughed that up only for Toshinori to just see right-'

"AAAH, HA HA HA HAAA!" She almost sighed in relief as Toshinori laughed again, patting her on the back. "Fear not little miss, I understand more clearly now. I've seen more than my fair share of young women swoon at the sight of a Huntsman who had saved their lives. I understand your concerns as well and, in fact, I find it admirable that rather than throw yourself into something unknown you've decided to verify if Young Midoriya would be a person of interest to you."

'Gods above, thank you. Thank you so much. I promise I'll start going back to church... next week. I have some books I want to read this weekend.'

"Still, I would have to advise that you not take this indirect approach. Instead of stalking a young man to learn things about him, you really should just walk up and talk to him. I know with these emotions and hormones-" ... Wait, was that the talk? She'd actually left home before her dad could give her the talk...

Oh Gods, that was the talk wasn't it?!

"T-T-Toshinori, sir, I-I understand! It's just, well, it's so nerve wracking and I-"

"Understand completely, good. Then how's about you and I walk over there and-"

"NO!" She shouted out, though she immediately slap her hands over her mouth and duck around the corner as Izuku turned his head to look in her direction. Thankfully it seemed like he missed her and she sighed in relief before turning to Toshinori. "Please sir... I'm really not comfortable with... this with an adult around. I'd like to do this on my own... I promise I'll... be more... proactive..." Her face was getting more and more red but she just had to get through it last bit and 'hopefully' she'd be off free. "But I want to do it on my own and at my own pace, please?"

She saw Toshinori paused as he rested his fingers on his chin, nodding carefully at her words. Finally she saw his smile widen as he gave her a bit of a salute.

"I understand completely Miss Belladonna! Very well, I shall honor your request... but do make haste. You never know when another young woman might sweep in and steel Young Midoriya's heart. Time and love wait for no one, Miss Belladonna." She was stuck between groaning in embarrassment and sighing in relief.

"Yes, right, absolutely, well I'll see you later Toshinori, sir!"

"And don't worry young Miss! I won't leave you entirely in the dust! I'll be sure to ask Young Midoriya some things for you!"

"PLEASE DON'T!"

With that she quickly departed, running around the far larger Huntsman as she sought to get distance between herself and that spot. Between Izuku training his semblance and now Toshinori, she didn't think she'd be coming back to that area to stalk Izuku again. She'd find other spots to be able to watch him so she could find out stuff about him for blackmail.

* * *

Footsteps alerted Izuku to someone approaching as he turned her head, his emerald eyes shining slightly as he saw Toshinori approach. He had to admit, he'd worried that something had changed or that an emergency had come up. He was glad to see that he was just running late. His excitement only dimmed slightly when he saw the grin on the emaciated man's face, his blue eyes looking right at Izuku as he just shook his head and chuckled.

"Huh? What's up Toshinori?" Izuku asked, honestly curious, as the skeleton-like Huntsman approached him.

"... Ah, it's nothing Izuku. You sly dog you." Izuku barely moved when Toshinori lightly patted his shoulder and walked past him, a slight bit of laughter in his voice as he did so.

"... Okay?" He asked, slightly perturbed, before he shook his head. "A-Anyway, you said there was also something you wanted to talk to me about, right?" He saw Toshinori stop as he thought for a moment, the blond man stroking his chin in a gesture he'd come to realize was his 'thinking pose'.

"... You know what? I'm in too good a mood for that discussion. We'll save it for another day." He saw Toshinori grinned nice and wide as he turned to face him. "For now, let's just get to your training... gonna be putting you through your paces today young man." A dark chuckle escaped Toshinori's lips as he said this, Izuku himself swallowing nervously as he followed the older man into the training arena.

He wasn't kidding either.

* * *

"Really, I've got to thank you again for doing this for me Pyrrha."

"Izuku, don't start. You're tutoring me as well, so this is hardly a one way street."

Izuku smiled a bit as Pyrrha said that, the both of them going through some meditative motions as they tried their best to push and pull their Aura through their entire body. It was definitely hard; he could feel it moving but... it wasn't moving to a degree or with an amount that would allow him to effectively channel it into himself to improve his performance. In fact, if anything, the exercise had been getting harder and harder as it'd gone on. He wasn't feeling exhausted, per say... quite the opposite, he was still feeling quite fresh. It just felt like he was pushing up against a wall, something that was impeding him from continuing on.

It was a hassle but it didn't keep him from expressing his honest to goodness gratitude.

"I know... but what I'm teaching you is hardly as fundamental to being a Huntsman as flat out Aura. The fact is that what I'm tutoring you in probably won't save your life anything soon... what you're giving to me here definitely will. It feels a little bit unequal, even if you insist it isn't... so I do have to thank you." Pyrrha just smiled as he said that, sighing as she shrugged.

"Honestly, you'd probably work just as hard at this if you 'didn't' have me here. If I wasn't giving you what help I could, you'd probably just be doing this on your own and making progress anyway. I'm only offering guidance here Izuku... the person who's giving you the tools you'll need to save your own life is yourself." Izuku nodded slightly as she said that.

"I suppose. Still, I feel like I would've definitely had a harder time without your help. Heck, your insights are making up a lot of my notes on Aura so far... besides my own personal study..." Pyrrha smile broadened as he muttered that last part, a small snort escaping her.

"Uh-huh. Tell me Izuku, what, exactly, would you say the margin of that is then?" His emerald eyes turn to face her green ones as he stammered a bit.

"Oh, I dunno, I really don't keep 'that' specific of a track on my notes and... and..." Izuku saw the amused quirk of her eyebrow as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "... When I say mostly your insights I might mean... almost mostly... or... used to be mostly... a quarter of the notes now..." Pyrrha chuckled a bit as she nodded.

"You see? You would've done just fine without me." He shook his head at that.

"It isn't just about the amount of notes. Your initial insights helped give me a lot of ideas about my Aura, not to mention that you teaching me has helped me along in actually practically applying these. I wouldn't sell you short either Pyrrha." Izuku frowned slightly as he felt the flow of his Aura slow even further... almost to a point of stopping. He kept trying to push it past that block and he just found that it wasn't going anywhere, no matter how hard he tried. The frustration on his expression seemed to catch Pyrrha's eye as she moved to walk over to him. Eventually he decided that if pushing his Aura wasn't going to get it moving again, he might as well give it a solid pull...

All at once he felt a surge run through him. One that was all too familiar to him. He had felt it, or something very similar to it, the moment that Toshinori fed him a strand of his hair and One For All became a part of him. A surge of power, familiar yet foreign all at the same time, as it pulsed through him. It wasn't as massive that time around, it didn't 'feel' as overwhelming. Indeed, if the far dimmer shade of white he shined was any indication, it wasn't a surge comparable to the last in any regard. But he could 'feel' his Aura more deeply now. Rather than just sitting on top of his skin, only seeping in when he was injured, he could feel it reach into his muscles, filling them with strength. They didn't swell, not like they did when under the power of One For All... but they felt stronger, more substantial. He could feel his Aura being pulled and pushed through his body and he felt like, at any moment, he could grab out at it with his mind and bend it, pushing it toward a purpose in his body.

His soul felt stronger now too.

He blinked as he took deep, gasping breaths, his face flush and his body coursing with adrenaline. He had felt positively 'alive' at that moment, less so than the first but... well, it was hard to describe.

"Well, I'd certainly say that I think you've earned a break." He heard a clearly amused and clearly quite pleased voice from behind him and realized, why yes, Pyrrha was still standing just behind him. He turned to look at her, his body still lightly aglow with his surging Aura, as Pyrrha's lips arced upward into a full blown smile. "Congratulations on your Second Awakening, Izuku Midoriya."

He swore he was not crying as he smiled like an idiot.

* * *

"Izuku Midoriya has volunteered to fight Mitsu Bachi! Report to the arena upon arming yourself."

Izuku nodded slightly as he stood up from his seat, his team again offering him assurances and well wishes, as did the rest of his friends. Yang offered up a slightly teasing remark about letting the fight run a little longer, which he laughed off. Still, the sentiment is one that was on his mind. The last fight was one that wasn't exactly going to be great for him; his opponent wanted to run and get as far from him as possible so that they could get a clean shot off on him... which they did. He didn't want a repeat of 'that' performance... and he sincerely hoped there wouldn't be one. Not when he'd finally awakened his Aura to a new level, at least. He turned his head to look through the crowd to see if he could find his prospective opponent and, funnily enough, Mitsu Bachi turned out to be one of Owari's teammates.

Again, it had been too soon to know much of anything about the guy. A lot of students weren't as insistent as he was that they went into the arena each week, many looking for an excuse to just hang back and relax when they weren't specifically called. Still, he needed to do the work in order to get better, so he had been volunteering... just not against opponents he did 'know' could beat him really easily. To that end, he'd been going for more 'unknown' opponents or people who generally hadn't caught most people's eyes. That meant it had been harder for him to know what he was in for but the thought was that, hopefully, those people would also more on his level.

So as he looked over to try and get what kind of a read he could on Mitsu, ignoring the sleeping Owari and his parrot, he kind of recoiled. There were a lot of red marks and welts on Mitsu's face and, for a moment, Izuku swore it was acne. It was hard to tell what exactly it was from as far off as he was though but, when the two approached each other, Izuku could at least figure out that he wasn't breaking out. Izuku glanced over at opponent's team and saw that, besides the sleeping Owari, the other two teammates seemed to be looking at Izuku with suspicion... he supposed it was a bit weird that, the week after one member of their team absolutely destroyed Izuku, that he had volunteered to fight one of their own again... maybe they thought he had a grudge?

Izuku really didn't, he just wanted a good chance at a fight that could help him learn and grow. He hadn't been looking for trouble.

As they both eventually reached their lockers, Izuku peaked around at his gear as he prepares. Mitsu had a... an auto rifle, by the looks of it. A light machine gun.

Izuku swallowed a bit nervously as he saw him put its strap over his shoulder, the young man just kind of 'hmm'ing to himself as he scratched his chin. He nodded as he worked around in his locket a bit, a few cooing sounds being made as it sounded like he was stuffing some things into a sack. It was a backpack to be more precise, a very 'large' one that hung in such a way that it was down to damn near his ass. He pulled on a balaclava before he shut his locker door, turning to Izuku and offering our hero a small wave.

"Good luck out there friend, you might be needin' it." Izuku watched him as he walked by... he could swear he heard buzzing as he passed him.

Eventually Izuku armed himself with Emerald Gust and the both of them arrived in the arena. As Glynda explained the rules and they both agreed that, yes, they both understood them they were quickly put about six yards apart as Glynda stood off to the side, eyeing them both before she raised her arm.

"Izuku Midoriya versus Mitsu Bachi! Begin!"

Izuku quickly bent down and prepared himself... as he watched Mitsu's movements versus his own, he realized something with a smile.

He was faster than him!

Izuku thought it was a surprise to his opponent and to much of the rest of the crowd when, upon the signal going off, he had been the one to immediately break off into a sprint. The action had caught Mitsu off guard, the young man startling back a bit as Izuku brought one of his fists back and prepared to slam it into his gut. The young masked man, however, suddenly snapped out of his reverie and ducked away from the fist, just barely moving out of the way as the air rushed past him. Izuku grunted, having thrown himself ever so slightly off balance, which allowed Mitsu to immediately back off as he prepared his LMG. The young man quickly snapped the safety and, with a quick mantra, sprayed and prayed in Izuku's direction, a volley of nine bullets sent to try to strike him down.

However between his hectic movements and the distance the entirety of the automatic fire had missed, going around his position rather than going squarely for it. With that opening made Izuku gritted his teeth and sprinted forward, a more determined edge to his movements as he reared his fist back. Mitsu attempted to dodge again, however, a slight recoil from his gun firing one last bullet knocked him off balance. The opening presented to Izuku, and he slammed his fist into his gut and felt the mechanisms of Emerald Gust move into position.

He'd never actually seem the shotgun of Emerald Gust go off into a person's Aura before. It was a bit of a show as a spray of shotgun pellets immediately impacted Mitsu's Aura, along with his fist, causing a bright spark as the spiritual shield absorbed as much of the hit as it could. He saw Mitsu wince from the blow, his balaclava starting to get damp as, he imagined, sweat was forming from the blow. Mitsu, dug his heels in and reached into his pack behind him, Izuku unable to do much to stop him as he reached his hands back and pulled out...

A whole Hornet's Nest.

'What the Heck was this guy keeping in his locker?!'

Before Izuku could ponder the logistics of keeping a nest of hornet's in a rocket locket, Mitsu slammed the nest onto the ground, immediately causing it to crack and break. Out from that nest pours forth hundreds of large hornets, angrily buzzing about from having been disturbed. Izuku watched as Mitsu's eyes immediately met the swarm, his hands moving in time with the beat of tiny insect wings as Izuku felt his Aura pour off from his body, no doubt him using his Semblance. Despite having been the one to upset the nest in the first place, the hornets didn't turn on Mitsu.

'THEY'RE COMING FOR ME!?'

Immediately all he could hear, see, feel and taste are the buzzing of wings, a swarm of shapes that moved to surround him, the sting of hundreds of stingers as they attempted to pass through his aura and... well, he choked as he felt a few stray hornets fly into his mouth to try and sting him from the inside out. Needless to say it is a 'wholly' unpleasant feeling and the sooner Izuku could get out of that fight so he could take a shower, the better. He'd never felt so unclean in his life.

If the sound of Weiss gagging from the audience above was any indication, he wasn't the only one.

The hornets were taxing his Aura, the hundreds of stings too much for its naturally protective nature to bounce them back. It was draining but they weren't stinging Izuku directly yet. Deciding that he really didn't want to spend 'more' time under assault from hornets, he reared his fists back and launch both at Mitsu, one punch followed up rapidly by another. Mitsu, with a burst of Aura, is able to dodge the first but the second catches him square in the chest and, once his shotgun went off, another flash of his Aura was clearly visible. Mitsu was breathing deeply now, Izuku's blows clearly having had an impact. All he had to do was land one more good hit and that fight may very well have been his.

Then Mitsu did something unexpected... which considering the guy had pulled a hornet's nest out of his bag and thrown it on the ground, that was saying something.

He reached up and pulled his balaclava off his head and Izuku saw...ew... his welts were shaking. Mitsu took a deep breath, almost sounding like he's churning something up from his chest.

'Oh Gods, he isn't going to try to spit at me to distract me is he, that's pretty low for-'

Izuku's thoughts are interrupted when he spat... spat...

'Did he just spit a mass of bees at me? In the shape of a bullet?' Izuku was almost in a daze, before he felt a graze along his aura.

'And did those Bullet Bees just take a chunk out of my Aura with the impact they had?'

Deciding that he was no longer in the mood to deal with Mitsu or his super weird Semblance, Izuku managed to keep himself held together despite the stings and attacks of the bees and the hornets and reared both fists back again. It was clear that Mitsu was banking on that hit seriously knocking Izuku off balance for he seemed unprepared to dodge the next assault. More than that, it looked like both punches were on course to strike him dead in the chest. Izuku didn't notice how tired he was as the bees and hornets swarm him, making it hard to keep focus.

Thankfully, someone else was watching the fight for Izuku. He felt a slightly, by now, familiar grasp of energy surround him, stopping his motions. It similarly grabbed at each individual bee and hornet, pulling them away from Izuku and pulling him away from Mitsu.

"I do believe that Mr. Midoriya has carried this battle. Now, Mr. Bachi, please see to it that your... friends will behave..." Glynda sighed as she shook her head, Mitsu just numbly nodding his as he reached into his bag and pulled out a few other nests. Izuku watched with some odd fascination as Bachi reached his Aura out again, seemingly whispering to the bees and hornets before guiding them into new nests. Izuku hadn't read up on bees and hornets but he was pretty sure that mixing hives wasn't supposed to be able to work... maybe it has something to do with his Semblance?

Izuku was slightly spooked by the idea that Mitsu might've raised all of these insects from one source. That... that was a little much for right now, especially after having bees spat at him.

"Mr. Midoriya, you've taken your previous lesson to heart I see. You recognized your opponent's range and sought to move into your own before he could retreat into his. You still nearly lost but, again, expecting an unknown's opponents surprises is a tall expectation of a first year. That you took his surprises and rolled with them rather than panicking was a good show. At most, this fight just shows you still have some work to do on your form. Mr. Bachi was probably not the best match up for your skill set once you forced yourself into his circle... but the fact that you learned from your previous mistake in not doing so shows growth, well done." Izuku nodded at Glynda's approval as she turned to Mitsu Bachi and began giving him his own critique. Izuku on the other hand just turned his head up towards the crowd and smiled as he saw his circle of friends give him some thumbs up. This was the first spar he'd won and, after that rather short-lived fight before, it was good to actually be 'in' a fight for once. Izuku had taken a pretty big hit himself from the bees...but he had won.

He desperately tried to hold back the tears that seemed to want to gush from his face.

He had finally won.


	21. Intensive Training

"Salutations my fellow Team Leaders! I hereby call this second meeting of the Beacon Academy Leadership Council on Tactics, Training, Leading and Team Cohesion to order! I'll start with a simple role call! Izuku Midoriya, Leader of Team MNVW?"

"Here... Tenya, the exact same people are here as last time, you really don't-"

"Very good! Ruby Rose, Leader of Team RSBR?"

"Present and accounted for!"

"Excellent! And obviously I, Tenya Iida, Leader of Team TABY, am present... and accounted for. This meeting may therefore come to order." Tenya fumbled a bit when he realized his own call to order had been preemptively used by Ruby, the fifteen year old girl just grinning slightly as she munched into some cookies while Izuku absentmindedly picked up a chip and ate it. "Ahem..." Tenya readjusted his glasses as he seemed to put himself back on track, the young man looking at his two fellow leaders. "So as a week has passed since our last team meeting, it is my responsibility as Head Chairman of the Beacon Academy Leadership Council on Tactics, Training-"

"I MOTION THAT WE MAKE THE NAME SHORTER!" Ruby called out, interrupting Tenya, as the young man fumbled again.

"Ah, Miss Rose, while you did make a motion quite correctly, congratulations on picking this up so quickly, it is impolite and in bad manners to interrupt another member while they're speaking." With that gesturing out of the way, Tenya readjusted his glasses. "Now, is there a second to Miss Rose's motion?"

"Uh... seconded?" Izuku carefully put his hand up before Tenya nodded.

"The motion moves to the floor! Now, I myself find that there is nothing wrong with the current name of the Beacon Academy Leadership Council on-"

"Get on with it!"

"... Quite, Miss Rose. At any rate, I vote that the name shall remain the same." Tenya readjusted his glasses again as Ruby just nodded.

"I vote that we just shorten it to the Beacon Leadership Council." With that, two pairs of eyes immediately snapped over to Izuku, watching his every move and imploring our hero to side with them.

"... Uuuuh..."

"W-Well..." Jeez, Izuku hated being put on the spot like that. "I think that Beacon Leadership Council is punchier and gets the general purpose of the group across. So I think that would be a good way to name the group." Ruby gave a small 'woop woop' as she raised her hands in the air like she just didn't care in celebration while Tenya sighed in defeat, his head dropping for just a moment before he, in his usual Tenya manner, shot back up and gestured.

"While I disagree with both of your taste in naming conventions, you both have outnumbered my own vote and thus the motion passes. From here on out this Committee shall be known as The Beacon Leadership Council." There was a pause as if Tenya was waiting for some kind of hurrah or applause and, to her credit, Ruby did give a small round of applause which caused Izuku to awkwardly clap a few seconds later.

As the initial energy of the first vote died down they all started to get on to discussing what they all wanted to use that day's meeting on. Everyone chatted a bit and it was found that, while Katsuki hadn't 'greatly' improved his behavior, he had at least started to fall in on Ruby's orders ever since the previous week's fight. For which Ruby Rose was quite grateful to Izuku for his advice about the situation.

Normal people might have expressed it with a simple 'thanks' or 'that was good advice'.

"THANK YOU! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! OOOH I THOUGHT MY PARTNER WAS GOING TO BE A COMPLETE JERK FOREVER! NOW HE'S ONLY KIND OF A JERK, WHICH IS WAY MORE MANAGEABLE!"

That, of course, was Ruby Rose and the above was, of course, just what Izuku was vaguely able to piece together from her near light speed expression of gratitude.

Her Semblance didn't just apply to how fast she could move.

"I am surprised though. I have to admit that when Midoriya said that a show of strength would get Bakugo to come around that I was skeptical. Bakugo didn't come off as the sort who would show even the slightest difference to anyone... even someone who could best him in a spar." Ruby puffed out her chest slightly in pride, rubbing at her nose a bit.

"Well he did!"

"Yeah, I'm not that surprised. That's just kind of how Kacchan ticks." Izuku said with a slight sigh, though there was a smile on his face.

"Any idea why? It seems such an odd thing for a Huntsman to be focused on. Strength in the face of the Grimm, sure, I can understand that but when it comes to your relations with other students?" Tenya asked, quizzically, to which Ruby's own silver eyes suddenly shined curiously as well.

"... I really don't know why. I just know that it's been that way ever since we were kids... course with me it was always a little worse. Kacchan would usually order around and insult the other kids at our school who were weaker than him... which was everybody, but with me... well, you've seen it." It really wasn't an understatement that Bakugo had been the best at their school. Only the most stubbornly proud students back at Mountain Glenn couldn't admit it. Still, the fact that it had lead into his treatment of Izuku was... still a mystery. He still had so little of an idea as to why Bakugo seemed so angry with Izuku in particular. Sure in The Emerald Forest he thought Izuku was looking down on him, laughing behind his back when he thought the newest owner of One For All had always secretly had an Aura, but that was The Emerald Forest, just a few weeks before that moment. Izuku really didn't understand why Bakugo acted the way he had beforehand.

"Well... maybe I can figure it out?" Ruby shrugged slightly. "I mean, Kac... urgh, Katsuki's a jerk but he isn't... well okay in a fight he's insane and screams 'DIE DIE DIE DIE!'-" Izuku almost snorted as Ruby's face and voice contorted into the closest resemblance of Kacchan she could manage. "-a lot but otherwise he isn't senseless."

"Hmmm... well that would be your decision as Leader of your team whether to take up such a task Miss Rose. I know for a fact that I have also taken to trying to get to know my teammates as best as I can. My partner in particular: Yang is quite the open book as it concerns what she's thinking and feeling and Tsuyu, while occasionally monotone in voice, is also quite open to questions. Blake is the only one who is a little withdrawn... so it is my duty as not only her partner but also her Leader to try and facilitate a better understanding between all members of my team."

"What about you Izuku? I know you've been hanging out with most of your team a bit, but Ren said you were planning to hang out with Nora soon. How do you think that'll go?" Ruby asked, head tilted in interest, as Izuku just started sweating.

"Uuuuhhhh..."

* * *

"MOMMA'S GONNA BREAK YOUR LEGS!"

"PLEASE DON'T BREAK MY LEGS NORA!"

As soon as the fight started, Nora was running at him swinging her hammer around like there was no tomorrow. Izuku'd thought that, given Nora was a lot stronger than him, that the two could do some hanging out today while also getting in a bit of training. The strength and ferocity Nora wielded her hammer was impressive and it was something that, on top of Bakugo's own aggressive plays in his fighting style, Izuku had thought he could add into his fighting style to be a bit more effective. Mitsu had shown that he was better getting into people's faces and fighting them there, so getting more experience with that, and visualizing opponents like that, was what drove him to seek out sparring partners like Yang and Nora. Pyrrha was a bit more versatile and varied than Izuku and Weiss, well, they'd both be open to sparring to improve her combat basics soon enough.

However, just for himself, folks like Nora and Yang seemed like the better bet for Izuku's personal improvement... Bakugo too but Izuku didn't think he'd take him up on a 'friendly' sparring match.

However, despite that logic, Izuku soon found himself wishing he hadn't been so stupid as Nora came in, Magnhild swinging and grinning wildly at him. He was now pretty friggin' scared.

Nora brought her hammer down, swinging for his shoulder as she sought to get in first blood. Feeling around for his Aura he felt it behind his movements, even if not actively, as he reached up and slammed his fist into Magnhild's side, the head of the hammer being sent swerving off course and impacting into the ground. Nora gasped a bit, surprised that Izuku had parried her first maneuver, as he took a deep breath and drew his fists back. With a flourish he rapidly unleashed them at Nora, two blows looking to leave dents in her as he gave a short yell. Nora dodged the first one easily enough but, between her missed swing and the difficulty of the first dodge, it seemed like he had her right where he wanted her for his second hit...

That was until Nora's body glowed a light pink color. Izuku's eyes widened as he practically felt Nora's Aura pour off of her and, with a slight giggle, the girl flipped up and over the handle of her hammer, using Magnhild's head as a base as she gracefully flipped out of the way of his punch. When Nora landed back on her feet she just kept giving Izuku that darn near maniacal grin as she took a deep breath and...

'HOLY WOAH MAGNHILD WAS MOVING SO FAST!'

Izuku quickly moved his hand up to parry the first incoming hit, bashing the head of the hammer aside. When Nora just went with that movement and tried to swing at him again he dodged the second hit, beads of sweat forming on his forehead from the exertion.

 **CRUNCH!**

The wind, however, was driven from Izuku's body as he gasped for breath, the third swing of Nora's hammer having found its mark as it drove itself right into his gut. His Aura absorbed the blow, of course, but the hit was so powerful that it lifted Izuku off his feet and 'still' made him feel like he broke a rib. Nora really was crazy strong and Magnhild was just such a crazy powerful weapon. Izuku took back control of his body however as he ground his teeth, working through the pain as he threw another couple punches at Nora. Once again the girl deftly dodged them, though that time not having to even draw upon her Aura to do so. With that same grin she went for those rapid swings again. Izuku grabbed Magnhild by the hammer and tried to throw it off completely but Nora just planted it into the ground, used the momentum to position herself and then swung it right back at Izuku. He dodged back but, while he was in the air, Nora hopped forward and brought Magnhild into his shoulder, a 'pop' heard just beside his ear before his Aura put his shoulder back into its socket.

'If nothing else, I'll be better prepared to tank heavy hits after this.'

Though that thought was far from his mind in comparison to the TREMENDOUS PAIN HE WAS IN!

It didn't pierce his Aura but it was so close he could practically feel his bones crunching under the pressure. He'd known that that'd be the last opportunity he'd have to land a clean hit on Nora so, again, he reared his fists back and threw them out. He saw the telltale sign of Nora's Aura as she dodged the second one but the first was still easily moved away from as Nora just danced away. The bell rung, his Aura having been dropped low enough to trigger it, as the bubbly bruiser just smiled.

"Wow Izuku, you got really close there a couple times. I had to burn my Aura just to avoid those hits! You really are something there fearless leader!" Izuku could tell that Nora wasn't just trying to soothe his ego. She meant it; she sounded and looked impressed. Honestly, Izuku really did doubt that Nora could pull off sarcasm even if she wanted. Izuku smiled back but, after a moment, he just collapsed on his butt. His Aura had to take some powerful hits there and his stomach and shoulder were horribly sore from where Nora had managed to slam Magnhild into him. Upon seeing that and taking a good look over him, Nora frowned as she seemed to realize just what kind of state she left Izuku in. "O-Oh... hey, fearless leader, I didn't hurt you bad or anything right? Sorry, I get a little... excited in spars like this."

Izuku could tell.

"I'm okay Nora... just... just give me a moment and let my Aura do its work. I'm just really sore right now..." Izuku took a few gasping breaths as he leaned his head back. As Nora really didn't actually 'physically' hurt him, his prediction proved true; soon enough he felt his Aura running through his body, soothing the slight soreness around the areas where Magnhild slammed into him. Even the light bruising that may have formed was going down; the stuff really was incredible, in his opinion.

Still, Nora sighed as she scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "I'm still sorry Izuku. It was probably a lucky thing at the end there that I didn't go straight through your Aura if you're that sore. I... really should be a bit more careful."

"Well I mean, I asked for it. I don't see why you should feel bad." Izuku said as he patted his bruised bits. Nora grinned a bit as she watched him force himself back up on his feet, though the bubbly bomber's smile slipped again.

"Well... mostly because I kind of already know that I get this way in a spar." Izuku tilted his head to the side curiously as she said that. Nora chuckled nervously. "... Ren and I don't really spar anymore. Haven't for a while now. Back when we were a little younger and our strengths were a little more even, yeah, we'd spar to help get better and make sure we could do stuff like survive Grimm or get around safely but... well, after a certain point I kind of, sorta, accidentally, without meaning too... kept breaking some bones."

"I think Ren may have taken my enthusiasm the slightly wrong way too... plus it was probably a little weird to get beaten up by your childhood friend, who you've been together, but not together-together, with, I guess." Izuku blinked as Nora laid that out.

Honestly, it didn't surprise him. Heck, if Nora started every spar the same way she started theirs, he could definitely see that become a worrying trend for someone who was just looking for a friendly spar. Plus... well, Ren didn't come off like the kind of guy who much liked to work or do much of anything except sleep 'at all' and probably wasn't a big fan of taking the sort of beatings Izuku'd come to realize Nora could dish out.

Still, Izuku just did his best to grin and bear it as he shrugged.

"Well, maybe so, but... well, you've heard it by now. I need this kind of work in order to get better and achieve my dream. I've... taken worse hits to be honest." Izuku scratched the tip of his nose as he said that, Nora looking at him with a slightly disbelieving expression. "Hey I'm serious. Back in Mountain Glenn when I thought I was Aura-less I still trained to be a Huntsman at the local Combat Academy. It was... pretty rough. Even if they were actively trying to take it easy on me, it was still a school for Huntsmen and I still had no Aura. I ended up taking some pretty hard bruises and injuries because of that... and they took a lot longer to heal than a few seconds or a minute or two."

"... I still don't get why you flinch whenever I call you fearless leader in that case! That's so friggin' awesome!" Nora's enthusiasm sparked again, her skepticism short-lived as Izuku explained his story.

"B-Because I'm still really not all that fearless. I still get scared and forget to smile." Izuku admitted nervously but shook his head. "Anyway, like I said, this is the kind of training I need to improve, to get better. So I really don't want you to take it easy on me. I want you to go all out so that I can go all out!" Izuku gave Nora a bright smile, his emerald eyes shining slightly.

Though that smile and shine dipped a bit when he saw the downright sadistic gleam that made its way past Nora's turquoise eyes. "That a fact? Well then, how about we go another round Izuku"

"M-Maybe in an hour when I actually have some Aura in me to tank another hit or... two..." They both laughed a bit at the suggestion he'd be in any position to tank two hits from Nora but they both also agreed to have a seat and chat for the next hour while they both waited for Izuku to recover some Aura.

Eventually they stood up and got their weapons at the ready again. To be 'sporting' Nora decided that it wouldn't be much of a spar if she took Izuku right back down so she declared she'd let him get in the first move. Not the first hit, she'd still be dodging, but he could at least get a shot.

Again, if Izuku didn't know Nora better, he'd say she was making fun of him.

Well, even if she was, Izuku wasn't going to let that stop him. He nodded as he put up his fists and she prepared Magnhild, standing across from each other. Izuku started off a lot closer, wanting a chance to get as many swings in as possible, while Nora just smiled at his confidence... or lack of confidence, given that he wasn't taking many chances with missing. He took a deep breath and, with a shout, went in for a trade. Nora seemed surprised by the burst of speed he put on, watching as he rushed right at her. His first swing was on point but, with a burst of Aura, Nora managed to force herself out of the way... however as that Aura burst died down, Nora's eyes went wide as she saw his other fist swing in.

It was a hard hit, even he could tell that. Nora actually doubled over a bit as he'd driven his fist into her stomach and, seconds later, was nearly blown off her feet by the blast of gust's shotgun going off on her torso. For a moment he was actually spooked about the possibility that he had managed to hurt a member of his team.

However, as Nora brought her head up to look at him with those excited eyes, he felt a mix of relief and accomplishment wash over him

Well..., Relief, accomplishment and fear for his life as it seemed he had managed to 'excite' Nora quite a bit.

Magnhild came swinging again as Nora gave a loud battle cry. The first swing was way off mark, Nora's excitement having caused her to lose some focus, but the next two seem to be coming right at him. He kept his cool however and, with deft hands and quick feet, managed to bounce Magnhild off of Emerald Gust just enough to drive it off course and then duck under the follow up swing. With a grunt he forced himself forward, fists flying, but none made a mark on Nora as she just easily avoided one and then dodged the other. Izuku ground his teeth together as Nora once again came swinging, his eyes going a bit wide.

He brought his gauntlets up to block Nora's first hit, trying to bounce it away. He could feel himself start to give though so he pulled upon his Aura in order to forcibly bounce Magnhild away. The force was enough to send Nora's second swing flying in a poor direction, making it easy enough to just step out of the way for the following swing.

Then, however, the last swing came and he felt it impact his side.

 **CRACK!**

Pain shot through his body, both his eyes and Nora's going wide as they both realize that wasn't just the sound of an Aura enhanced body groaning under the stress of an enemy's attack. That was the sound of his ribs breaking. He was bounced away from Magnhild as the swing followed through, his body skidding across the floor as the force of Nora's swing propelled him.

'Holy woah, this hurts a lot.'

Even as he felt his soul moving in to try to patch him back up and put his ribs back into their proper position, he knew that that was going to hurt like Hell for a while.

Even so, his emerald eyes looked up and he could already see Nora running up, apologies about ready to spill out of her mouth as she tried to ensure he was alright.

Izuku raised a hand before Nora could even properly start to apologize, forcing himself to his feet as he gave her the best smile he could.

"Don't worry about it Nora... I'm fine. Nothing a little time and Aura won't fix." Izuku saw that she was just looking at him as he stood, almost as if in disbelief that he had actually managed it.

"... You know fearless leader, you've got guts." She finally said, a wide grin on her face as she slapped him on the back.

Izuku laughed a little bit as Nora did so, keeping himself from crying out in pain as the force of Nora's slap shocked throughout his torso, jostling his broken ribs a bit. "Still, maybe we should get you looked over with what's left in the IDSSK. Just to be safe, right?" She asked with a wide smile. "And then afterward we can celebrate with pancakes!"

"... You know what, that sounds good to me Nora." Izuku agreed with a nod as the two of them left the training arena, Izuku gently holding his ribs while his Aura got to work putting them back together.

He really hoped his bones mended soon. He had another training session soon with Weiss.

* * *

"We'll be going over some slight forms today. I will be guiding you up close so I don't want you to fidget or otherwise get nervous... and if I see your hands wander anywhere I haven't said for you to move them, I will make good on my threat to have you eat them. Is that clear?"

"Crystal!" Weiss nodded as she motioned for Izuku to go through his paces. While last week had been all about getting his footwork up to snuff, which Weiss had said he still needed 'a lot' of work on, as that was the weekend and everyone was winding down, even Weiss, she decided to go a little less hard on the day's lesson and focus more on Izuku's form over all rather than drilling his footwork until his calluses had calluses.

"One and two and three and one and two and three and four and one and two and keep your feet right here and one and raise your arms and two and keep your back straight and four and-"

Weiss clapped in time with an almost silent rhythm, every now and then reaching forward and grabbing Izuku to force his body into a better position and keeping it there as she helped guide him through some basic rhythm. Izuku had to admit that it was a little bit stressful; on top of having the rhythm he constantly had to keep up with, Weiss' voice continually ringing in his head in time with that rhythm, stopping only to correct some mistake he was making, often times accompanied by her reaching forward, grabbing onto him and moving him, keeping his nerves frayed and his face red.

Thankfully he did his best to not let the bundle of nerves that were going wild in his head, or the butterflies in his stomach, get in the way of going through the motions. Weiss kept her prodding up though, poking him here and there but, as time went on and his muscles slightly adjusted to each of her little pokes, they became fewer and fewer.

"Now stop." Izuku did so, practically freezing in place. "Relax." he continued to follow her order allowing a tension to leave him that he hadn't been aware of. He must've built it up in order to keep with her motions with, now, he seemed to have- "Now get back into your motions."

...

He did so and he realized that, having allowed himself to relax, he almost completely fell out of the more 'managed' stances and movements that Weiss had prodded and poked him into.

"Dance isn't just about rhythm or good footwork either. Muscle memory plays a strong part in managing to keep to a known rhythm and style of dance. The more you exercise your body so that it can immediately jump back into an established series of motions and rhythms, the better you'll be. Some people will just allow themselves to flail about and call that dancing. True dance is managed, it is rhythmic and there is a beauty to it as each step moves into the next, carefully played into a series of steps and motions that make up your waltz." Izuku nodded slightly as he went along with it, Weiss again poking, prodding and moving him a lot as he had lost the tension from before. Honestly, it seemed to work with the same logic as his karate; katas weren't just there to strengthen his muscle groups or to help him hit harder. There was a 'way' to punch and a 'way' to kick that would make them stronger. Proper form and proper positioning was just as much a part of making a solid attack or defense in a fighting style as was being strong or fast.

He supposed that it was the same with dance; he could be naturally coordinated and quick on his feet but if he just flailed around to a rhythm he was only ever going to be able to go so far.

It made a lot of sense to him.

"Wow Weiss, you know a lot about dancing." Weiss nodded as she continued to poke and prod his movements.

"Of course. I am a Schnee after all and Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. It's expected that I be a master of not only the arts political and economic as befits my position but also the cultural arts so that I may be seen as a person of refinement and high class among the elite of Atlas. These lessons you have are... similar to the ones I took. It's why I'm so confident that, given your own tenacity, you'll be accomplished in dance under my tutelage." Izuku blinked slightly as Weiss said that, the girl poking Izuku in the ribs as his momentary distraction kept him from moving in rhythm. There was a lot Weiss just said there, but...

"Wow, that's some dedication there Weiss. It must've been something you really wanted to do to keep up with it like that." Izuku saw Weiss start off nodding along with what he was saying but, as he reached the end of the sentence, he saw her pause. There was a slight blink given as she turned to look at him.

"Pardon?" Izuku blinked somewhat as he scratched his head.

"Well, I just mean that if you took to the lessons so much dance must've ended up being something you were interested in right? Otherwise you wouldn't have kept up with them." He saw Weiss blink again but then, in a flush of red, just put her hands on her hips.

"O-Of course! Yes! I mean, why would I stick to lessons that I might not have liked! That's... crazy?" She seemed to be reading his expression for a moment before she suddenly nodded. "Yes, crazy, lunacy, no one would do such a thing!" Weiss just smiled proudly as she nodded.

...

"Weiss... did you want to dance or... I dunno... did you have to?" He saw Weiss freeze up a bit as he said that, the ordinarily prim and polished Heiress just staring off slightly in the distance, the image of the well maintained and proud Schnee faltering slightly as he asked the question. After a moment however Weiss ended up combing out her hair in a slightly nervous gesture as she recomposed herself.

"I don't see why it couldn't be both." Weiss commented slightly as he tilted his head to the side. The young woman sighed as she let go of her hair. "Initially I was quite young when I started my lessons. Like a lot of things your parents arrange for you to do when you're young, they can be a bit frustrating. To be forced to do something for any amount of time, especially something as demanding as learning how to properly dance, it's a harsh thing. You're a young man Izuku and you came to me for these lessons so I don't suppose you would understand that... but think about it like your Hunter Training. You want to be a Good Huntsman, and a Good Huntsman has to learn to do things they might not find fun or enjoyable at first."

"I wanted to be a good and proper Schnee Heiress and member of society in Atlas. To do so I had to learn to dance. But after a while I came to enjoy dancing for its own sake." Weiss gave a small spin herself, her graceful steps so far beyond anything Izuku could manage at that point. "It's an enjoyable activity, certainly more so than sitting around reading a lot of very dusty tomes on economics and Atlesian politics."

"I suppose I can understand that." Izuku nodded as he said that and Weiss, for her part, seemed quite relieved that he had grasped it. "Still, I can understand why learning economics and politics would be important for your job but... dancing? That's what I don't quite get." Weiss smiled slightly as she shook her head.

"It's part of being a member of High Society in Atlas, Izuku. Being cultured is as much a symbol of status in Atlas as being rich, running a company or joining the Military. Dancing, singing, fine arts, literature, these are the things that separate the upper-echelons from the people on the street. Not that it necessarily makes us better, mind!" Weiss seemed really concerned for a moment but he just nodded and she seemed relieved that she hadn't stumbled into a faux pas. "But it's different expectations. You're to be cultured in the Old Mantle ways, not taking up some base acts like... pop music..."

There was a blush on Weiss's face, and...there was a slight grumble of melancholy to the back of her voice. 'Why would she bring that up,' he at first thought, but then concluded that discretion was the better part of valor, however, and allowed her to continue in her explanation.

"If your family is wealthy they're expected to use that wealth to further advance their position and industry. If you're a member of a wealthy family and you don't want to be part of that industry, the Military is the only proper station for you, not..." He saw Weiss close her mouth before she could finish that statement.

"Not...?" Izuku tilted her head to the side as Weiss coughed into her fist.

"... Not some common profession like being a chef or something equally base." She nodded slowly as Weiss corrected herself. "At any rate... if I want to be the Schnee Dust Company's Heiress, if I want to fit in and be accepted in Atlesian Society, then things like being cultured and being ready to run the business are just things I'll have to contend with." Weiss stated firmly as she dusted off her dress...

"I mean... 'is' that what you want?"

There was a slight scoff that came from Weiss as she just looked over at him, her eyes a bit narrow as he felt the chill off of her blue eyes.

"What kind of question is that? 'Of course' that's what I want. It's what I've worked pretty much my entire life to get Izuku. Heck, asking that is pretty much as ridiculous as asking whether or not being a Huntsman is 'really' what you want." Izuku shrunk back at bit as Weiss chastised him, his hands raised defensively as he shook his head.

"I'm sorry! It's just, I mean, the way you were talking, I was thinking, I mean, I thought you meant-"

"Well I didn't mean anything of the sort, thank you Izuku." Izuku nodded as Weiss ended that topic before she, with the same expression, sighed. "Perhaps we need to get your mind focused on something less ridiculous. Alright, back on your feet Izuku, we've done enough with form and we're putting you back through your paces on footwork to make sure you haven't slipped up."

Izuku thought he might've stepped on her toes pretty badly... well, now she was probably going to get him back for that by making 'Izuku' step on his own.

He hoped that Yang's session wouldn't be too intense that night. He'd just gone through two sessions of hell, and he wasn't sure exactly if he could keep up with another one.

* * *

"Come on Slugger! It's just some weight! You've taken bees to the face and managed to keep on moving! Just push that bar back up and finish your rep! You've still got to spot for me when this is all said and done so don't let a little weight keep you down!"

A little weight.

Right.

Maybe a little weight for Yang Xiao Long but for one Izuku Midoriya? Three hundred pounds was still a lot of weight, especially when he was actively pushing Aura into his arms in order to help bench said weight. It wasn't just the weight either; that was his thirtieth rep he was trying to finish.

When Yang said that weight lifting with her would be a little less extreme than sparring with her, he hadn't imagined that it would only really be 'a little' less extreme. Say what you would about Yang but when it came to physical activity she didn't joke around... and it seemed like she wouldn't Izuku joke around either. If Izuku was going to be her sparring/lifting buddy, he was going to put in at least a similar level of work as her.

Which left him in the spot he was in then, face red not from embarrassment at his sweat drenched clothes... or Yang's, but from the exertion he was putting himself through in order to push that bar with huge sets of weights on either side back up into their resting position. His arms quivered slightly, one moment slightly jarring to one side and in the next almost swinging to the other, as he breathed in through his nose and his eyes dang near bulged from his skull. He had to know that some veins were popping out from his temples from all the effort he was putting into it, his muscles screaming at him throughout his chest and arms.

Later he would think It was a good thing he was already used to being kind of plain looking, because he imagined that didn't look attractive 'at all'.

Izuku shuddered to imagine what would happen if Yang and Toshinori would get together to make a workout plan.

Finally though after much effort and much held in grunts of effort, he pushed the bar up and let it fall back into the little metal holders, a deep, gasping sigh released from his chest as his arms fell limply to his side, his chest heaving as he stared up at the ceiling.

"My dad says that the reason why you see a lot of scrawny looking Hunters around is that their Auras are actually helping them do most of their lifting. They can be strong as an ox but if they don't actively push their physical limitations they'll stay thin as a beanpole. He says that's why him and Uncle Qrow don't look like guys like Cardin or some other muscle-bound guys." Yang prodded him in the forehead, a wide grin on her face. "Course that also means that if you want to get stronger, you have to push your limits with weight that even stretches what your Aura allows for... which, when that starts to get exhausted, means your relying on good old natural muscle... which isn't used to the kind of weight you and your Aura are accustomed to lifting."

"Any reason why you're saying this while I've got spots in my vision?" Izuku asked tiredly as Yang just laughed.

"Eh, I dunno. I figured you'd find that interesting. You're the big information, data and study guy after all."

...

'You know, she's right.'

"I'm just really tired." Izuku wheezed as he let his head stay on the bench rest, Yang grinning as she looked down at him.

"I can tell. Really pushed it with that. Muscles were bulging out and everything." He swore he heard a slight 'nice' under Yang's breath but he either choose to ignore it or he just didn't care. The screaming of his muscles was taking precedence over being embarrassed right then. "Alright slugger, I get that you're tired. Just spot me to make sure I don't end up slamming this here bar on my neck and we'll be square." Izuku nodded as he forced himself off the bench, Yang walking over to some nearby equipment as she picked up some weights.

"... Speaking of. For as much as you lift Yang, you don't seem overly muscle-bound yourself." Yang grinned a bit.

"Ah, so you've been taking a few peeks there, have ya Izuku?"

"AAAH! WHAT I MEAN IS-"

"Don't worry, don't worry. I know what you meant... besides, I suppose it would only be fair." Yang shrugged as she said that. "As for that... well, I actually didn't start hard strength training for a while. My dad was the guy who was majorly teaching when I was growing up and he's not a very 'big' guy either. He's a lot more concerned with form and technique. You'd be surprised what the right combination of stance and how you throw your punch can do for you." Yang turned to him with a wide grin. "Don't get me wrong, Aura-less I'm still probably stronger than you Slugger." Izuku nodded in agreement, that much was readily apparent. "But a lot of the time I spent training at Signal and with my dad was spent on making sure my form was up to snuff. Trust me, I've got some tricks up my sleeve that you wouldn't believe."

Izuku certainly didn't doubt that. If his spars with Yang had taught him anything it was that she was pretty far ahead of his own skill level when it came to fighting stuff like this.

"Yeah, I've kinda noticed." Izuku said slightly as he rubbed his jaw, Yang just laughing a bit as she sat down on the bench.

"You're a good sport about it at least, so you've got that going for you." As Yang started benching her, somewhat considerably heavier, weights she still looked up at him. There was a slight focus to her gaze as she seemed to pour some of her thought into her sets, but it was clear she's well before the point of having to focus entirely on them. "Also, gotta say, for a guy who's fighting style is all about getting in and punching things, I'm kinda surprised." Izuku blinked as Yang continued. "I'd figure you'd have focused more on just getting stronger and stronger. Not on balancing that out... but honestly, you're pretty hardy." Izuku scratched the back of his head as she continued. "Why the focus on that end of the scale, anyway?"

"Being strong is good but... I dunno, I figure it doesn't do much good if you can't take a hit either. Or heck, not taking a hit at all is probably even the best, all things considered, so I've been working on getting faster too." Yang nodded, the logic sounding pretty, well, sound to her, but she still gave him a bit of a quizzical look.

"I guess but, I mean, if you punch a Grimm hard enough that it's head pops off from the blow, then does it really matter if you can't take a hit or if you're not so fast on your feet?" Izuku watched as she benched, Resisting the urge to move his hands to his chin as he did so..

"Well... I mean, it's not just about taking a hit for my sake. To me, being a Hunter isn't just about being strong when fighting the Grimm, but protecting people from them as well. If I can't get to a place in time in order to give out that swing... I'd at least want to be able to take a hit for someone who couldn't." Izuku Once more fought with his instinct to move his hands. "You all are a lot stronger than I am so maybe you're all in that position where you can just rush in, take out a Grimm quick and then move on. Heck, you've had your third awakening and I know Nora and Pyrrha have had their fourth... I'm still barely beyond my second. If I want to be able to protect people while not destroying myself or getting hurt badly, by a Grimm or my own Semblance, I need to improve at everything. So I've got to do everything and do it as best as I can, or else I'll never be good enough to protect people."

"... You know Izuku, no one would fault you for just wanting to protect what was in your arm's reach. Heck, with all the work you're putting into it and everything you're already ready to do, most people would say you're doing more than enough." Izuku looked down at Yang and saw that her lilac eyes were meeting his. He nodded in agreement but then offered her a grin.

"I know, and I understand that. I guess... I just kind of want everyone to be in my arm's reach?" Izuku said with a slight tilt of his head. Yang just blinked for a moment.

"... Pffft... Hahahahaha! You're a real dork Slugger, you know that?" Izuku felt a small hint of embarrassment, but the smile on her face told him she meant no malice by it. "Let's get some water after I'm done with this here, feeling thirsty."

"I can certainly get behind that." Izuku nodded in agreement as he continued to spot Yang.

* * *

"Ooooohhh…"

Izuku just laid on his bed, staring up at the ceiling as he felt joints from every inch of his body pop and his muscles scream. The previous day had made him so sore, and he was paying for it. It was five in the morning, and he hadn't gotten a wink of sleep. But he began to feel his eyes close, and he felt an inner calm. It was Sunday morning, and he still probably had the chance to sleep in a bi-

He then felt a hand gently lay on his shoulder. Horror rose from his very core, as his eyes opened, and he saw Pyrrha staring at him, her jogging outfit on, and a look of concern on her face.

"Um, Izuku, it's time for ou-"

"WHY DID I SCHEDULE THREE SESSIONS IN ONE DAY!"

"AHHH! SORRY!"

* * *

 **E/N: While I'm not certain, We think this is the first place where we really removed some of the core story. It was just a bit of fluff about the council playing a board game, and it interrupted the flow of the chapter an ounce.**

 **-Shovern**

 **To make up for it, we also added that last scene to connect these parts more. They were mildly disconnected to start off with, coming from a more slow time in the story, and we thought it was probably a good idea to have something to make this seem a bit more cohesive.**

 **-Wind-Waker**

 **He says we as if I actually wrote any of it.**

 **-Shovern**

 **He doesn't realize it's good to have someone to bounce off ideas and check if this actually happened over the weekend.**

 **-Wind-Waker**


	22. Tales of Beacon II

Ruby Rose looked around her team's room, a beaming smile on her face. All of Team RSBR were sitting with her around the table.

Finally!

She had tried to throw around her weight as the team leader to make it that way earlier, but Katsuki Bakugou most of the time just did what he wanted. She couldn't fault him during most of their exercises, he did his part and actually listened to most of her orders, at least when she worded them more like requests. Yes, he started listening to them!

Really, most of the time!

Well, occasionally at least?

Surely more than in the beginning!

Improvement!

Things were finally looking up, right?

...

Right?

Her left eye brow started having that nervous twitch again which she had developed during the first days with her team, or rather Bakugo, but her smile stayed unfettered.

Oh, who was she kidding. Bakugo may listen at times during training, but he always did whatever he wanted during team meetings. Sat on the bed, the couch, the table, "wherever he damn well pleased" in his own words, but listened and participated barely enough she couldn't really call him out over it. And it had grated on her so much that she didn't successfully have a single team meeting that met her standards. It's not like she was asking for much, dammit!

She fought back against the twitching brow while a slight sinister note entered her smile uninvitedly and it became just a little too broad not to be considered unsettling. She quickly raised her glass to hide it, but couldn't help herself being satisfied with herself.

"I love it when a plan comes together...", she thought.

She had found out about Katsuki's weakness a few days before and today her carefully laid-out plan had come to fruition. A team meeting like it was supposed to be! Four people sitting around the table, merrily snacking treats and talking, bonding, wasting the time away...

Well, not that Katsuki talked much right now, mind you, but he at least tolerated them talking without making his usual snide remarks or insults. Improvement! Yay!

'You know that's mostly from him being busy stuffing his mouth...right?'

'SHUT UP VOICE AT THE BACK OF MY HEAD!'

While her other two teammates, Shoto Todoroki and Lie Ren, didn't really talk much to begin with, they always had a warm feeling around them when they sat silent together. It wasn't awkward silence, they seemed to share a bond of silence, a zen-like state of silent understanding and communication among the two. The kind that team members would usually have to fight through a number of death battles to develop, if they arrive at that peak of cooperation at all. Yang had called it bromance and while Ruby wouldn't go as far as her sister, like, when did she ever go that far in anything, she was still pretty happy about the two hitting it off due to having similar characters. Frankly she might have been a tiny bit envious about how easy they did it, if it weren't for her relief that at least two of her team members were easy to handle.

Not than anyone would appear difficult to talk to compared to Katsuki. Maybe that Weiss person, but maybe she had been just in a bad mood on the first day? She shuddered at the thought of potentially having to deal with three people as volatile and grating as Bakugou had been. She told herself to be strong, surely she could take it, even poor, poor Deku had held up fine, didn't he? NOT Deku-Izuku! Bakugou was rubbing off on her. Izuku was fine after years of "Kacchan", wasn't he? Right?

'Well apart from that muttering.'

'And the nervousness.'

'And the self esteem issues.'

...

'Yang, save me!'

"Nope. Happy place, happy place.", she reminded herself. All's going well and according to plan. She wouldn't mess up. She wouldn't panic.

So what if she was carrying the conversations mostly by herself with two perpetual silent types and someone who thankfully shut up for once. That was FINE! Improvement! Yay?

She froze when she realized something. Was she already muttering to herself? Had it already begun? Was that how it started with Izuku? She took another sip to calm down her nerves. Didn't she face Grimm all the time, surely she could handle a team meeting. She had her secret weapon. Almost as good as Crescent Ro... She stopped short, what was she thinking? How could she disrespect her baby like that! The secret weapon was fine, sure, ingenious even, but leagues below her beloved Crescent Rose, that went without saying.

Anyway, the secret weapon that was at the core of her plan had revealed itself a few days ago...

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXx**

The secret weapon had revealed itself when Lie Ren had started cooking.

He had used the kitchen to make pancakes for his not-girlfriend Nora and he made a few portions more for the team. There may or may not have been silver puppy eyes involved. Ruby couldn't be held accountable for her actions when baking smell filled the air. Also the leader position deserved to have some benefits.

Anyways, team bonding pancakes, yay!

Sure, Ren had to leave to deliver the pancakes to Nora himself, but before that the delicious smell of the pancakes had lured in Todoroki and even Katsuki. Ruby had known for sure when the latter actually muttered under his breath that the pancakes were "decent". It was a lie of course, they were damn near divine, but the taste of victory in her mouth at that moment had tasted even sweeter. Who knew victory tasted of maple sirup? It totally should, it was very fitting, but she didn't knew before. The first kind thing Katsuki said in a... ever actually!

There it was, the weakness, the moment of victory: Katsuki had a sweet tooth.

His weakness finally revealed, Ruby went to work immediately. In her first and so far only bout of Team Leader dictatorship she appointed Ren on the spot to be the official team cook. In private she also told him she was fine with his constant slipping away to meet Nora, but in return he would have to make food for the team meetings and stay around to eat it with them. Lie Ren had looked at her and must have seen the glare in her silver eyes, because he only nodded in agreement.

Katsuki bait supply line successfully acquired and implemented! Masterplan proceeding!

And now the results of that plan showed themselves. All was going well. Ruby likened the feeling she had right now to the flow she tended to get into while working on Crescent Rose. That feeling of all the parts interlocking, that satisfaction when something she had envisioned was made a reality by her own hands. She loved that feeling and it was one of the first times it happened when involving other people. She finally started feeling a little more content about being appointed the leader.

They had decided on a training schedule and Bakugou had even asked Todoroki about his powers on his own accord. A few more minutes of wait until she would bring up some more team stuff again, maybe some team attacks? She'd wait until everyone had eaten half of their fill. Not too early to make Katsuki get aggravated at being disturbed in his pancake eating and not too late that he might make a run for it after he had eaten his fill already.

Her planning was flawless! Take that, doubters! Social awkwardness? Get out of here, you've been replaced! Ruby Rose, mastermind of treats! Now her victory was inevitable and it would be DELICIOUS, which was clearly the best kind of inevitability!

It was then Ruby noticed the first sign of ruin. Something was wrong. Her brow was twitching, what did she...?

She forgot to cool the rest of the drinks. They were already luke-warm and totally not tasty. She glanced to the side and saw Katsuki's features slowly darkening...

"Allow me.", Todoroki spoke up and used his semblance to cool all the drinks and bottles on the table. She'd have to find out what Todoroki liked, because he clearly deserved a reward for that save. Wait, the maple sirup? He didn't freeze it, another crisis averted! Take that, Murphy!

Ruby exhaled a breath she hadn't noticed she had held. Why was her brow still twitching though?

Suddenly Lie Ren looked up and turned his head to one of the walls. Ruby's blood ran cold. Were his ears twitching? She knew that kind of look, it's what her dog Zwei looked like when he heard some animal or caught a whiff of something.

The kind of look Zwei always had right before...

...he would inevitably...

...run off somewhere!

Ruby's eyes widened, she opened her mouth to speak up, she could still save the meeting, she just had to stop him before he could...

"Team leader, I'm sorry, but I've got to be somewhere.", Lie Ren said, already standing up and jumping straight out of the open window. Ruby stared at his suddenly empty seat in utter disbelief. She turned her head to the window and screamed "No, wait, please dooooon't!" after him, but to no avail.

She then felt a pat on her shoulder and looked at Bakugo, who smirked?

"Oh, shut the dramatics, runt, that just means more pancakes for all of us!", she heard him say, while he started putting most of Ren's pancakes on his own plate and even throwing a pair on Ruby's plate. Todoroki quietly took the rest of them, in silent approval.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Meanwhile Lie Ren saw a shocking sight that filled him with intense fear, a miserable fallen form he knew all too well. The signs were obvious and he didn't have much time, so he immediately turned around and went back the way he came from.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Ruby's eyes were still wide while her mind was rattling, thoughts about how she could still save things, Bakugo still seemed at ease, sharing the pancakes was even friendly! The meeting was half-way done, the less important half, sure, but they now had a training schedule and that had to count for something, didn't it? Improvement! Yay!

Maybe she could even...

It was at that moment Lie Ren suddenly climbed through the window and, with a single fluid movement worthy of an experienced multi-classing ninja/waiter, took away all of their plates with all the food on them, mumbling "Sorry, it's an emergency." under his breath and then disappeared in a flash, all over the course of the time span it took the others to blink dumbfoundedly.

A few moments there was a deathly silence.

Then the sound of a vein popping with rage.

Katsuki flipped the table with a huge blast of his semblance and a resounding "WHAT THE FRICKIN HELL!", closely followed by Ruby's heartbreaking "Noooooooooooooooooooooo!" echoing through the campus...

* * *

For a moment, Weiss was sure there were two Izukus.

It took a quick shake of her head to rid such an insane thought from her mind, letting her realize he was just perched beside some kind of tiny tree in a tiny clay planter on his desk. From what she could observe, he seemed to be looking back at something on his desk, then back to the tree, all while muttering that familiar chittery nonsense that seemed to only came from him, Ruby, and squirrels. When he finally began to pull the pruning scissors away from the flora, she coughed into her hand before crossing her arms. "What on earth are you doing, Izuku?"

Her voice was enough to snap him out of whatever fugue state he'd lulled himself into, jumping in his chair before quickly spinning around to look at her. Huh. Even now he and the tree still seemed similar, save one had a big grin on its face. "O-Oh! Hi Weiss! I just got this bonsai from our Botany class, and I wanted to study up on the technique for working with them!"

"...It's a plant. What's to know?"

"That's the whole thing!" That seemed to excite him even more, and she wished she could take it back as soon as he held up the surprisingly thick book. "Sure, you can cultivate it however you want to, but a proper bonsai has certain qualifications on what limbs to prune, the style, and even using wire to adjust how branches grow for proper aesthetic. It's actually very in depth! There are even particular breeds of plant that are considered appropriate for bonsai work."

Against her better judgement, she leaned in to examine the book, then the plant, and then back to her apparently insane leader. Of course, it sounded just like something he'd enjoy, tending to plant life with some personal flair which required lots of small effort to build up to turning that bush into the oddly stylish bush that was on the picture. It was actually rather admirable, not that she would ever admit to it, though something in what he said did stick out in her mind. "That sounds... I'm going to say fascinating, but I'll never understand why you took the botany elective in the first place. It's not like we'll be roughing it in the wild or anything." That was obviously why they took food with them in the first place. It was just good sense!

From the way his brow took a confused furrow, he seemed to disagree. "But what if we lose our rations or packs? It's always good to have some wilderness survival tricks, like what plants to eat, boiling water, and even that thing about moss growing on one part of a tree." He seemed to be getting excited again, but there was something odd about that sentence that stuck out at her.

Several things, actually, but she chose to focus on the strangest to start. "What thing about moss? What's moss?"

He opened his mouth to no doubt explain with all the speed of an untethered engine, when it snapped shut. Izuku blinked, then tilted his head to the side in a way that reminded her of a puppy. A cute, but very confused puppy. "It's plant life that grows in shady places, such as rocky overhangs and trees. Like fungi, I guess."

"Like mushrooms? Disgusting! Why would anyone care where it grows on a tree?"

"Because people say you can navigate by seeing where the moss grows?"

"Can you?"

"Actually not always."

"Then why on earth would anyone think it was a good idea in the first place?"

As she focused on forcing down her revulsion, Izuku took a breath and set his book on the bed before speaking. "Weiss, I don't want to sound rude or anything, but do you know anything about wilderness survival?"

The very thought of wanting to know how to rough it in the woods made her straighten her back, nose rankling at the imagined dirt, smells, and general unpleasantness of nature. It wasn't natural! "Why would I need to? That's what civilization is for, to get us away from dirt and sleeping in trees like animals."

"B-But won't we be taking missions that leave us in the woods? It'd be nice to know what berries you can eat and what others are poisonous."

"Wait. There are berries out there that can kill you?!" She didn't realize she'd grabbed him by the shirt in her panic and drew him to her eye level, noses only a few scant inches apart as he frantically nodded. Her lips drew into a scowl and she looked at the bonsai book that had started this entire mess. A few moments ago it had been a simple peculiarity, but was now the started the entire horrific idea of death that could be brought about by her carelessness. And he had mentioned boiling water, which she was beginning to suspect was not so you could brew tea. There were an entire tableau of things that she may need for the future. And she knew just who to learn from.

With a smile that was so saccharin it instantly put her leader on edge, she let him go and reached out to gently brush out the creases out of his shirt. And no, she didn't find she liked the feeling of his solid chest muscles, thank you very much! She had other things to focus on for now! "Well then, I suppose there are some things I could stand to learn about the wilderness...if you're willing to maybe teach me?" Her bravado ebbed as she drew closer to the actual request. Could she have made it a demand? Of course, but after he'd tried explaining the hazards to her already it would be horrifically crass to just command him to give something he'd already been willing to share.

But more than that, Izuku deserved to be treated better than some servant. He was the leader of their team. A responsible young man.

Maybe even, possibly, conceivably, they could be considered friends?

From the way his confused just melted into a soft smile, a small part of her genuinely hoped he felt that way. "Sure thing, Weiss. We haven't covered much in class yet, but I do know plenty from home. Grab your chair and we'll start with the basics." He turned to push his bonsai to the side while she went to fetch her chair, quickly picking up another book and sitting down. As Weiss set her chair down beside his, she quietly thought about how she'd pay him back for this kindness. Of course he'd just say she didn't need to, but he was taking time out of his day to help educate her. His infuriatingly sweet generosity deserved something, though that would have to be decided on later.

For now, she was learning about berries.

Heck, maybe she'd find something to help him with in the future...

* * *

For a moment, Izuku was sure he was imagining things.

He took a moment to stop the leisurely return to his team's' room, having left Pyrrha and Nora to their private spar while he went to review his notes for Professor Oobleck's class. And just outside the door, he heard it. A quick mental search told him that while the song was rather catchy, it wasn't something he heard before, much less at a volume he could hear it from the other side of the door. Obviously someone had been listening on their scroll earlier and simply left said scroll open, he told himself as he shrugged and reached for the handle, unable to help but hum along with the beat.

Compared to what Weiss was doing, it was a dramatic understatement.

The Schnee heiress had her back to the door and her hair down, head bobbing in time to the beat that had utterly absorbed her. As the instrumental picked up, her shoulders rolled back, the simple effort being carried all the way down her curling spine down to her shifting hips in one smooth motion, knees bending and rocking with the tempo before she spun in place. It was almost hypnotizing to be honest, the energy and skill combined with the sheer joy that radiated from her like a small sun. He wanted to stay right there and enjoy the chance to see her literally let her hair down, but he very much doubted she'd take the unintended intrusion very well. With all the care he could muster, he slowly began backing for the door, hoping that she'd stay in her little world for a few more seconds.

Which is, of course, when the elegant pirouette ended with her facing the door, Weiss' eyes crisp blue eyes snapping open and pinning him in place like a deer in the headlights. Her exuberant smile was instantly replaced by a look of growing horror, the color seeping from her face as comprehension sank in. "Wh-Wh-Wha..How..?" Her attempt at words just dissolved into her mouth and forced her mouth to flap open and shut uselessly before finally snapping closed. Rather then say anything just yet and embarrass her even more, he simply turned around to closed the door, though not without noticing Weiss out of the corner of his eye as she lunged at the scroll to snap it shut. By the time he had come back around to face his teammate, she had at least managed enough personal control to finally stammer out a sentence. "H-How long were you there for?" Her eyes were firmly locked on the floor now, expression almost as if she was either berating herself or expecting to be berated.

Why she'd think she deserved such, he couldn't even fathom, but he did have enough of his wits together to respond. "N-Not v-very long. I heard the music and I..kinda was curious." He winced at how feeble the truth sounded to him, scratching the back of his head as the awkward silence hung between them like a noose. Desperate to keep her from getting angry at him or herself, he latched onto the first stray thought that crossed his mind. "You looked so cool! How did you even move so smoothly with the rhythm? I thought dancing was all just awkward moving with a partner or something." Thankfully the compliment shook her out of her self-reflection, and the questions seemed to bring that familiar focus to her face.

While he did like seeing the relaxed and smiling Weiss, there was something about the way she could so completely focus on a topic that he was always impressed by, smiling all the more as she spoke. "I'll have you know that dancing isn't just flopping around like some fish. I've been trained in various forms and styles since I could walk." Her back straightened and a small smirk curled her lips. "I'd daresay I'm almost as good a dancer as I am a singer." He couldn't help but be in awe, thinking about the kind of dedication and effort she had to put in. Even if what he saw was just her having fun, it was still really impressive, and actually explained some of how she was so agile in combat.

"Can you teach me how to dance?"

The words practically leapt from his mouth before he could stop them, breaking her haughty expression and making her stare. He scrambled to explain. "I-I mean I don't expect to ever be as good as you, but I did hear we have school dances and stuff, and I was kinda hoping I could look cool and not embarrass myself..." His voice and confidence trailed off, his embarrassment so heavy it was pulling his head down until he was staring at the ground unable to even apologize of he insulted her.

Which meant he did get to watch her bare dainty feet slowly moving around him, trying to ignore the soft 'hmm' she made as she moved before standing in front of him. "Well, I suppose I have had the actual training, and I could show you something basic like a waltz." His head immediately snapped up at that chance, grinning from ear to ear as he nearly moved to hug her even as he felt his eyes watering. He had a chance to look cool! To maybe get a little coordinated and not embarrass himself and his team!

But before he could embrace her, Weiss daintily reached out and pressed her palm against his forehead, pinning him in place with her hard stare. "On three conditions; One, you follow my instructions to the letter."

"Yes!"

"Two, you tell no one I'm teaching you. I'm doing this because you asked, not because I want to be a dance teacher."

"Of course!"

"And three," She paused to lean in. "If you tell a soul about what you saw earlier, they will never find the body. Understood?"

Rather then respond, his head meekly bobbed in agreement.

She stared at him a long moment, then nodded and went to pick up her scroll. "Take off your shoes while I find some proper music." He saluted and quickly went to untie his shoes. Learning to dance from a real girl?! His life just found new ways to get better and better!

"And watch your hands, or I'll make you eat them!"

"Right!"

* * *

"Remember, you have an assignment due next week" Port reminded the class.

A chorus of groans resounded around the room except for team MNVW. Instead, most of the team looked expectantly at their leader, Izuku. The reason for that was simple. The assignment they had was an essay about beowolves. Something that Izuku happened to have a notebook about.

"We got this in the bag!" Nora fist pumped the air.

"While I won't put it as bluntly, I do agree that Izuku's notes will make this assignment much simpler" Weiss stated while Pyrrha nodded her head in agreement.

"Um, guys" The three girls of tem MNVW looked towards their leader. "Do you really think my notes would be good enough?"

The three girls paused, and in one swift motion looked at one another. They then turned their heads back to him.

"You write like a textbook."

Izuku wasn't quite sure whether to be flattered or offended by the statement, so he just settled on sighing, and followed his team toward the assignment.

…

"Remind me again why we're in a middle of a forest?" Weiss complained.

"My notes are all second-hand. I only got information from stories and books so it would be much better to get some first-hand information right?" Izuku replied.

"Well, it's a nice team outing" Pyrrha backed him up.

Weiss puffed out a breath of air but still continued to trek the forest with her team.

"It's Beowolf season! Let's goBeowolf hunting!" Nora exclaimed, holding her hammer at the ready.

It didn't take long before they came across a beowolf. As luck would have it, that particular beowolf had strayed from the pack. A single Beowolf was a rare sight to behold.

The team hid from sight as Weiss set up multiple glyphs of increase weight. It didn't take long for the beowolf to walk over one of the glyphs.

As soon as it did, Nora came flying from her hiding spot and came down on top of the grimm, pinning it to the ground with her hammer.

"All ready, fearless leader!" Nora shouted.

The rest of the team came out of hiding and walked towards the beowolf. Now that the beowolf was trapped by Nora, Pyrrha and Weiss would act as lookout just in case anymore grimm came while Izuku would study the trapped grimm.

Izuku knelt down in front of the Beowolf's head and got to work analysing everything he could. From the amount of teeth it had to the texture of its fur to its sense of pain.

"Hmm, If I do this here then how would it react? Does it feel more pain here?" Izuku mumbled to himself.

"Yeah! Break its legs!" Nora cheered Izuku on but he was way too far into his own world to acknowledge it.

Pyrrha and Weiss looked on in shock at what they are witnessing. It looked like something out of a horror movie.

"This… This is just wrong" Weiss muttered under her breath.

"I know it's evil but I can't help but feel bad for the thing" Pyrrha said, her eyes wanted to tear away from scene in front of her but her body wouldn't let her.

Weiss slightly nodded her head and gulped. She barely even registered that she even did anything. The only thing in her mind was that she never wanted to be that beowolf and hoped that those inquisitive eyes of its torturer would never be turned towards her.

The two members of team MNVW would shiver whenever they saw Izuku writing in his notebook while mumbling or whenever they heard the words 'break its legs'.

To think that even after that, they still had so much more about the Grimm to learn...

* * *

"So, with all that said, finishing the Alpha of a pack of Beowolves first isn't necessarily the best course of action to choose. While a lack of leadership will hurt their teamwork, which will help harm their harassment tactics if the pack is trying to hunt you down while you try to get away, that isn't much of a factor if you already decided to stay and fight in the first place. Because if you instead choose to stick around, the rest of the pack will most likely still attack even without any more guidance by their Alpha, simple bloodlust taking the place of its orders. In fact, a lack of a leader presence in the pack may even lead to a prolonged fight, since occasionally an Alpha Beowolf may order his pack to retreat if the pack lost a substantial amount of its members."

"They'll never retreat _without_ an Alpha to pull them out of their fighting frenzy though."

Izuku stopped, getting an idea and breaking into muttering, while he quickly scribbled a few more notes on the page.

"Of course, if the mission would be to basically eradicate the entire pack of Beowulf's, that fact could be abused to ensure none of the lesser Beowulf's will manage to get away. Specifically useful as a tactic if the fight is happening in an urban combat zone, where even one stray Beowolf could easily kill or injure ordinary citizens."

The girls waited until Izuku reread his new notes and changed some slight things in the wording, then reread it to them in a non-mutter. By now they were all used to Izuku's meticulous procedure of adding anything new to his journals. Disrupting that process had proven to only take more time in the long run and it was as good a time as any to just nibble some more snacks or refill their drinks instead.

Or to add something to their own notes. By now Izuku had copied all of this journal to the girls' scrolls, which made him severely regret the fact his school-provided model wasn't good enough to do all the same things with. The girls had decided to start taking notes on paper during their sessions so as to not rub that fact into Izuku's face any further.

Finally their leader seemed satisfied and put down his pencil again.

"The next Grimm we will talk about is..."

Izuku couldn't resist the usual dramatic pause before flipping the page.

"... the King Taijitu!"

"We'll break his legs!", Nora immediately and helpfully uttered out her usual go-to tactical advice.

"Oh please, Nora, it's a _snake_ Grimm, it doesn't even have legs!", Weiss grumbled.

"We'll just break his ribs then, same old, tomato, to-ma-to.", a non-fettered Nora replied.

"It's a Grimm though, it doesn't really have ribs either.", Pyrrha chimed in.

"True." Izuku answered, "A shame actually, because breaking its ribs could otherwise end up in those ribs poking out through its scales and slow it down severely or serve as a gripping point to break its body armor wide open with."

"Magnhild will still flatten it either way. That whole damage immunity of Grim due to their homogenous nature doesn't really apply to my kind of battle tactics after all, does it? Regardless if it's me hammering at their head or using my grenades for explosive damage or me riding on them."

"She has a point.", Izuku conceded, to which Nora happily nodded along. "Well, except about that riding part."

"Magnhild is the best and you don't know what you're missing by not riding!", the girl added in a sing-song voice.

"Still, Nora, you should take this a little more seriously.", Weiss chided her.

"Well, it wasn't me who ended up in last place in our last Grimm pop quiz, Weiss."

The young Schnee immediately jumped at the slight.

"My throat was dry and you know it, I missed those two questions due to taking a few sips of water! And I was only last by a single point of difference either! And only in that one, single quiz, usually you are in the last place!", the young girl fumed.

"Sure, whatever lets you sleep at night, princess of the dead-last!", the orange-haired girl teased, sticking out her tongue at Weiss, who ultimately decided to take it in stride. And to never allow herself to place last again, on her name as a proud Schnee!

While the friendly teasing did prolong the Taijitu lesson, Izuku didn't mind at all. He got a warm feeling from the friendly atmosphere and was quite simply overjoyed his team was working so well together. He shuddered a bit when thinking about Ruby's problems with Bakugo, he really dodged a bullet there. Izuku felt truly blessed and just enjoyed watching their antics for a bit.

"So, which sort of Grimm is next, Izuku?", Pyrrha inquired at some point, intent on keeping the meeting productive.

"The next Grimm we will talk about is a new one we haven't covered at all so far..."

And with a flip, Izuku revealed the Grimm`s picture. It had a rather weird and deeply unsettling appearance, even for a Grimm. Which was saying something. What from afar could have been mistaken for a rider on horseback was actually a horse-like creature consisting of an equine main body and a skinless humanoid creature fused with it, that had spikes along its spine.

Its forelegs were shaped like claws and its hooved hind legs had a rather characteristic shape too. The humanoid body had sharp, curved horns on the head that also sported a closed slit of a mouth and it bore a long pair of arms, each arm ending in two clawed fingers.

None of the others noticed Nora's head dropping down at the mere sight.

"... the Nuckelavee!"

Weiss looked at it, swallowed, then frowned in disgust. "Now that is one ugly Grimm if I've ever seen one. Downright hideous."

"Since it's the first time we're covering it, I'll start reading out what I've already got on it. Which is not all that much, I'm afraid. From what I've heard about it, it's a pretty rare one too, so there's likely little any of you can add about it."

"I sure haven't heard about it", Pyrrha spoke up. "While the name rings a slight bell, nothing of worth. I think I can recall hearing one killing a pair of seasoned hunters though, that also used to be former battle champions. So it should be a formidable foe.", Pyrrha mused aloud.

"Now that, Pyrrha, is probably a real understatement. The Nuckelavee is said to be quite intelligent and that's a factor that apparently leads to them getting older and more powerful at a higher frequency than most other Grimm species. To be frank, the chance of encountering one are rather low due to its rarity, but due to its threat level I figured I'd bring it up for the off chance of it ever happening."

"Yeah, the off chance of it ever happening. Probably one in a million. Like being struck by lightning. Won't happen to most people and for sure not twice...", Nora muttered in a somewhat hoarse voice, her voice getting lower towards the end. Weiss and Pyrrha gave her a look, but Nora's was still looking at the table, so they focused back on Izuku's explanations, who was simply too involved with his notes to have noticed anything out of the ordinary.

"While both of its halves apparently can't function at the same time, regrettably that isn't much of a real weakness. The switch in control apparently happens near-instantly and the disarray of its movement often serves to throw hunters off their game, surprised by the sudden movement shifts and irregular rhythm. So it could arguably be seen not as a weakness, but as a disguised strength instead."

Izuku stopped reading when Nora stood up and walked to the door, still holding her glass.

"I think I need some fresh air. I'll be back soon."

Pyrrha looked after Nora, raising a brow. "Can't that wait a few moments? We`re almost done with this Grimm."

"I guess.", Nora answered without turning around. Her eyes were intently focused on the small wooden hammer residing close to her bed, though none of the others could see that from their angle.

Izuku continued, while Weiss turned to open the window to let some fresh air in.

"There really isn't all that much left to say.", Izuku admitted. "I guess we could all take a break after this one. No real sense learning when we're getting tired, since the knowledge likely wouldn't stick. The Grimm's arms are rumored to be slightly elastic, increasing its range somewhat. And it's shrieks are supposed to be rather loud, potentially serving as a minor distraction in a fight. But I could imagine they might be increasing the chance of panicked civilians by a good amount."

Izuku checked his notes a final time to see if he'd missed anything, before coming to a close.

"With all that being said, the Nuckelavee is still said to be dangerous enough to attack and depopulate human settlements up to the size of small towns entirely on its own and thus considered..."

The sound of glass breaking disrupted Izuku.

All three members of Team MNVW looked confused for a moment, before noticing that Nora held the broken remains of her drinking glass in her clenched fist. Red liquid dropped down from it, but the shine of aura protecting Nora's hand revealed it couldn't be actual blood, it was just the cranberry juice they'd had that day. Still, the sight of Nora's trembling form silenced her entire team at once.

After a long moment of silence Nora finally spoke up in a voice bar of emotions that sounded so very alien for her.

"Leader, I`ve got a few things to contribute this time. Better take notes like you always do, because I won't say it twice."

Izuku opened his mouth, but Weiss quickly grabbed his hand, motioning him to stay silent.

"The Nuckelavee is eerily slow when approaching, with only the unnerving sound of its hooves and of its arms getting pulled over the ground, occasionally cracking its knuckles. Which makes what comes after worse. That 'somewhat increased range' you mentioned? Try a dozen meters or more instead, at pretty much every angle, including upwards, with great aim. And great speed it barely even needs to bother using due to having that range. It's 'minor distracting cries'..."

Nora paused for a moment, before continuing in a much lower voice.

"...are actually horrific shrieks that leave grown men sobbing and weeping wrecks that can't bring up any will to fight back anymore, nor to even run away."

"You just hide, knowing fully well that it will find you at some point, but being frozen in place regardless. Covering your ears with your hands won't help either, the shrieks are so loud, shrill and unnatural they pierce that easily, but you can't stop covering your ears when hearing it regardless, knowing there's no hope left that it will not find you in your hiding spot, no matter how small and insignificant you might be..."

The three shared disturbed and worried looks, unable to disrupt that side of Nora they saw for the first time, who was so different from her usual bubbly self.

"But you definitely got that depopulating towns part right."

With that sentence, Nora had suddenly opened the door and just ran off. Before her team could follow her, she was already out of sight. While they searched for Nora, they just couldn't find her. She didn't return that entire night either.

 **xXxXxXxXxXxXx**

That night, Ren, who had been woken by his scroll, looked at the simple message he got from Nora, consisting of just three simple letters.

His own name.

Lie Ren immediately left through the window to find his friend.

It had taken even him some time to find and get to Nora. She sat on a building's ceiling and stared in front of her with a thousand yard stare, even when he sat down beside her. He touched her shoulder, but she clearly didn't want to talk, he could tell as much. So he didn't talk either.

After a while she pulled out her scroll though, pulling up a file.

"My team... talks about Grimm. For training purposes."

He could tell from her voice she must had been crying before.

"Today we got to... this one, Ren."

She weakly handed him the scroll and Lie Ren took one look. And immediately froze. After some long moments with his own thoughts, he just slided closer to Nora and put his arm around her, with her doing the same.

Both sitting together silently, just being there for each other. Because there wasn't anyone else that would really understand. But that one person was enough. It had always been that way for them, ever since that day.

* * *

 **E/N: Starting out we have "A Simple Plan parts 1+2" by Vandalgyon, Followed up by "Deal With the Deku" and "The Swing of Things" both by Preventer Squall. Then we get "Documenting A Beowolf" by thebebb, Before ending with "Grim(m) Memories" by Vandalgyon, which had a decent chunk cut off for the sake of a more sombre ending.**


	23. This Kid

"SMAAAAAAAAAAASH!"

Another gust of wind, another torrent of sound, more broken bones and more pained cries from his lips. Honestly, at that point, he was actually kind of glad that it had started to become so routine. While the pain hadn't dampened, Gods know that if he stopped feeling pain he'd pretty much start panicking about how he was losing his mind, but the fact that he'd started to be able to brace himself for it, that he'd long since stopped recoiling and just desperately grabbing onto a limb to try to stop the pain, it was a sign of improvement in his book. As was the praise he heard coming from Glynda.

"I have to admit, I didn't think you'd be pushing your theory so far so soon but... well, there you have it." Izuku looked down at his hand; broken and shattered. But that was it; just his hand. His arm was completely fine. His wrist was a little worse for wear but even it wasn't completely broken. He was learning to focus One For All more and more into the furthest reaches of his extremities... he was so close now. If he could just get that last push, just that last little bit of effort, his idea would become manifest. His potential to use One For All without crippling himself would be realized, at least, in a sense.

'Just a little bit more, just a little bit more and-'

He felt Glynda's Semblance surround him before he could even lift his other arm up to try.

"Let's not go breaking your other hand until it's completely healed up, shall we?" He nodded, slightly sheepish, as she dragged him back over to her. It might be slow progress thanks to the fact that he was being stopped to rest but, on some level, he did appreciate what Glynda was doing here. She was trying to keep him from ending up like how she found him... and while it was frustrating that he was not making a great deal of progress quickly, he did know that it was better that he didn't maim himself in the process.

On some level, anyway.

* * *

"You see kid, while the size and strength of your opponent is important, being sufficiently skilled with your throws here can ensure that, even against a larger foe and stronger foe, that you can still get a handle on them. Now, what you're going to want to do is step in with your right leg, swing it behind my left see? Now, push with your hips and your left leg and - WOAH!" Izuku followed through with Toshinori's instruction and, rushing forward, slammed his back onto the ground. Toshinori was blown up into his full Hero Mode for the sake of the exercise so he was a little less concerned about potentially hurting him than he might've been.

That being said, he couldn't help but flinch a bit when Toshinori's back hit the floor, including the back of his head.

"Woah! Toshniori a-are you okay! I'm sorry, I should've given you a bit more heads up-"

"That was fantastic work young man!" Izuku flinched back a bit as Toshinori shot back up to his feet, nearly knocking Izuku on his butt as he did so. "You're taking to these lessons quite well Young Midoriya. I had expected as much but I didn't think things would be going so smoothly." Izuku smiled a bit as Toshinori said that, sheepishly scratching the back of his head as he looked down to the side.

"W-Well, you're also a really good teacher Toshinori..." With that the large man laughed that enlivening, light-hearted laugh of his as he nodded before, suddenly-

"GAAAAH!" Toshinori popped down into his deflated form, blood spewing from his mouth, and Izuku couldn't help but scream.

"AH! TOSHINORI, ARE YOU OKAY, YOU-"

"I'm fine young man, I'm fine... went Hero a little earlier today to deal with some crime down in town. I guess I was pushing my limits today." Toshinori wiped the blood off his face with his hand as he spoke, nonchalantly rubbing the remainder off onto the leg of his pants.

'That's right,' Izuku'd seen the report on his Scroll in between classes that day. Toshinori had been spotted at several locations throughout the city stamping down some of the robberies going on as well as some White Fang activity. In a robbery turned hostage situation, he'd managed to not only save all the hostages without them getting hurt, but he took out all the robbers by knocking them out cold.

"Yeah I read about it. It's really amazing what you're capable of Toshinori." Izuku really couldn't help the shine in his eyes. Even after all that time, even after knowing Toshinori's secret weakness, Izuku couldn't help but admire him as his idol and Hero. The exemplar of what he wanted to be as a Huntsman. Toshinori grinned a bit in response, obviously pumped up by the praise from his successor... but then it looked like a thought crossed his mind as he rubbed his chin.

"What I'm capable of huh... that's right..." Izuku blinked in some confusion as Toshinori nodded and mumbled to himself, his teacher turning to him. "There is something I wanted to talk about last week Izuku but... well, the mood wasn't right and I didn't want to dump it on you when I didn't feel like I was ready to." Toshinori scratches the back of his head as he nodded over to a bench. "Come on, let's have a seat. Let you take five before we keep up with the training." Izuku just nodded slowly as the two of them walked over, Izuku practically feeling the tension rising in Toshinori as he thought very carefully to himself, crossing his arms slightly before reaching one hand up to rub at his chin

"... Kid, your team did great during the practical training last week. You all had the odds stacked on you with probably the hardest combination of droids and assignments but, hey, you managed to pull out a few nice tricks and passed with flying colors... a few points removed for stabbing the hostage not withstanding." Izuku blushed a bit red as Toshinori says that, his teacher just crossing his arms again as he spoke. "But there was something I wanted to bring up with you in specific, partly because you're the leader of your team and partially because... well, One For All." Izuku swallowed a small lump in his throat hearing Toshinori bring up Izuku's, and his, Semblance.

"... The robots in the exercise weren't just robots if you remember right, they weren't meant to be stand ins for members of the White Fang. Now, you weren't necessarily supposed to take it to heart, after all, they look, sound, feel and, in most ways, act very much like machines. We wouldn't expect you all to consciously treat them as other living beings." Izuku eyes went a bit wide as he realize dthe point Toshinori's about to make. "Now, those robots were made to be sturdy and members of The Fang will have Aura to help back them up... but... well... if those had been people in the middle of your first blast Young Midoriya, they could've very well died."

The air hung a bit heavy as Toshinori finished, Izuku's eyes wide with panic as Toshinori turned to look at him...

"WOAH! Calm down young man! Take a breath!" He did so, gasping for breath as Toshinori patted him on the back. "Calm down. I'm not here to lecture you for blowing up a bunch of training robots without thinking about it. Gods be damned, if I were that anal then I doubt we'd get anywhere with your training with One For All without me constantly trippin' you up with moral conundrums." Izuku took a relaxing breath after Toshinori's reassurance, turning his gaze to him.

"So... what is this about then, Toshinori?"

"Right... listen, training's for training. Pushing your limits and making sure you can get stronger. Heck, your attack there will work wonders on the Grimm and for clearing out large pockets of them. And... if a situation is desperate enough, yeah, it'll be good to turn the tide. Hell, I wouldn't even have this conversation with most students your age because very few of you are capable of killing someone in one go..."

"... But I am."

Toshinori nodded.

"Yeah kid. Most people aren't as capable of taking a hit as that Giant Nevermore was." Izuku saw Toshinori scratch the back of his head. "So I just... wanted to have this conversation. Get you thinking about your potential. Not just in what good you can do, but in what harm you can do as well." Toshinori pointed to himself. "I'm constantly having to check my power when I go Hero. Kid, One For All in your hands is dangerous... but for someone as experienced with it as I am, with how strong my own Aura is on its own? I could demolish all of Vale in a handful of hours if I really set my mind to it."

'... Well that isn't a terrifying thought or anything.'

"It's what reminded me of this conversation; you talking about what I'm capable of. I'm capable of a lot young man, but that goes both ways. A lot of potential good and a lot of potential bad. I could very easily kill the criminals I'm faced with if I'm not careful. I don't think about it often because I've gotten so used to it but... yeah, what I did today was an example. I step a little too hard, push a little too much, and the story might change from me saving everyone with no casualties to... well, you get the point." Toshinori turned back to Izuku. "Don't get me wrong, I don't think you're the kind of person who'd use One For All recklessly. Hell, if you were then I wouldn't have given you the power in the first place. But... well, you're not like other kids young man. You have a lot of power for someone your age. You'll need to learn faster than anyone what you can and can't do with it and what your limits are going to be... and the limits of what your opponents are going to be. All of this will be even more important to keep in mind when you can start controlling more of One For All than just 0 and 100 percent."

"So last week when I saw that combination attack of yours I was both impressed and... not gonna lie, a little spooked. It reminded me that with the right amount of clever thinking you were capable of stuff like that even so early... and with less clever thinking that One For All would make you capable of stuff like that. I didn't want to bring you down or talk down to you or anything... I just wanted to have this conversation to make sure you understood what I meant…"

"Do you understand what I mean, young man?"

"Yeah, I think I get it." Izuku nodded in what he hoped was understanding as he turned to face Toshinori. "You're asking me about being responsible with my power and what it can do." Seeing that Toshinori gave him a satisfied nod, and Izuku felt his face harden as he looked his Hero and mentor in his sunken eyes. "I understand Toshinori. Despite all the good One For All can do... it's a powerful Semblance... but that also makes it dangerous. If I'm not careful with it... someone could get hurt." He clench his fists. "All that means is that I have another reason to work hard so that I can control it! I have to be able to protect everyone when it comes to using One For All, both from others and from my own power!"

Toshinori was silent for a moment as he took in his successor's answer before a wide grin stretched across his face.

"I figured that'd be your answer, but an old man like me just wanted to hear it." Before Izuku could tell Toshinori that he was still not all that old his hand came down on the top of his head and messed his hair. "Now then, enough of this crap, let's get back to work. Can't exactly go through direct training with you while I'm in this state but we can work on forms well enough. So get your butt up Young Man, we've got a lot of work left to go." Izuku couldn't help but smile as the spirit returned to Toshinori's voice, the man pushing himself off the bench as he headed back into the arena. There was a moment where he hesitated though, a moment where Izuku felt his curiosity burning in the back of his mind. There was a question left hanging, that Izuku buried deep in his mind before he could voice it. But that night, it pricked at the back of his mind...

'Has Toshinori ever killed anyone?'

* * *

"Mmmm... Izuku?" Izuku cracked his eyes open as he left his meditative state, his partner sitting across from him, legs crossed in her own meditative position. The two of them had sat there for an hour or so, getting in some Aura training, as instructed by Pyrrha, before getting ready for tutoring. Izuku and Pyrrha had been getting ready to move up into more strenuous sorts of training now that he'd passed into his second awakening, but given that it was still so fresh she advised some of the lighter training to help ease him into it, to help him get a good feel for the Aura passing through his body.

In all honesty, it's working. He was feeling the new rush of Aura through his system as he meditated and... well, it felt good. While nothing would ever hit that high of the first few moments of his awakening, it was still very close. The sensation of new power intermingling with the strength of soul that he had come to be familiar with... it was actually a bit intoxicating. It made him feel comfortable, safe, warm and just... strong. In a way that he didn't feel way back when he was younger.

"What's up Pyrrha?" he asked, eyebrow quirked as the both of them started to relax, it being clear that his meditation was being put on hold or, if it was about the tutoring, ended in favor of him teaching Pyrrha what he knew.

"Well... it's just something that's been on my mind after your second awakening. You've only recently awakened your Aura, and before that most experts said you were a Moon Child, correct?" Izuku noded, that having been well trodden ground for the both of them. "Right. Well you've talked about that a lot and told us alot about what life was like for you then... but I don't think we've actually heard anything about the day you had your Aura awakened or who did it for you."

He froze up a bit as Pyrrha said that, Izuku fighting his body as a nervous sweat threatened to break out across his skin. "I mean, if all the experts told you that it was impossible then this must've been someone who was greatly experienced with Aura and training it for him to recognize your weakened Aura as still capable. Plus I can't imagine what it was like for you to have it awakened after so long... so I was just a little curious. What was this man, or woman, like? What happened that made them discover your potential."

'Oh boy…'

He looked off to the side as he gathered his thoughts. He supposed a question like that was bound to pop up eventually. After all, while they'd spoken at length about his experiences, he had never really enlightened anyone about his meeting with Toshinori in any way shape or form. He didn't even give out vague answers really… he just avoided the topic all together.

'It was only natural that someone would ask about it sooner or later,' he admitted to himself, 'Now the question was how to handle it.'

Izuku didn't consider himself much of a skilled liar but... well, it might've been possible that Pyrrha would believe him no matter what he said, provided it sounded reasonable. 'Still... I really don't want to have to lie to her...it feels...wrong.'

' And just asking her to avoid it entirely might give off the wrong idea as well; this was a happy moment for me and, even if I never directly spoke about it, it's clear it was a 'good' moment when my aura Aura was unlocked.'

If he said that he really didn't want to unveil any information about it, people would just take it as being something really important. Which, granted, it was but he didn't want people to think that. Finally he really doubted he could come up with a good distraction to keep her from asking that ever again or, more realistically, in the minutes after the distraction was done. Still, he couldn't tell her the truth either. He'd promised Toshinori that no one would know...

And Pyrrha wouldn't. She wouldn't know about Toshinori, his condition or One For All. He could give her enough of the truth to satisfy her, he was sure. He just needed to be careful...

"To be honest... I ran into them kind of on accident?" He chuckled nervously as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head, Pyrrha seeming a little surprised that he deigned to give her any information at all after his silence. "You see... a while back, a handful of Grimm had somehow gotten past Mountain Glenn's defense system and they were running wild. One of them ended up cornering... someone and I... kinda... sorta... ran in to try to help them." Pyrrha blinked slightly, though there was some clear amusement in her green eyes.

"This being before you had your Aura unlocked, correct?" She's smiling as she says that and while Izuku did sigh, it's with a slightly amused grin on his face as well.

"Yeah, I've kinda always been like this. Stupid, reckless and... not really thinking things through when it comes to situations like this."

He swore he heard her mutter 'I wouldn't call it that' under her breath before he continued on.

"Well... needless to say I really didn't do anything much. I couldn't handle the Grimm that was there, heck, not a lot of the Hunters who were there could at all either. In the end I just ended up being a distraction while... they came. Afterward the person came by and we talked a little bit. I told them about my dream and my... condition... and they said they might be able to help." He scratched the back of his head. He was mixing up the order of events a little, of course, but he didn't really think that mattered too, too much.

"I don't really remember what exactly happened, sorry to say. The entire thing was just kind of a rush for me and by the end of it, I had my Aura. Afterward, they asked me to keep them anonymous, so I can't tell you who they were. Sorry to say but after what they did, it's the least I can do for them. It's not that I don't trust you, it's just..." Pyrrha shook her head.

"It's okay, I understand. Though I'm just a bit mystified as to why someone who did something so kind would want to keep that secret." Izuku shrugged a bit helplessly as he scratched at the back of his head. He knew why of course but it was better to just be vague about it. "Still, thank you for telling me Izuku. I didn't know they asked you to do that but... well, it's good to know this, I think." He blinked a bit and tilted his head to the side as Pyrrha smiled. "It helps me understand my partner a bit more. Gives me a little more insight." He nodded in understanding as Pyrrha elaborated, though he couldn't help but, in turn, feel a few of his own curiosities bubble up.

"Pyrrha, would you mind if I asked you something I was curious about?" He decided it'd be polite to ask first. After all, while not quite as invasive... he thought? It'd still be polite to ask Pyrrha before barging on ahead. A slight smile and a shake of her head gave Izuku the okay to go right ahead. "Your weapons, the spear, the short sword, the rifle and the shield. I can't imagine it was easy learning to use all of those at once, especially considering you use your spear and shield in two manners as well."

Honestly, it really did boggle his mind. Using her shield as a defense, using it as a offensive throwing weapon, the use of her spear as a close-combat and somewhat long spear or using it as a javelin, both of which he had come to understand as distinctive skills and then finally wrapping it up with a short sword. Oh, and let's not forget the fact that the spear and short sword could also turn into a 'rifle' that could fire at some pretty considerable ranges.

All of which she was proficient at. That's what really boggled the mind was that Pyrrha was so good at using every single weapon in her arsenal. Crescent Rose, on its own, was probably the single-most difficult weapon to use that Izuku knew of simply because that was the nature of the Sniper Scythe, but what Pyrrha was doing was taking a handful of moderately difficult or even simple items to use in combat and then 'mastering them all at once'.

"It's really kind of incredible that you're so good with all of it... but I have to assume that took a lot of time, right? Time you could've spent doing other stuff or focusing on mastering a smaller suite of weapons. Instead you've gotten really amazing at using all these different kinds of weapons so I'm just wondering what drove you to do so?" A slight blush colored Pyrrha's cheeks as he described her skills, the former tournament fighter just shrugging her shoulders as she looked off to the side.

"Oh it's not so incredible..." His disbelieving look caused her to chuckle as she shook her head. "Okay, maybe but really, it isn't that impressive when you consider the amount of time I put into all of it." Pyrrha folded her legs a bit as she spoke, getting into a bit more of a comfortable position. "Part of it was my manager's idea."

She stopped for a second, almost as though she had smelled something truly foul, before shaking her head, and continuing.

"Mistrali Tournament fighting can bring you up against a wide range of foes and opponents, all of which brings their own sets of weapons and skills. While you haven't been on the Mistrali Tournament scene, your fights with Mitsu and Owari should give you some insight; they're both a little more on the long-range side, but they both brought unique talents. I not only fought people with unique talents but who, on the whole, brought a whole suite of skills. Some were best in close range, other long range and some just depended on their abilities or Semblances to get an advantage. The idea was that if I was capable of fighting at all different ranges myself, then I would be in a position to challenge and beat just about anyone."

"Which was correct... and my own natural talent for fighting helped me to accomplish this. It's not like other people haven't thought of specializing in every range of fighting of course, but most just don't have the time, patience or talent to do so in so many fields... I ended up having the talent and the patience and time was just made for me to specialize in it all." She scratched her arm a bit as she looked down a little. "I also liked the idea myself. It gave me a sense of control over any battle I'd participate in. No matter who I'd be up against I could feel certain that, with just a switch of a weapon, I'd be able to meet them on the field of battle and then take control of it myself. My Semblance helped a lot with that..." Pyrrha chuckled slightly, as if a stray thought came across her mind.

"In the end my school even allowed for most of my work in the tournament field to count toward my grades. After all, if the 'Invincible Girl' wasn't suited to fighting Grimm or taking down criminals if she ever decided to stop fighting in tournaments, who would be? Of course, we've seen that I lack a few skills that you and some of the others do because of that overspecialization." Izuku nodded, both his eyes glancing over to the books he had ready on a nearby desk. When they both were done with the Aura training, he'd be moving on to continuing to tutor her about Huntsmen and Grimm. Information that she seemed to know general knowledge about but really lacked the firm academic grounding he might've expected. "I just didn't have the time for anything else besides that... not my studies or much else." She scratched at the back of her head as she said that, a slight frown crossing his features. He looked down for a moment, trying to think of how to shift the mood, before brightening up a bit as he looked back up to meet Pyrrha's gaze.

"So what about the high heels then?" Pyrrha's green eyes blinked as she looked back up at Izuku, confusion clear on her face. "I mean, I tried to ask Weiss about hers and she just said that they were 'combat heels'. I guess I get it, like, if you kick a Grimm it's going to hurt more, but wasn't it really uncomfortable and really hard to learn to fight in them?" He saw the wheels behind Pyrrha's eyes as she processed what he said. Soon enough a small grin formed on her face as Pyrrha placed her hand over her mouth to conceal a few chuckles.

"Well, I certainly don't know much about 'combat heels' but for my case... well, it was just an image thing. I looked taller and more imposing in them and it made me look more refined. So I learned how to fight in heels and... well, now I'm so used to it that I barely even notice when they're on. I just got kind of used to it." Izuku nodded, figuring it had been something like that, as Pyrrha gave him an appreciative smile. "Well, I think we're done with Aura training for the day. How about we go ahead and move on to those studies?"

"Sound good to me Pyrrha." He nodded in agreement, both of them clearly ready to move on.

* * *

"Alright ya bunch of newbies! Huddle up and listen close because, while I'd be more than happy to repeat myself, Professor Aizawa here will be less inclined!" Toshinori declared, nice and loud, as he stood next to Professor Aizawa, the seemingly sleep deprived man just nodding numbly next to him as, at the same time, he rubbed at his ears from the noise Toshinori was making.

"Right... thanks Yagi..." Toshinori seemed a little put off, but just for a moment, as Aizawa stepped forward. "Yagi's already explained most of the meat behind this exercise so I'll go over the actual finer points of how you'll be scored on it. Scattered around Beacon Academy's campus, and I mean the 'entire thing' are going to be three targets. One is myself, one is Yagi and one is an Atlesian Droid. The Droid is programmed with the patterns and behaviors of an Alpha Beowolf and will act as if it is with a pack. While it won't attack you upon being discovered it will force you to give chase. Tag it and you'll be given a score there."

"Then there's Yagi who'll be taking on the behaviors and mannerisms of an adept criminal. He'll be fresh off a 'heist' and his primary goal will be to give you the slip while he hangs on to his bag of loot. Tag Yagi and you'll be given points from him. Finally there's me, and I'll be a 'Hunter'. Find me, tag me, earn some... bonus points." They all raised their eyebrows as Aizawa leaned his head back and pulled out a bottle of eye drops, plopping them in. "To pass you only need to tag the 'Grimm' and 'Criminal' targets. Get me and you'll just earn some additional points in both Toshinori's class and mine. If you are finding schoolwork to be a bit hard or the exams a terrifying prospect, this could be your chance to mitigate whatever plunge your grades might take from them."

"Alright, so where are you all gonna be?" A voice called out from the crowd as Aizawa turned to it.

"You won't know... and that's the challenge." Everyone muttered amongst themselves as Aizawa turned to face all of them. "If you all have been paying attention in other classes you'll be able to get a good idea of where the Droid might be on campus or where Yagi will be hiding or or running around in to avoid you. Think of places where Grimm might congregate and places where criminals might slip into in order to try to give the law a run for their money... as for Hunters? Well, you'll have to get creative in figuring that out. Only one or two of you will probably end up finding me... if any of you at all. You have to figure out how to find a Hunter if you're going to get me... that's the only hint I'll give you." Everyone just blinked at the very vague description Aizawa gave. "Of course if you find the Hunter and not the other targets then that will be counted to your pass or fail here... but that goes without saying, honestly."

"When the horn sounds in five minutes you'll have an hour to start hunting around for us. Good luck." With that Aizawa and Toshinori quickly vanished, leaving them all to stand around and think about their options.

'Alright, so, we have an hour to do all this,' Izuku began to run through the scenario in his head, 'That's fine. I can work with this.'

If he took his time at various locations he was sure that he'd be able to spot out his targets (if they were, in fact, there which you hoped they would be) before moving on. As his fellow students immediately ran off in search of the various targets, he rested his hand on his chin as he thought deeply about the various considerations in play. Lacking any kind of in-depth knowledge about criminals himself, he realized that finding Toshinori, wherever he'd end up being, would probably be the second hardest task. He decided to leave that to the side and focus on finding The Grimm first. He knew plenty about the Grimm, him have a full notebook about them, and so he was left just thinking over some things carefully. Given that it was programmed to think and move like a Beowolf, he imagined that he wouldn't find it out in the open or easily. It would be looking for a wooded area as well, it was... he hesitated to call any place a Grimm might live a 'natural habitat' given how unnatural the Grimm themselves are but, hey, that description matched what he was thinking better than anything else.

That left two options in Izuku's mind; the Emerald Forest's treeline or the Beacon gardens. The gardens seemed like the easier logistical fit; after all, they were closer to campus so the signal would be stronger and the Emerald Forest itself would be a much harder sell given that it was actually legitimately dangerous.

'However…'

Going by Aizawa's wording, Izuku did think that the Emerald Forest would be the stronger option. And, actually, thoughts about the signal strength of the droid and worries about safety did give Izuku an idea; maybe it wouldn't actually be 'deep' in the Emerald Forest but, rather, on its periphery. Some place students could get away from quickly and that wouldn't attract too much attention.

With that in mind he quickly headed off.

* * *

He'd figure that an Atlesian Knight would stick out like a sore thumb when stomping around the Emerald Forest acting like an Alpha Beowolf. Honestly, when he 'did' eventually find its tracks, Izuku found that yes, they were quite easy to find.

It was finding those tracks in the first place that took up time, however. The Emerald Forest's treeline wasn't exactly all that small, quite the contrary it was quite long and quite expansive, much like the forest itself. Izuku supposed, for his own sake, that Toshinori and Aizawa wouldn't have the Atlesian Knight wander off too far, like near the cliffs where the forest would cut him off from Beacon Academy's more general campus, but even cutting that out it still left quite a bit of ground to cover. Thankfully he did find it eventually and, for his trouble, Izuku was treated to the rather amusing sight of an Atlesian Knight, stiff joints and all, trying to walk around like Beowolf, a few digital howls being released from it as it moved around.

Honestly, it got a good chuckle out of him right before he set on 'tagging' the thing. Izuku didn't know how exactly he was supposed to tag it and, after chasing it around for a bit, he found that his Scroll vibrated when he managed to close the distance to it. A quick read of his screen showed a small checklist, The Grimm, The Criminal and The Hunter, with 'The Grimm' checked off from the list.

Well, that answered one question and raised another; 'tagging' a target was just getting close enough to it for his Scroll to register whatever the heck it was register.

'How...how did my Scroll know this?'

He just kept looking at it for a moment.

'Did...did Professor Aizawa tamper with it somehow…but, well I guess it is Beacon's Scroll really...but Weiss and Pyrrha have their own scrolls...did he-no Izuku get back on track. Ask the professor later.'

For now, he just started to run back off toward Beacon's Campus; it was time to catch a criminal!

* * *

Ten minutes gone and he hadn't found Toshinori 'anywhere' near the CCT. He had searched high, he had searched low and he had searched amidst the people running around, their bags held in hand, as they tried to make their way to the CCT and away from it in order to get on with their busy lives. Izuku'd noticed a great deal of students during his searching as well, all of whom were searching either around the area or were heading off to the residential area to search there. Or, Hell, some were even heading back to Beacon Academy itself and the teacher's lounge. Izuku and some others had split off somewhere along the way and began searching the various back corners of Beacon's Campus, looking for Toshinori and trying to find even a trace of him.

He was honestly not sure if he was glad or embarrassed when he ended up finding his hero and mentor with a burlap sack on his back and a bit of cloth tied around his head to disguise his blonde hair, the two antennae-like strands of hair pushing the cloth back a bit as they stood up straight. Izuku supposed it was fitting enough; he'd tied himself up and thrown himself onto an Atlesian Droid last week in order to play his Team's 'hostage' during that live exercise. Still, that he found him just around a corner, keeping an eye out for students, showed that he'd managed to catch him unawares...

Either that or he was so good at playing his role that he was-

"I sure do hope a Huntsman doesn't stop sitting around thinking and confront me while I have my bag of loot on me. That would be a poor way to end my villainous, criminal career."

Okay no he knew Izuku was here. The young man just sighed a bit as he scratched the back of his head.

'Well if Toshinori was supposed to be playing some common crook…'

"CRIMINAL SCUM, STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU! WHY?!" Toshinori's head practically snapped as he turned to face the sound of Izuku's voice as he jumped into the backalley of the two buildings, gathering up his best face as he placed his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest.

"BECAUSE I'M IZUKU MIDORIYA, AND I AM HERE!"

...

...

...

"AH-HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAAA! HA HA HA HAAAA HA HA HA!" The silence between Izuku declaring himself and Toshinori busting a gut laughing only held for but a few moments as the Symbol of Peace and Hope's laughter started reverberating across the alley, one hand held tightly around his burlap sack while the other was placed against his forehead. The titan of a man bent forward and back as he tried his best to contain himself from his laughter.

Izuku, on the other hand?

 **VRRRT!**

"Huh?" Toshinori was snapped out of his laughing fit at the sound of Izuku's Scroll vibrating, the Symbol of Peace and Hope just looking down at the little device as he held it up close to him, its screen showing 'The Criminal' being checked off.

"Gotcha." Izuku said with an embarrassed blush as he sheepishly scratched at the back of his head. Toshinori, on the other hand, just stared at him for a long moment before, eventually, his signature smile stretches even further across his face.

"Well done Young Man!" His voice boomed nice and loud as he set the burlap sack to the side, the sound of... pots and pans, Izuku thought, clattering around as he clapped him on the shoulder. "While you aren't the first person I've seen today, I have to admit, your strategy for getting in close to me was quite... unique." Izuku saw his smile threaten to give way to more laughter as he coughed into his fist for a moment. "Good work young Midoirya, you've found your Criminal."

"Thank you Toshinori, sir!" Izuku quickly correct himself to try to sound much more official, knowing that if anyone came by hearing Izuku sound in any way casual with Toshinori might tip them off to the two's relationship. "If you don't mind me asking, sir... why the back alleys? I mean, that's kind of stereotypical an where a lot of people would look first. Why not go to the CCT or the Residential Area to try to hide out?" Toshinori just grinned nice and wide before motioning to himself. Izuku blinked for a moment, slightly confused, before more insistent hand gestures from Toshinori finally tipped him off...

Oh right. Toshinori Yagi was a man who pretty much cleared seven feet tall, easily, was super muscular and had giant blonde strands of hair standing up even taller. It'd be hard to miss him.

"While a Grimm's pattern of behaviors can be easily memorized and best guesses as to their location easy to surmise simply because of habit, even in more intelligent ones, criminals, you'll find, are much more aware. While someone not too bright or easily panicked will just go out and try to find the place where they can hide among people, those with more sense in their head will realize their limitations. Some of them are simply too tall to stand around normal people unseen. Others are just very easily recognizable... if the criminal we asked you to pursue in this test was Adam Taurus, I don't think you'd have a hard time imagining why we wouldn't place someone who's supposed to 'look' like that at the CCT."

Because they'd stand out like a sore thumb; everyone knew what Adam Taurus looks like. If a Hunter didn't find him in a crowd, people would surely point him out.

"Back alleys, as you say, are stereotypical but often serve that purpose precisely because more clever crooks will realize that, while hiding in a crowd can be good, if you're spotted easily or too readily recognizable then the advantages of being in a sea of people will turn into an immediate disadvantage." Toshinori jabbed a thumb toward himself. "For me, I would've been being stopped by just about everyone out there... maybe not for the reasons this test would like, but for similar enough reasons. And with my physique I'd be easily spotted out. Thus, I would need to change my thinking if I was going to hide successfully... as a Huntsman, a big part of your job is anticipating that."

"Like I said, the Grimm can be easy to predict but people? People are very volatile young Midoriya, and some can be quite clever. Always keep your wits about you and not only anticipate what you think will be the best move but what your 'opponent' will think will be the best move. If you're able to keep both things in mind then exercises like this, and more, will be quite easy for you. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir!" Izuku gave a firm nod, a wide smile on his face as Toshinori just nodded.

"Very good! Now then, I have to imagine that if you, of all people, are here that means you've found The Grimm already, correct?" he nodded again, Toshinori's smile widening. "Excellent, then you've passed with time to spare. I assume you'll be going for The Hunter then next, correct?" Izuku nodded again as Toshinori's brow furrowed, interest obvious on his features. "Well? Do you have a plan?"

Izuku sheepishly scratched the back of head, chuckling slightly.

"Yeah, I do. Though whether or not Professor Aizawa will like it... well, it'll probably remain to be seen."

* * *

Shota Aizawa was many things. Unkempt, unshaven, generally considered poor company, the weird guy who sleeps in the cocoon looking thing...

Oh, and maybe he just happened to be the Eraser Huntsman, one of the more feared Urban Hunters to make the scene in the past twenty years.

And he just got an... interesting call from Glynda Goodwitch.

"Mr. Midoriya asked me to give him your locations just now, said he was looking for you. I was... confused when you didn't appear to be in your office. Should I redirect him?"

Izuku Midoriya. A very weird kid, all told. Poor combat scores back at Mountain Glenn, but noted for being an academically minded sort. A weird one for Toshinori to pick out as his favorite in that school year. Toshinori was loud, brash, loved the attention he got and jumped into situations without thinking. Izuku Midoriya, conversely, was quiet, often seemed to lack even basic amounts of self confidence and self-worth, shrunk under the attention of his peers... and, as Aizawa become acutely aware, thought through situations with a mind for picking them apart and making the best move he could.

'This kid...' The thought rang through his mind as he dripped a few drops into his eyes, blinking slightly. He'd told Glynda not to worry and that he was just out for a bit of a stroll and to send Izuku his way.

Yes, the kid who repeatedly managed to find the little nooks and crannies in his instructions that he could squeeze through to succeed, above and beyond considerations for his own glory or ideas of pride, was an odd match when it came to Toshinori. There were only two things about the two that made them even remotely similar; their Semblances and their sense of heroism...

Maybe that was the important part for Toshinori. After all, the kid seemed to practically transform himself during the Initiation when he needed to, going from meek and worried to rushing in to danger to save his partner, even at his own expense. The Semblance was... impractical, in Aizawa's opinion, but he knew he was taking lengths to control it better. Plus, whether Aizawa liked his Semblance or not, the kid had the personal combat capacity to fight the Grimm. Took on three Beowolves by himself, after all, and really that's all anyone needed to be a Huntsman. Whether their Semblance was suited to killing Grimm wasn't something taken into account, especially if it was a Semblance that could be used elsewhere.

It'd make him a bit of a hypocrite if he held it against Izuku Midoriya that, in common situations, his Semblance wouldn't be useful against the Grimm.

If he had thought that Ozpin had any sense when it came to teams, he'd swear that's why Izuku's team ended up the way it did. Team MNVW, once it really got down to mastering that aspect of itself, would be a strong combat team. The team as a whole would be able to handle most Grimm on their own, and most criminals, with that smash of Midoriya's being an ace in the hole. Of course, Ozpin was irrational and insisted on randomizing the teams or, in his words, 'allowing destiny to settle things'.

If it weren't for the ways in which Ozpin was a perfectly rational Headmaster, Aizawa would swear he'd have left the school above the annoying complains of his partner insisting he stick around.

"Uuuh... Professor Aizawa?"

Speaking of.

The professor looked down at Izuku Midoriya as he looked up in turn. He'd gotten himself a nice little perch on the school grounds, a random rooftop that wasn't easily accessible. The elevator stopped on the floor below and you'd have to find the service stairs in order to make the rest of the way up. Most students wouldn't go through the hassle and those that might be inclined to do so would probably be too busy looking literally everywhere else for him, inspecting every last corner to try to find him.

It was a solid combination for deterring people finding him on accident; too much work for some and out of the way from those who might be inclined to check.

The only people who'd find it would be those who had some sense.

"Midoriya." Aizawa answered back, his tone its usual gruff monotone as he stared back at the young man. Izuku was sweating a bit, clearly wondering if he was were somehow displeased with him showing up in the manner he did, before he lifted Aizawa's Scroll up. "Tell me Midoriya, how familiar are you with the functionality of your Scroll?" He blinked at his professor a few times in some confusion, before snapping in realization.

"Oh you mean like how it could randomly tag the targets?"

"I guess that's a start, yes." Aizawa raised a hand to keep him from asking his next question. "Relax, I didn't mess with your Scroll... it was programmed like that from the start when you got handed it. A lot of features that we didn't quite explore at the start." Izuku nodded but... he still looked curious.

"Then what about the people who came to Beacon with their own Scrolls?"

"Part of the application process is the promise that you'll drop off your Scroll to be inspected by Beacon Academy. It's mostly to make sure you aren't bringing anything malicious into the school or something we don't know about but... well, we take the opportunity to make sure you all will have what you need going in. Scrolls don't exactly come with programs linking them up to the Sparring Arenas on their own, after all." It made enough sense and it was one of the things Aizawa was quite glad that Ozpin thought through. "But that's not what I'm talking about." He finally finished fiddling with his Scroll as he showed the screen to Izuku Midoriya. He didn't really get a moment to take a good look at it before his own Scroll starts to buzz and shake. The young man quickly pulled it out and looked...

"Hey, this is-"

"A beacon to my location. I'm keeping it limited to you for now but I could spread out that signal to either anyone I have contact with, any student whose information I have or just any Hunter with this program in their Scroll in general." Aizawa put his Scroll away into his pocket as he did so, his eyes boring into Izuku Midoriya's. "Fun fact; while every other teacher on campus has been instructed not to come if a signal like that gets sent by a student participating in this exercise, I would have."

"What? You mean it was that easy?" Aizawa grinned a bit, though it couldn't be seen under the wraps bundled up around his shoulders.

"That easy." The professor reached under his wraps to scratch at his chin a bit, the hair underneath itching. "I have to admit, I haven't had a student go out to ask a teacher for where I'm at, but I suppose it works under the same principle of what I'm trying to get at here." He looked back at Aizawa as the older man crossed his arms. "Given what happened to you and your partner in the Emerald Forest, I don't think I need to explain to you that often times a single Hunter won't cut it for a job. Even when you get really good, often times one man isn't going to be enough to see to it that everything that needs to be done in a mission will get done. It's an overused example but it works; even Toshinori didn't save everyone in Mountain Glenn on his own, several other Hunters had to be around to help keep people safe while he did the work he did." Aizawa watched him nod in understanding. Good, at least it wasn't coming off as some kind of foreign idea to him.

"That's why you're assigned partners and teams early, to help build that sort of mindset... still, there will be times where a job will surprise you. Where the resources and people you bring in to accomplish a goal just aren't going to be enough. In those cases..." Aizawa cut it off, motioning for him to pick up the piece.

"... We need to call for help." he nodded as Izuku seemed to catch on.

"A Hunter will always be found where there's trouble Midoriya... and if we know there's trouble, we'll arrive even sooner. Sending signals like this, or any other sign that you're in danger, can and will save your life." Aizawa crossed his arms. "Or you can go looking for help beforehand. There's no shame in admitting when a task is too much for you to handle on your own or with what resources you're initially prescribed. Not asking for help or looking for it because you're proud or stubborn is just irrational. More likely to get you or your team killed than anything." Izuku Midoirya gave the professor a somewhat grim nod as he said that.

"Sir... if I didn't know about this, then I can't imagine the others would have either. How were we supposed to find you without getting this information."

"... Well, they can do what you did and just ask."

...

Aizawa watched as Izuku Midoriya slapped himself on the forehead. "Ask a stupid question kid." the professor shrugged as he went back to looking over Beacon Academy. "Anyway, you've passed with flying colors. You can either wait for the time to go out and join your team after Toshinori and I get done talking to them or you can run off and do... I dunno, whatever you do in your free time. Not really my concern once class is 'over'." he saw Izuku blanch a bit as he spoke like that but he just nodded and turned to walk off.

Yeah, it really was that simple... just ask.

It said a lot, however, that Aizawa only ended up surprised when someone actually would ask.

Aizawa felt a slightly wide grin stretch across his lips as the door closed behind him, "This kid..."

* * *

 **E/N: The Heels bit we see in the Pyrrha social, was inspired by a canon omake by thebebb, but due to scheduling issues due to the glut of Outtakes that were written early on in the quest, you probably won't see it for a while.**

 **-Shovern**


	24. Eruption

"Come on Slugger! You've almost got it! Just a few more reps! Don't give up and quit on me now! Not when you're so close!"

Izuku strained against the weight in his hands as he managed to finish off the last few reps of a rather exhausting set. Several dozen pounds had been shoved into his hand before Yang ran him through a small routine that she joined him on; tricep curls, doing sit-ups with weights hanging just behind his head in his hands and good old fashioned regular bicep curls. Yang, unsurprisingly, had finished way ahead of him on those and had spent the remainder of the time it had taken him to finish trying to help egg him onto the finish line. Izuku felt It a combination of enlivening, hearing her shouting at him, and a bit disquieting but it seemed to have the desired effect. As he felt like he couldn't lift another weight in his entire life he somehow, 'somehow' manage to curl the heavy weight up to his chest before his arms collapsed onto his side, letting the weights drop to the floor with a clang as he fell onto a seat behind him, his arms feeling like spaghetti noodles.

"Good stuff there Izuku, good stuff. I think we're getting close to a breakthrough." He looked up at Yang, a genuine smile on her face as she looked down and nodded at him. He tried his best to smile back as he did so, nodding a bit stiffly himself.

"You really think so?" It'd been hard work so far but he felt good to hear that someone thought he was making progress. He Knew that on some level he was making progress but that could be hard for him to take in when, well, he was in the middle of feeling like he was tearing his arms apart.

True in 'a lot' of training situations for him those days, actually.

"Totally. Give yourself a small break to let your muscles build up and then 'bam' soon enough these weights won't feel like anything to you." The idea actually made him smile a bit... before a feral grin came across Yang's face. "And then we can start moving the weights up so that you don't start gettin' soft on me there Slugger."

...

'Why is life pain?'

* * *

"PUT YOUR BACK INTO IT MAGGOT, I WANNA SEE YOU BEG FOR MERCY!"

"NORA PLEASE STOP BEING SO HORRIFYING WHEN WE SPAR!"

Maybe that's because it's the life of a Huntsman. He thought after the spar had begun and him and Nora went right at it. The barrage of blows they both had sent flying at each other last time had been, honestly, exhilarating and had been a big boost to both the speed the spar had transpired with and the amount of effort he'd been forced to put in to try to keep Nora off of him. As mindbogglingly scary as Nora could be when she really got 'in' to a fight, it was still an experience that he wouldn't pass up. While everyone he'd sparred with or worked with pushed him to his limits, Nora seemed to do so just because the young woman barely had an in-between state about her when it came to fighting. For Nora it was either going as hard as you could and giving a fight every little bit of energy you could muster or she was relaxing and just being her bubbly self. Honestly, that describe a lot of how Nora lived her life, he'd realized.

So when Nora swung Magnhild effortlessly three times at him, he'd come to expect it. Still his first attempt at dodging Magnhild didn't... go well, let's say. He tried to predict where Magnhild was going, exactly, but he just ended up basically walking right into it anyway as Nora just swung and swung 'hard' at him. He felt his chest give a bit before his Aura pushed back against the head of the hammer, the breath being forced from his lungs before he got back to solid footing. The next two swings he was definitely keen on 'not' seeing hit him head on. With his hands raised and at the ready they dashed about, catching Nora's weapon by its handle and pushing it away as it came for him or, the second time, bouncing it off the side of Emerald Gust to keep it from striking him. The pain in his chest kept him aware of his surroundings as he did so, even as his breath became haggard.

Finally it was time for him to counter and by gum he certainly gave it his all. Both of his fists were on point as he swung twice for Nora and, were it not for the fact that he knew he wasn't going that fast, he would swear he heard the air whistle around his fists as they approached. Nora managed to dodge out of the way of one, leaning back to avoid it. However the motion only left her wide open as she was forced to bend over from the force of his second punch, Izuku giving it just about everything he could as he drove her fist into her gut. The shotgun misfired a bit, most of the clip skidding off the side of her Aura while the rest didn't find much purchase. Still, it was a solid hit and one landed way earlier than their last spar. Little by little, he knew he was improving.

Or at least that was his thought process before Nora gave him a wide, wild grin, her eyes shining with violent intent as she started swinging Magnhild again. Izuku's own emerald eyes went wide in disbelief as he saw the grace with which Nora swung her heavy weapon through the air, the head of the hammer practically flying as it glided around and around, each time attempting to clock him. His first move was to parry the head of the hammer and, with some effort, he managed to do so. However, he knew for a fact that the force of the blow knocked him enough off course that he couldn't possibly respond to the other two hits. He was forced to watch as Magnhild crashed into his back, feeling a slight 'pop' and then another as his Aura tanked the hit and then fixed whatever minor damage was done to his body in a near instant. Still, he knew that hit was about the last he could take and yet Nora's still had another coming, he knew that...

Which is why he was surprised to see Magnhild stop in mid-air just before the last swing hit him, Nora taking a deep, long breath as they both hears the little signal going off on their scrolls and on the screen above. Nora gave him a smile, one slightly uncertain, but one which immediately grew as he smiled to reassure her.

"Well, you beat me again Nora. Congrats." Izuku heaved a deep breath as he tried to catch it, wiping the sweat off his brow as he watched any uncertainty on Nora's expression give way to her usual bombastic self.

"Same to you Fearless Leader! You managed to clock me good there way earlier than in the last fight!" He smiled as best he could; hit or no, it was just the one hit before Nora managed to put him down...

But still, she did have a point. He did managed to catch her that time. In a way, it was still a small bit of improvement.

"Thanks Nora. Pancakes?"

"Pffft, you even have to ask?"

He smiled as he shrugged his shoulders. As rough as training could be, and as much as it felt like his progress was only a little bit here and there... he could be glad that he at least was making that progress alongside his new friends. That he was being supported every step of the way now instead of being discouraged like back at Mountain Glenn.

It felt... nice. It felt really nice.

* * *

"SMAAAAAAAAAAAASH!"

Still, even if the support of the people around him could keep him going in part, he knew he had to keep pushing himself forward. To accomplish his dream and to become a Huntsman worthy of succeeding Toshinori, he had to push his body as far as it would go and further. If he didn't put his all into it, even with how little progress he might make or how slow things might go, then he wouldn't ever break those walls.

"SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!"

Izuku had to keep the pressure up. He had to keep moving forward! He spent ten months before Beacon's Initiation pushing himself as hard as he could and, with some breaks, he'd kept up his pace after entering Beacon. If he couldn't spend as much time as before, what with being a leader, a member of a team and having honest to goodness friends around, on his training then... well, that just meant he had to train harder when he did have the time. When he could give the time to train.

"SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!"

As those thoughts ran through his mind he took deep, steadying breaths. Glynda had just finished patching up his hand again. Yet he felt so close. So close he could taste it. He could feel the breakthrough right at the tip of his fingers. It... it was what he'd been working toward all these weeks. What he'd been aiming for. While the finish line when it comes to One For All was still so far away that goal, that immediate goal that he'd set for himself... it was right in his grasp. He could 'feel' it there. Just waiting for him to take it.

It was with that in mind that he begged Glynda Goodwitch to let him have just one more go. To have just one more chance at it. He wasn't ruining his arms anymore and even most of his hands seem to be coming out better and better as he pushed himself.

He just needed one last try.

One more try.

"Mr. Midoriya..." She sounded skeptical. He knew he'd been saying that at times in previous bits of training with One For All. That he could make his progress with just one more swing or one more try. That time however, that time he meant it. That time he 'felt it'. He was not sure what it was that caused her to sigh, shake her head and, after finishing up bandaging his broken hand, send him off to break the other one. His insistence? His determination... that odd, nostalgic gleam behind her eyes. Whatever it was, he didn't intend to waste it.

As he brought his hand up and began channeling One For All down into his finger, down into the very limit of his being, he tried his best to contain it there. To keep it 'right there'. If he could do that, if he could just do that...

'THEN I KNOW I CAN DO IT!'

"SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!"

A whirlwind of air blows throughout the room, a small 'boom' erupted. His previous efforts produced much more sloppy results as he failed to actually mold One For All meaningfully. Something would give or break in his attempts and the energy scattered throughout, producing a weak effect that doesn't befit the damage he knew he could do with his arm...

But now? Now he was met with a result that hadn't felt all that different from Initiation. Just that instead of pain shooting all the way up his arm...

He couldn't help the tears that squeaked through his eyes. A combination of pain and pride hitting him at once as he slowly turned to Glynda Goodwitch as the blond woman just stared at him in surprise.

"Professor Goodwitch..." He grit his teeth a bit. Despite how many times he'd broken his bones now, how many times he'd utterly shattered his arm, it still hurt... but that time, it was less so. And he showed it off as best he could; by tightening his hand into a fist, only one broken finger standing out from the rest of the limb. "I did it. I can still move."

As he ended up moving over to get his finger braced and bandaged, he couldn't help but notice the small grin that marked Glynda's face.

* * *

"Alright. The next person up for a Spar is Izuku Midoriya. Is there anyone who'll step up to challenge-"

"I'll kick Deku's ass."

Izuku's blood nearly froze over when he heard it, his eyes went wide as he felt his breath catch in his chest. He already knew who it was; out of everyone here at Beacon, there was only one person he knew who would call him that name. The only person with that tenor in their voice. Izuku swallowed a nervous lump in his throat as he slowly turned his head to face his opponent.

'Kacchan.'

...

Izuku swallowed nervously as he slipped on Emerald Gust, his weapons feeling heavy on his limbs as he adjusted them. It... it was a fight he expected to come, but not necessarily one he was looking forward to having. Bakugo was the strongest Huntsman he knew, or at least, the strongest he knew before coming to Beacon. Even after Beacon, even after everything, he was still one of the best Hunters in the school. Whether or not he was better than Pyrrha was an open question in Izuku's mind, but still, he knew for a fact that in a one on one fight Bakugo was more than a match for him.

 _"Don't worry Deku. I'm just gonna hurt ya so bad that Goodwitch will stop the fight early. It won't last long."_

His friends seemed ready to back him up if he had decided to dodge the fight. Not just because they knew as well as he did that a fight with Bakugo wasn't likely to go his way, but because they knew that Kacchan... he wouldn't just beat Izuku like Owari did or Mitsu would try to do. Katsuki would beat him down, try to crush him under his foot in a fight. Try to show how much better he was than 'Deku'. They had already known they were going to 'hate' what they were going to see and hear, mostly because they all didn't seem to take Bakugo's attitude well to begin with...

But Izuku couldn't back down, not from that.

Kacchan was the person who, right alongside Toshinori, Izuku held up as an example of what a cool, capable Huntsman could be. Someone who was strong and always won in contrast to how Toshinori always saved people with a heroic smile. Even as he bullied him, he could see that Bakugo's pride, his ability, it wasn't bluster. He was the best in their school, there was nothing to doubt about that boast.

If Izuku was going to be the next #1 Huntsman, if he was going to be worthy of One For All... he had to surpass his old friend. He had to beat him. Whether that was today or later didn't matter. He had to try at least. He had to give it his all and then some if he was ever going to reach that goal, just like the others.

If that meant taking some lumps... well, he'd take some lumps.

Finally he exited the locker room, his own thoughts having slowed him down sufficiently that he trailed behind Kacchan. Eventually he made it to the floor of the arena where Bakugo'd been waiting for him. Whereas in the stands he showed off a cocky demeanor, the look he gave Izuku was serious; Kacchan intended to throw everything at him to show just how far below him 'Deku' was.

Izuku intended to give as much back. He'd thought of a plan and he thought of a good one. He couldn't beat Kacchan in a one versus one... but he could make him exhaust himself a little bit. Make him really go to the mat and tire himself out before he moved in. Katsuki's abilities require energy from himself and, while he's got a lot of it, he still only had a finite supply. If Izuku could make him burn through it by exploiting his aggressive fighting style, he might just be able to earn a win by virtue of draining his Aura.

It was a long shot, but he knew it was his best chance.

"Are both students ready?" Izuku nodded nervously whereas Bakugo nodded firmly, separating his hands from his side as he got into his own fighting stance. "Very well... let the match between Katsuki Bakugo and Izuku Midoriya begin!" With Glynda's signal, the fight was on.

And Bakugo sure as Hell let Izuku know it.

"GET OVER HERE DEKU SO I CAN BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF YOU!" Bakugo immediately charged forward, screaming at the top of his lungs as Glynda immediately jumped away from the action. Izuku grimaced but held his ground; the first part of his plan was to meet him head on. He wasn't going to be able to get away from him just by running or jumping, Bakugo's faster than him in that regard. His only chance was if he could manage to throw him; do that and he'd buy himself the precious time needed in order to get away and really start pelting him from afar. As Katsuki reared his right arm back... Izuku's body moved before he even really thought about it. Bakugo always lead with his right arm in a fight, always moved in for a big right hook. That's how he started his fights.

So Izuku quickly brought his hands up and under Bakugo's arm, ducking just beneath it and used Emerald Gust to easily bounce the blow away. Surprisingly enough, it didn't seem like Bakugo wanted to lead with one of his Explosive Impacts. Either he was taking it lightly and thought he didn't need it... or he wanted to make sure that the fight lasted.

Either way he immediately turned on Izuku, a serious look on his face as he roared and immediately let loose a volley of fists. Izuku ducked and dodged where he could, deftly avoiding some of the hits. In fairness, they were pretty far off, Bakugo trying to read Izuku and missing the mark. Still as one fist closed in toward Izuku's position he grinded his teeth and just bat it away again, the explosively tempered young man in front of him being thrown off by the glancing parry...

That's when he saw it. An opportunity. He quickly moved in and grabbed Bakugo's arm as it bounced off, his guard wide open after his failed assault. Katsuki's eyes went wide as Izuku slid in right next to his body, turning to face away from him as he violently pulled on his arm. There was a scream equal parts surprise and anger as he flew over his shoulder, the toss sending him over Izuku and into the ground back first.

 **CRICK**

The breath left Bakugo's body all at once as he gasps and, presumably, as they both hear the crack in his back. Both of their eyes widen; it's rare but there are times where there can be a localized failure in Aura. A wrong hit... or in some cases a 'right' hit and one could do some concentrated damage in just the right spot. A joint in the back overly exposed when hitting the ground, a blow striking the Aura at such an angle that it powers through to a joint. Izuku imagined much the same had happened there; something's been shocked out of place in Katsuki's back, the pain apparently on his face as he bounced off the ground. Between that and the force of his throw... he could tell.

'He's stunned. He's stunned and until his Aura fixes up whatever's wrong with his back he might not be able to get back up and challenge me again.'

His stomach sunk; that was luck, pure and simple. He 'just' managed to be in the right place at the right time with Bakugo's back somehow exposed to leave him in that state. He was open to be wailed on, to get some, essentially, free hits in while he was completely stunned. But Izuku... he...

He looked him in the eye and saw the look he was giving him. It wasn't warning him off , not warning him to hang back. It was egging him on. Telling him to 'take it'. Something clicked in Izuku's mind as he clenched his fists. Katsuki would be pissed about it. He'd be roaring in a pissed off fury because he somehow managed it. He'll try to take every punch Izuku landed and throw it right back in his face...

But he'd 'hate' it, if he was shown mercy right then and there. If Izuku didn't use that opportunity to try to win.

"Take this!" It was cheesy, but it was the best he could manage as he screamed at the top of his lungs, his eyes meeting Bakugo's as he glared back. There was nothing fanciful about it as he just laid into Bakugo's chest, landing blow after blow onto it. The punches did harm for the most part but it's his shotgun blasts that really ate through his Aura.

Until he noticed it. Bakugo's frown turning from pained grimace to enraged snarl. He was ready to get back up. After the last couple blows Izuku moved on to the second and third parts of his plan, ducking back and away from Katsuki as he did so. It took a moment as Bakugo was slow to rise, his steps somewhat shaky from the combination of the sharp pain to his spine and the blows he suffered.

"You... you bastard Deku... how... how are you avoiding me?! How did you follow all my moves?"

"How could I not Kacchan?" He answered back, causing Bakugo to pause in his steps. "I've analyzed every amazing Hunter I've ever seen or met, like you. Because I wanted to learn everything I can from you! You always lead with a right hook in your fights and you always try to throw this wild array of punches to try to overwhelm your opponent! I know it by heart by now after all these years. It's all in the notebook that you tried to burn and throw away!" He saw a glower come across Bakugo's face as he spoke.

It turned almost murderous as he turned his gaze up to face him.

"But that... back then, I was different. I'm not the same person I used to be! I'm not some defenseless kid anymore! So call me Deku all you want... but..."

"My name is Izuku Midoriya: that's the name of a Huntsman!"

A slight silence follows it as Bakugo forced himself all the way back... with the tiniest sparks of explosions forming in his palms.

"You say all that shit... but you're still shaking in your boots Deku." Izuku grimaced; he was still shaking. Despite that turn of luck, he knew that Kacchan was still capable of turning that fight around if allowed to. "And despite that... you still want to fight me..." Finally, Bakugo's hands withdraw into his gauntlets and Izuku's breath hitched red eyes turned to him.

'Well... I guess I got what I wanted. Kacchan's pissed.'

"THAT'S WHY I HATE YOU!"

Katsuki just glared at him, his teeth bared as he held onto his right hand, the telltale sign of his Aura building up inside the gauntlet.

"So you've been watching me Deku?! Well then I guess you know what this is don't you, ya bastard!" He reared the gauntlet back behind him, preparing for the swinging motion that would send the shot out. "You saw how much it fucked up the Runt in our fight so I don't exactly expect you to take it nearly as well... but it'll be fine, RIGHT!?" An almost manic expression crossed Bakugo's face as he said that, his guys glued onto Izuku's as he grinned. "YOU'LL BE FINE AS LONG AS YOU DODGE! CAN YOU DO THAT BETTER THAN THE RUNT, DEKU?! LET'S SEE IT!"

He was too far away for Izuku to get close up and, even if he could, a look up to the screen told him that he hadn't taken nearly enough punishment for one more to put him down. So instead... instead Izuku took a deep breath and reached for his left gauntlet's safety. With the flick of a switch, Emerald Gust's left hand guard slid back and away from his hand, exposing his fingers. 'Thank you Mei, you crazy, crazy gadget girl.' He stood his ground unflinching and Bakugo's eyes hardened as he did so.

"DIE DEKU!" With a swing of his arm the glow left his gauntlet... but Izuku knew better. He knew it was heading right toward him. 'Just look for the spark... I know it's coming... I know it's...'

'THERE!'

He saw it, just before it exploded. The spark of his attack, the feel of his Aura, as it flew to in front of him . Izuku took a deep breath as he brought his left hand up, positioning his left index finger against his thumb as he charged One For All into it. It ran down his arm, the power of his Semblance, of Toshinori's Semblance, burning through hi as it flew into his index finger, making it glow with power. Grinding his teeth he braced himself as he raised his hand up to aim.

And then he clenched his butt cheeks and yelled from the depths of his heart.

"GLEEEEEEEEENN... SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!"

The explosion went off first, a giant fireball threatening to overtake Izuku as he fired off the Smash... but after that, there was no sign of the fireball left. A sudden, explosive gust of wind immediately circled out from the point where his finger flicked the air, a near typhoon blowing out from the point of impact to the rest of the arena, in Bakugo's direction, as the following shock wave billowed at him. The force of the blow wasn't much stronger than Katsuki's, the shot of air heading toward him being entirely absorbed by his Aura, before it petered off against the walls of the pitted arena...

But that didn't matter. What mattered was that, even with a broken finger, even with a shattered digit... Bakugo's attack didn't hurt him.

In a way, he came out on top; Kacchan wasted his energy on that attack and it did nothing... meanwhile Izuku...

He clenched his fist, broken finger and all, as he cautiously reached his hand over and switched the safety again.

"So... that's it huh. That's the big deal, is it Deku?!" Izuku looked back over at Kacchan, a few labored breaths leaving him as a wide grin formed on his face. "Your Semblance! The big, impressive, all mighty Semblance that took down that Giant Nevermore!? Is that what you've got Deku!?"

"... No. I wouldn't use it on you directly Kacchan, or as big as it can go... I can't control it... even using it like this... it'd kill you and break me." A grimace formed on his lips, one out of anger rather than fear, as Izuku said that. "Still, against those kinds of attacks from you... it's the only chance I have of winning."

"Don't you give me that shit... you'd kill me?! Who do you think you are? You think just cause you pulled some random power out of your ass that you're better than me Deku?! Is that it?!"

"... Is that what you think... you IDIOT!" He turn his gaze over to Bakugo, meeting him dead in the eye. "You're stronger than me Kacchan! Even with that luck I need every advantage I have to make sure you don't blow me away! THAT'S WHY I WANT TO BEAT YOU! BECAUSE YOU'RE AMAZING"

"You're even more of an idiot than I realized...!" Back with that almost manic look in his eyes, Bakugo glared directly at him. "COME AT ME!" With that Katsuki charged after him earning a grimace.

Izuku considered a few options; if he used Glenn Smash right now, he had no doubt that he'd pierce through Bakugo's Aura. Which wasn't an option... but that was fine. He had his shotguns and even if he got up close... Bakugo had taken all the damage that fight. Still if he gave Katsuki even the slightest opening and he'd try his best to take the fight back into his hands. With that in mind he grimaced as... Kacchan... didn't run as fast as he could, pacing himself. As he noticed it, he just raised his arm back and opened fire with Emerald Gust, sending a spray of bullets Bakugo's way. Then watched as his old friend turned bully grimaced and, with a burst of Aura, deftly dodged out of the way of all six pellets that had been so nearly right on top of him. Izuku bit his tongue as he sped up his approach right afterward, the blond bomber jumping up into the air as he prepared his assault. He reared his right arm back, getting ready for that swing again. Izuku readied himself as he-

-Took an explosion to the face from the other hand. He cried out in pain as he felt the fire and smoke just blast him right in the face, burning his eyes, nose and mouth as he felt the force of it. It wasn't damaging as his Aura managed to bounce it back... but it wasn't meant to be powerful, he realized. It was meant to irritate him. To make his eyes water and his breathing hard.

Because now Bakugo was right behind him, having blasted himself over Izuku using the explosion that he'd 'also' used to distract him and suddenly Izuku was no longer certain he could bat the hits away. In some desperation he moved in for some swings, trying to finish him then and there. Bakugo just growled and easily sent one hit flying while he dodged out of the way of another, his movements quick and precise. Izuku's eyes went wide as Katsuki roared, his fists flying. One swing from his left went far off and he couldn't tell if it was meant to trick him or not... but...

"HERE IT COMES NERD! THAT FAMOUS RIGHT HOOK YOU WERE WHINING ABOUT!"

He felt the explosion on his ribs as Bakugo buried his right fist into his side. It wasn't an explosive shot, even without being able to see he knew Katsuki just didn't have the Aura left to pull off that kind of move.

"DEKU! DON'T YOU EVER FORGET WHAT YOU ARE!"

It was quickly followed up by his left hand burying itself into his gut and another miniature explosion going off, rocking his body. 'Holy woah...' Izuku was all too aware of what Katsuki could do but, from the way he felt it, that was practically half of his Aura entirely gone in just two hits. The only other person he knew who could do that to him was Nora... and she used Magnhild.

Kacchan was just used his hands and some 'minor' explosions.

"YOU'RE A WEAKLING!"

Izuku ground his teeth as he took the blow. Tightening his fist as far as it could go until he could practically feel his palms bleed from the force his fingernails dug into them. A linger of doubt began to crawl up his spine...but-

'No. I've come so close! Even with that luck, even if it was just luck getting me this far, I am so close! A chance to show how far you'd come, a chance to show that you'd changed!'

In the back of his mind he felt his soul sing and, distantly, he felt One For All radiating like a roaring flame.

Izuku clenched his fist and reared it back, roaring as he sent it flying forward, shocking Kacchan. He drove it into his stomach and... and he was too weak to harm him. After those two giant swings, He was just not positioned well enough or powerful enough to take the final step against him.

But he couldn't help but smile as the click of Emerald Gust followed soon behind.

One roar of his shotgun later and Bakugo was sent stumbling back, holding onto his gut tightly. And in that moment, the world stopped for Izuku.

'...'

'Kacchan'

'...'

'He's'

'...'

'Bleeding.'

'...'

'Have...have I-'

However as Glynda removed Bakugo's hands from his gut and the both of them took a close look, Izuku sighed in relief; it was a surface wound. Somehow he'd managed to find just the right spot in his Aura again...

"Katsuki Bakugo's Aura has fallen into the red and has been momentarily pierced. Izuku Midoriya wins the spar." Glynda declared in her even tone, readjusting her glasses as she did so. There was dead silence from the rest of the crowd, even his friends seemed slightly surprised by the show they'd just witnessed.

Still, in a matter of moments, they all started cheering. While some of them made efforts to include Bakugo's name in it, the loudest among them were screaming Izuku's name a lot louder. The rest of the room just lightly applauded, clearly still in shock, as Kacchan just stared down at the floor.

"Both of you did as well as you could in this fight. Izuku Midoriya, you recognized your opponents strengths and did you best to play to them. Your... Semblance is still quite... new to the floor. I appreciate your thought in restraining your use of it." Izuku recognized she was saying that for the students here, as the both of them had gone over that before. Still, he smiled. "Your foe was categorically faster and stronger than you but by thinking cleverly and exploiting openings both of your own making and offered by the luck of the field of battle, you carried the day. Well done." He nodded before turning to look over at Kacchan, the blond's head still lowered.

"Katsuki Bakugo... it was an unfortunate fight. Your opponent managed to slip through your Aura twice and inflict, if not serious harm in one case, then a debilitating enough hit that it allowed him to even the playing field. In addition your opponent's Semblance was brought to the floor for the first time at a moment you might not have been expecting it... regardless, given that information, you performed admirably. You didn't let your ill luck slow you down and, upon realizing Mr. Midoriya had a counter... however harmful, to your attempts to attack him from distance, you showed your precise control over your Semblance in your attempt to lower his defenses to allow you to quickly finish the fight before it could finish you. There's no shame in losing a fight like this." Bakugo's teeth bared themselves as he still faced the floor, his fists clenching for a moment... before they just went slack.

"You are both dismissed." Izuku swallowed nervously as he followed Bakugo back to the locker room. He expected him to blow up, to scream, to get angry and curse... instead... instead he just kept that silent look, his eyes lowered as he put his weapons back in his locker and slammed the door shut. From there he just... walked off. Back towards the seats in the arena, to be certain, but not even addressing Izuku at all.

Izuku bit his lip as he closed his own rocket locker...

He swallowed that nervous lump in his throat as you closed his locker door. 'No... no it probably wouldn't be a good idea to walk up and approach Bakugo while he was like this.' For a moment he had considered the possibility of walking up to him and saying 'good fight'... but he quickly realized that would probably end with Bakugo trying to tear his throat out. A thousand other different ideas flew through his head as he thought as hard as he could about how he could try to fix things, how he could talk to Kacchan. For as many years as he spent as his bully, he was also your oldest and, before Beacon, only friend. Sure, that relationship was pretty much outright gone but... well, there were still things about Katsuki that he admired and emulated.

It didn't feel necessarily right to leave things like that but... he just didn't know what to do or say or how to approach the situation. So he just did his best to stay quiet and hang in quietly behind Kacchan, walking along as he did so. No words passed between them, both dead silent as he stalks forward head lowered to the ground and hands shoved firmly in his pocket. Izuku was glad to see that he was heading the same way as him; back toward the arena. He supposed whatever funk Kacchan was in that nothing's was going to stop him from going back and observing more fights. It was how he was going to keep on improving... though the silence still ate at Izuku.

Finally the silence and the rhythm of their footsteps was disrupted. Not by something either of them did or said, but by the introduction of a third set of footsteps.

His emerald eyes blinked in surprise as his fellow leader, Ruby Rose, stepped out from a nearby hallway.

Ruby first looks surprised and then... genuinely stunned. Izuku could perhaps understand the surprise; she and everyone else had probably figured that Bakugo was at his throat or that the two of them would be picking up their fight out there in the hall. Honestly, He might've expected the same thing out of Katsuki, if not for the fact that he was so... unusually quiet. It's that second look, that momentarily stunned expression, that really made him just wonder what was up. As soon as a second had passed and Katsuki still hadn't said anything, just stopping in his boots and looking ahead toward Ruby, his shoulders tense and fists lightly clenched in his pockets, Izuku expected him to start screaming again.

Thing is, he didn't. His shoulders stayed slack as he kept hunched over and his hands still hung limply in his pockets. Ruby turned to Izuku, an almost apologetic look in her eyes. 'Does she...?'

He shook his head. Trying to convey that no, he wasn't trying to talk to Bakugo. He was just passing on by. She nodded and looked off behind her. It didn't take a lot of thinking to realize what she was asking for. He didn't say anything, for fear of triggering Bakugo, and quickly moved on ahead. As he passed Katsuki by he risked a quick glance behind him...

He almost stumbled when he saw the look on his face.

He did stumble a bit when Kacchan turned to look at him, a hint of the usual rage he associated with Kacchan burning just underneath the surface of his eyes. Izuku swallowed a nervous lump in his throat and walked on past, muttering a quick 'good luck' to Ruby who seemed to just nod a bit stiffly herself. When He was a ways down the hall he could hear the faint echoes of Katsuki's shouting. He thought It was... kind terrible that he'd passed off a problem he started onto Ruby, but he knew he couldn't have done anything there. He just hoped that it didn't go too terribly for Ruby.

When he returned to his friends in the arena seating, he was immediately almost bowled over by various questions-

'What the Heck was that, how did you do that, that was amazing, was that really your Semblance, how did you beat Bakugo, hey where the Hell is Bakugo, where's my sister, did you see them-.'

It was all something of a blur, that he really couldn't even remembered who asked what. When he muttered about the encounter in the hall and how Ruby signaled him to leave, everyone, especially Yang, seemed worried.

When he'd barely whispered how he'd heard shouting, Yang seemed apoplectic and was about ready to charge right back out the arena door. Just at that moment however Ruby and Katsuki walked through the door. Yang was immediately relieved when Ruby wasn't walking in with a shower of tears and barely holding herself together as she likely feared she'd see her, rather the young girl just smiled at her sister, nodded and rejoined, going to talk with everyone. There was a slightly thoughtful expression on her face, a latent curiosity, but it didn't seem like it was coming forward at the moment. Bakugo on the other hand...

Well, when their eyes met, he couldn't help but swallow a bit. But... honestly, he was kind of glad to see him like that. It fit the Bakugo he knew far more... even if it meant that he was pretty much pissed.

Such was life.

* * *

"You both have serious issues, you know that right?"

"Yeah..."

Izuku spent a bit of Friday evening finally getting down to sparring with Weiss to help her improve her combat basics. The girl really Didn't know much about Brawling at all so he was keeping it at a slightly lower burn of a pace like Yang did for him. No shotgun bracers and he was more focused on fixing up her form than on necessarily beating her... though he was trying to beat her, make no mistake about that. She needed to feel pressured if she was going to improve... or at least that was the lesson he'd taken away from his own lessons. It was actually a very slow paced affair. It wasn't like with him and Yang or Nora where yeah, he knew how to fight well enough so that there was actually a lot of action going on. Weiss was just barely starting to learn; she really didn't even have good enough form for blocking his blows with her own hands so she relied on dodging and using her Aura to boost her out of trouble. It was a slow going affair where he touched up her form here and there so it allowed for a conversation to bubble up between the two of them.

Namely, about Bakugo.

"I mean really. Your tormentor, your 'bully' is someone you admire so greatly, that you've written about at such length, that you've memorized his own fight patterns. Someone who, despite this show of appreciation, still wants to drill you down into the ground so that you feel like you're nothing compared to him. I absolutely cannot wrap my mind around that Izuku." Weiss threw a punch at him and, to her credit, it was on point and he was out of position to really parry it away... but it didn't matter so much because her form with the punch was so poor that when it impacted his chest his Aura absorbed it without even breaking a sweat.

"You see, what you're going to want to do is throw a bit more of your back into it. While punching is done with the arms, the other muscle groups help. You've gotta step in with it and throw your back into the punch if you really want to do some damage." Weiss grumbled for a moment before nodding... only to have to try to dodge two quick punches in succession from Izuku. One she boosted out of the way of... the other managed to catch her in the stomach, causing her to grunt. She'd switched from her own fancy dress to something a bit more appropriate for a brawl borrowed from Ruby, the only girl they all knew who was really Weiss' size-

Izuku felt the beginnings of a blush form on his cheeks, before shaking his head as Weiss tried to recover from the hit, 'get your mind out of the gutter. Weiss is your teammate.'

At least he didn't have to feel bad for messing up her dress in a brawl.

"Sorry."

"Don't apologize, this is what you're supposed to be doing!"

"Right, sorry!" Weiss rolled her eyes slightly, more amused than annoyed, before bringing her fists back up. "But... I guess you've got a point. Kacchan and I don't exactly have a great looking relationship-"

"Not even just not great looking, it's not great Izuku." Weiss said firmly as he just nodded.

"I know, I know. But... well... I dunno. Kacchan really was my only friend by in the day. We used to do a lot of stuff together with a lot of the other neighborhood kids. Even back then he was brave and pretty strong... I remember this one time, there were a bunch of first graders who were trying to pick on us and Kacchan took them all on at once by himself."

"Where were your parents? Surely you all were being watched?" Weiss asked, throwing another punch that he, that time, deftly knocked away.

"At home mostly. We usually were just kinda let out to wander around town by ourselves most days." Weiss seems slightly flabbergasted by that idea and the distraction was enough to keep her preoccupied while he landed another punch on her, though that one was neatly absorbed by her own Aura.

"I can scarcely imagine parents doing something like that... still, my point remains Izuku. Who cares? That was a long, long time ago and Katsuki's has been treating you like this for what sounds like years. I really don't understand why you insist on calling him such a cutesy nickname like Kacchan or why you still insist on looking up to him." Weiss shook out her head as she deftly went in for a punch that he blocked, before she dodged one of his blows with her Aura, the other missing wildly.

"... It's hard to explain. In a lot of ways, Kacchan's what I think of when I think of a cool Huntsman, a Hero. He never gives up and he's always so confident in himself. He works just as hard to achieve his dream as I do... and he really does want to be a Huntsman. No matter what, that's been consistent. Plus... well, to see someone with such a strong Semblance when, for the longest time, I thought I couldn't have one... that was another reason to look up to him." He parried away another of her punches before delivering one of his own, his fist thudding against her ribs as she grimaced a bit. "I guess no matter how he's treated me that's just always remained a constant for me. I know he's a jerk and that he's hard to get along with, if not impossible... but I still look up to him in so many ways. He's still a goal I'm chasing to be a better Huntsman myself."

Weiss seemed quiet for a moment as she took that in before she sighed. "Well... just don't let yourself get influenced by his other facets. I swear if you start walking around swearing like a sailor, I'll skin you alive myself." He chuckled nervously as Weiss said that, though the look in her eyes told him that 'she's not joking'. They both got back into their spar, one that he pretty easily won considering Weiss' lack of skill of proper strength, before the two turned in for the day.

* * *

 **E/N: For all that the beginning of the chapter reads like a training montage, the Workout with yang actually failed to improve Izuku's strength, meaning it had no effect on the fight. That is one of the awkward Mechanics vs Narrative issues that cropped up in the quest every now and then, But since this is a proper story format we can just pretend it did have an effect on his fight.**

 **-Shovern**

 **One thing that is unique about this story is how MHA's second most important character has seen his role greatly reduced. Bakugo has gone from having his own story by nearly as important as Izuku's, and the two driving one another's development, to being slightly more down the totem pole. This is a result of both the structure of RWBY, with heavy importance placed on Teams, and the choices of players on Spacebattles.**

 **While this lack of focus did affect several other characters, it was most noticeable with him and one other character that I will comment on later. This is the most up front moment of development that Bakugo gets for a while, though he does come back in a really fun way in the future of the semester. And that...well that would be spoilers.**

 **-Wind-Waker**


	25. Bikes, Burdens and Bullies

"Salutations my fellow Team Leaders! I hereby call this third meeting of the Beacon Leadership Council to order! I'll start with a simple roll call! Izuku Midoriya, Leader of Team MNVW?"

"Here... Tenya, are you reading off a script or something, I'm pretty sure you said the exact same-"

"Very good! Ruby Rose, Leader of Team RSBR?"

"I am here!"

"Excellent! And obviously I, Tenya Iida, Leader of Team TABY, am present and accounted for! This meeting may therefore come to order!" Izuku just took a bit of a breath and nodded, sighing as he figured he wouldn't get his question answered that time either. Spread out on the table were a collection of snacks as usual... but also some new things he hadn't seen on the table before. Cooked stuff. Some shrimp balls, some pasta, some various little bits and pieces of finger food.

It all honestly looked pretty good and a quick bite later confirmed it.

"Wow Tenya, this is some good stuff. I didn't know you could cook!" Tenya just smiled a bit as he shook his head.

"I couldn't before these past couple weeks. A bit of a team bonding exercise was for Yang and Tsuyu to teach us how to cook and then to enjoy the fruits of our labor. I have to admit, I didn't think Miss Xiao Long was the type who could cook up a fine meal while Miss Asui's usual table manners left me unsure as well. Sure enough though, they're both quite good at it."

"Yeah, Yang does make some pretty good stuff! It was always better when she cooked than when dad did. She makes great cookies too!" Ruby chirped with a smile as she took a bite out of one of the sweets on the table while at the same time making a small plate of the actual food Tenya had cooked up.

"Indeed. With that out of the way, is there anything that happened with anyone concerning their teams this past week? That we didn't all personally lay witness to." Tenya looked between Izuku and Ruby and the smaller boy got the sense he knew what Tenya was referring to; his fight with Bakugou. "Personally, my own week has been rather pleasant. On top of the group bonding my team has done, I've been doing my best to get to know my own teammates better better on a more personal level; as an example, Miss Xiao Long and myself spent some time going over some possible designs for her motorcycle, Bumblebee."

* * *

The secondary garage wasn't a very large place, Iida thought to himself as he stood in it. The faculty had their own parking, and students rarely had their own vehicles, justifying the smaller building being only six or so cars long with several shutter entrances. Thankfully there were normal doors on the side, allowing him to enter far more quietly to find his teammate.

At first he'd been wanting to find Yang to examine the mechashift function of her gauntlets, when Tsuyu had told him she was here working on 'her ride'. Interestingly enough, the frog faunus had actually been there herself, and was kind enough to give him directions. Normally he would have just left Xiao Long to her own devices, but a twinge of curiosity had gotten the better of him. She had mentioned 'her Bumblebee' previously, even Tsuyu had mentioned she had gone for a ride, leaving out just enough detail over the matter to make that curiosity impossible to ignore. As he stepped into the student motor pool, the display of gold made it impossible for him to miss. Though he had no idea if it was from Yang's voluminous hair or her 'ride'.

While Tenya knew quite a bit about metal and machinery, his knowledge of motorcycles was distinctively lacking. The composition of the dust-fueled engine had to be similar to a basic car, surely, but the rest was a mystery save its color and the vagaries of its design. The windshield didn't seem nearly large enough to protect her incase of an accident, though the position of the handlebars implied she had to be leaning forward to operate it, which would help provide leverage both when needed to brake and encase of collision. Distracting himself from that, he turned his attention to the color instead, which was a rather pleasant shade of yellow that seamlessly transitioned to orange in many places, with a burnt sienna near the back wheel.

And perched near said wheel was Yang Xiao Long, with her back to him and the rest of the world, her hair actually tied back into a basic pony-tail of all things. Probably to protect her hair, which certainly explained the addition of a red bandanna. She wore a pair of grey-brown cargo pants and an orange tank top, which let him get a view of her rather impressive back muscles and shoulders. Now normally he wouldn't be the kind of man who would debase himself with uncouth ogling of his teammate... but maybe one time he could possibly keep staring for a little bit before announcing himself...

"Enjoying the view?"

If anyone ever asked, he would tell them he didn't squeak and jump when she spoke, snapping him out of his momentary lapse in judgement. "M-Miss Xiao Long! How did you know I was here?" He tried to distract from the fact she'd actually gotten him to flinch after all her inappropriate comments and attempts to goad a response. After he was finished here, he would chastize himself properly for letting his baser instincts get the better of him!

She gave her head a sudden jerk to the side, apparently using that to dislodge a white earbud into her waiting oil-covered hand as she looked back at him with a wry grin. "Pretty easy." She pointed to the hull of the bike itself, which offered no real answer. It took him making his way closer to see the mirror-like sheen on its surface...and how he could even see himself in it.

Iida adjusted his askew glasses and nodded briefly. "Very clever Miss Xiao Long. I wouldn't have considered using something as unconventional as mere coating reflection to keep an eye on your surroundings."

She shrugged and began to stand up, picking up a rag she had atop her open toolbox and using it to wipe at her hands in the process. "It does the job. So what brings you down here, other then to admire mah guns?" She added some rather impressive flexing for emphasis, grinning all the more at him as he used all his willpower to stare just at her well defined biceps and triceps.

Curse her confusing teasing. But thankfully he kept his mind on the task and looked back at her face. "I heard you were working on your vehicle, and I wished to have a look for myself. If that's alright with you." The last part was added quickly, in case that was the kind of matter she liked keeping to herself. Gods knew she seemed to enjoy showing and telling all about herself, but it never hurt to be polite.

If anything, it actually made her smile even more. "Of course it is! I'm always happy to show off my kickass Bumblebee." She stepped back, letting him see the small tub underneath the bike for a currently unknown reason. "I just finished lubing up some of the parts and was about to change out the oil, and maybe I'll see if I need to change out my oil filter too. Maybe even go get some extra spark plugs this weekend while I'm at it." She briefly drifted into her own thoughts, which apparently didn't involve making some ham-fisted innuendo while he made his way around the vehicle.

He didn't know much of anything about motorcycles, but the back tire was almost as aide as his hips. He looked back at her and quirked an eyebrow. "Are all back tires usually so thick?"

The inquiry seemed to snap her from her mental checklist, blinking and looking at said tire. "It's a bit larger than the usual ones a superbike size uses, but they're more stable for on and off-road. Of course most of my baby is a custom kit. Completely rebuilt the exhaust system, better headlight, and did some work on the engine and a few other places too. I got it all for a steal doing some hunting back at Signal and doing odd jobs and deliveries for the garage I got the parts from." When she looked back at him, she noticed he was still staring at the tire, expression one of unwavering focus which was soon enough turned on her.

"Yang. What is a superbike?"

"I don't believe you're giving the idea enough consideration."

Somehow the conversation had gone from bikes...

"Fat chance. I'd have to buy the high-grade dust just to keep my baby running right."

To his family's engineering efforts..

"I still think the alterations to your engine would be more efficient in the long run."

To engines, and the superiority of dust mixing on their performance.

"And I think you're crazy."

Tenya sighed as he handed over the socket wrench, silent for several moments before redirecting the conversation. "So what gave you an interest in motorcycles?"

"I dunno." Yang shrugged and began to tighten the bolts. "I think it started with the magazines my dad had. They just looked so cool, and things kinda just went from there." She paused to give the bolts a test jiggle before continuing. "When I'm riding, I just feel so free, ya know? Wind in my face, going wherever I want."

"It sounds very liberating." He nodded and handed her the containers of oil.

A small smile curled her lips. "It really is." There was something in her tone he couldn't place, but she spoke again and disrupted his pondering. "Hey Tenya. Why did you become a Hunter?"

He blinked, startled by how seemingly random the question was, before closing his eyes and thinking on it a moment. "I suppose, if anything, it's because of my brother."

"Ooh. A hunky older brother, you say?"

He actually laughed at that. "I'm afraid he's happily married, Miss Xiao Long. But he's always been my inspiration." He held a rag out to her so she could clean her hands. "Many members of my family have been Hunters. Grandfather said being a good Hunter showed you could be a good businessman. Father couldn't, as he has never had a strong aura, but Tensei stepped up to live up to the family legacy." By now Yang had fully turned to face him and was sitting on the concrete. "He's always brave, and always gives things his all! From hunting, to learning how to run the family company, there isn't anything he can't do!" He clenched his fists and found himself grinning at her. "I genuinely hope that I can be as great as him one day."

For a moment, Yang said nothing, but slowly a smile began to curl her lips. "Well, I think you're doing pretty good so far. So don't go trying to change too much."

Tenya found himself rather surprised by that compliment, nodding as she got up and went to get something from the shelf, when he realized how poor a leader he'd been. Surely Ruby and Izuku had taken the time to actually talk with their team about themselves, to actually learn about the people they're entrusting their lives with. Him? He knew next to nothing! He didn't even know Tsuyu's semblance! He came down here to ask about her weapons, not her! If he had any sense, he would be working on fixing that...and he'd start right now.

"Yang? How did you design those weapons of yours?"

No one said he couldn't do both, and maybe hear her own motivations in the process.

* * *

"Oooh, that's pretty neat. Yang's usually pretty protective of her bike; you must've come up with some good stuff." Izuku saw a small grin form on Tenya's lips as he readjusted his glasses.

"Of course. While the Iida Family doesn't necessarily specialize in motorbikes or their maintenance, our engineering skills are top notch... and our willingness to work with a client to their exact desire makes us quite the agreeable partners and possible business when it comes to handling sensitive transactions. Miss Xiao Long seemed suitably impressed by the upgrades I suggested and appreciated that I listened into her specifications as to how to keep her, ahem, 'baby' in the same shape." Tenya adjusted his glasses again.

"Yeah, I've been... bonding, I guess, with my team too." Izuku saw Tenya look at Ruby with interest, an interest he couldn't help but match. "Oh, it's nothing bad. Heck, really nothing bad. Ren and Shoto are great as always and Katsuki." Ruby coughed into her fist a bit as she brought up his name, looking a bit awkwardly towards Izuku.

"Well, he's given me a lot to think about…"

* * *

"AAAAAHHHHH! THE STRAWBERRY KING! HE WANTS MY HEAD!"

Ruby Rose felt the panic of her life flow through every part of her body. A second later, her fear induced blindness dissipated, and her eyes began to adjust to the darkness around her. A few seconds of panic dissipated when she recognized that she was not in the land of sweets, and that she had not had her head removed by an anthropomorphic fruit.

Relief washed over her. She hadn't just been caught stealing the strawberry, chocolate cookies from Fragaria VII, and hadn't been about to be executed for "the greatest crime anyone has ever committed." No, she in her dorm, safe.

...with her team...

"OHMYGODDESSESIAMSOSORRYIDIDN'TMEANTOWAKEYOUALLUPIWASHAVINGAHORRIBLENIGHTMAREWHEREMYHEADWASCHOPPEDOFFBYTHISSTUIPIDFRUITKINGIMEANTHECOOKIESWEREN'TEVENTHATGOODYANGMAKESBETT-"

Only after ten seconds of babble did Ruby notice that she hadn't been called a runt. In fact, after all that time, she hadn't heard anything from anyone. She looked over to the other side of the room. The three other beds in the room.

"Did, did I oversleep?"

She grabbed her scroll, and pulled it open.

"6:03, that's like...dad hours."

She looked around, and tried to think about what was going on. She was the only one still in the room, and the other three had already been gone for a while from what she could tell.

"Okay Ruby, so your team is gone, nothing to worry about," she sat there for a moment, before slamming her hands to the sides of her head, "AAAAHHH! WHAT IF THEY'VE BEEN KIDNAPPED!?"

Quickly, she threw off her covers, and ran over to her drawers. She grabbed a pair of sweats lying in the top drawer, and threw them on. A second later, she bolted out the door.

"Ozpin will know what to do. He's had to have dealt wit-"

Ruby saw a light coming from one side of the hallway, only a little while away.

"The gym?"

Ruby slowly walked over to the door leading into the floor's gym, and could see that it was indeed the gym, and that lights were on over the whole gym. Could that be where the kidnappers were holding her team? Well, better be safe than sorry.

Slowly, carefully, Ruby opened the door, making sure not to cause even a single creak. She walked into the main office of the gym, that split up into three sections, a place for battle equipment in the left room, the center pavilion having general workout equipment and weights, and the right side having a pool, a sauna and locker rooms. She could hear loud clanging coming from the center room. She walked over to the door, and looked in through the window that connected the main lobby of the workout center to the weight room.

Bakugou was there. He had actually thrown his shirt off, and had nothing but shorts on. Honestly ruby couldn't understand why he did it, maybe to keep the fabric from getting in his way... never mind. But Bakugou was in the room, and was doing squats, with what looked like a... well not to put a too fine a point on it, an obscene amount of weight. Ruby could see her partner talking, and she slowly pushed the door out a bit, trying to get a listen.

"Come on you weak FUCK!"

Ruby jumped back, and nearly allowed the door to slam shut, but she caught it at the last millisecond. She then looked back at Bakugou, who was panting.

"SEVEN REPS! SEVEN! IS THAT ALL YOU CAN REALLY DO!?"

'Wow,' Ruby thought, her left eye twitching slightly, 'He's even rude to himself,' she stopped herself, 'Still, why would he be up this early. The team has had a bunch of stuff to do. Why not actually sleep to a decent hour.'

"DEKU COULD PROBABLY DO TWENTY-FIVE OF THESE YOU SHIT! ARE YOU GOING TO LET THAT WEAKLING KEEPING MOVING AHEAD OF YOU!"

'I...I thought we talked him through that,' the fight with Deku had only been three da...four four days ago, 'Keep forgetting. I am not a morning person,' She looked back at her partner, 'Maybe I should talk to him a-'

"ARE YOU REALLY THIS PATHETIC?" Bakugou lifted himself up from another squat, which Ruby guessed was his ninth rep, "EVERYONE'S AHEAD OF YOU NOW. YOU HAVE TO KEEP WORKING, NO MATTER WHAT. THAT'S THE ONLY WAY-THAT'S THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN GET IT," Ruby could have sworn she saw some rather tearlike sweat forming at the sides of his eyes, "THAT IS THE ONLY WAY YOU WILL LIVE YOUR DREAM. TO BE THE STRONGEST HUNTSMAN THIS WORLD HAS EVER SEEN!"

'...' Ruby felt slightly wrong all of the sudden. Like she was listening in on a private breakup or something, 'He...he really cares that much about being the strongest? About being a great hero. That'd he'd get up this early?'

"WHO'S THERE!?"

Ruby went full semblance and turned tail. She wasn't about to have to have that conversation right then. Bakugou and her were getting on better terms, but she could tell that in the moment, he was just a bit too raw to actually speak about it. Especially since he probably thought he would only have to go over that conversation they'd had once, and going over similar ground might damage the progress she had made. She turned quickly to her left and into the swimming area, and then into the nearest female locker room.

"ANYONE HERE!?"

Ruby didn't answer. Sometimes Discretion was the better part of valor after all.

"Chh-hearing things."

She heard Bakugou turn, and then leave the swimming area, likely going back to his weights. With how early it was, he would likely be at it for another thirty minutes at least, so she could sneak back. Slowly, she edged her way out of the locker room, and saw that her partner was nowhere to be seen. As she surveyed her surrounds however, she saw another light on in the area.

It was the sauna. The light was very low, a dull orange, and she hadn't noticed it on her way in, and she suspected that Bakugou hadn't seen it either.

"What do we have here."

Well...she had another of her teammates in the sauna. Down to nothing but a towel, she saw Todoroki Sitting in the sauna, clearly concentrating.

'What's Shouto doi-'

Her answer appeared when Todoroki held out an open hand, and suddenly a snowflake formed. It was distinctly intricate, one in a million pattern. It would have been a lovely piece of jewelry if someone could actually get it to stabilize...not that Ruby would care about boring stuff like that, no way. Just observing was all.

Todoroki just sat there, in the same position, for the next five minutes, not moving a muscle. It took a moment for Ruby to suddenly see exactly what he was doing, but once she did, she was flabbergasted. Because you see, nothing about Todoroki was moving. Not even the ice.

The ice sculpture wasn't even melting in the middle of a sauna.

She pulled her head back to check the temperature, and her jaw dropped.

'TWO HUNDRED!?'

That was insane. Even with a semblance, most people could not survive that kind of heat. To hold a piece of ice together through sheer force of will in an sauna...that was insane.

Was...was that some of Todoroki's training? Was he putting himself in this insane situation to test and push his abilities, like Bakugou was with his weights. Was he just as obsessed with becoming the number one huntsman? Ruby supposed that made sense, after all both had gotten up far too early to go and push themselves before they already had to go through school as well.

Something...something didn't feel right. Ruby stepped back, and looked back behind her. No one there, might as well sneak out. She...she felt like she needed a walk.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

The sun was starting to truly rise over Beacon, and with it, Ruby sighed with acknowledgment that she would not be getting back to bed anytime soon. She was on one of the pathways next to the track, sitting beneath a tree. She had been walking fairly well, and actually had been in the process of getting her bearings back when..

'Oh, they're on lap four,' she noted as two figures came running around again. One in green, the other in red, and both keeping stride with one another. She almost couldn't believe that someone as scrawny as Deku had the physical ability to hold his own with the Invincible girl. It was really impressive. Not as impressive as defeating Bakugou, but still really unexpected.

Yet somehow, she looked at the two, sweating and clearly tired, and felt...well she didn't know how she felt.

"I...I need to find someone I can talk to about this."

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

It had taken only ten minutes to find Ren. He had been next to a wall of Beacon, and was sitting cross legged, clearly in a meditation. She felt slightly bad about bothering him, considering Ren was clearly in his own form of training, but she needed help.

"Hey Ren," Ruby coughed, trying to get his attention.

He just sat there, not moving a muscle.

'So dedicated,' Ruby gazed in awe.

"Listen, if you don't want me to talk to you, just speak up."

He just sat there, not moving a muscle.

"Okay then," she then sat down crisscross applesauce, and thought for a moment.

"I...I was always the strongest in my year in Signal," she began, trying to articulate exactly what she was thinking, "I mean, it wasn't even really that close. I never lost to anyone my year...or even a year ahead of me for that matter."

"I-I mean I still lost, I wasn't invincible or anything," she winced at a memory, "Yang beat me every time we sparred, but...but even then, I guess I never really considered what going to school with everyone two years older than me would be like, and just how much stronger than me they would be."

Ren hadn't moved, but for some reason Ruby actually appreciated it. She was being allowed time to come up with the best words she could use, rather than having to continually try and adjust to another person in a conversation.

"I guess it started with Toshinori's class. I was certain I would be able to show him and his challenge up no problem. I guess I thought he was looking down on me because of my age," she winced as she remembered that obstacle course, "But instead, I did the worst out of anyone that day. I used up my semblance, something that hasn't happened to me for years Ren, for years."

"I thought I had returned things to normal when I beat Bakugou," she had a small smile, "But then Deku does that to, and does it by fighting him in a way I never could. But...but that wasn't the scary part."

"Bakugou got hurt because he landed wrong. He nearly got knocked out because of a failure in aura, even when he had a full tank," she felt her hands quiver slightly, "Just one little slip up, and boom, I could be Grimm Food."

"I don't know if its because I'm two years younger than everyone else, or maybe that I have been so darn neglectful, but I am behind everyone physically," water began to father around the bottom of Ruby's eyes, "And the worst part is, is that they're getting further ahead."

"I mean it, Bakugou, Todoroki, You, Deku, Pyrrha, even Yang," her hands began to clench her sweatpants fabric, "they're all training now harder than I ever have, even in school. They are all growing, and...I am weak."

The world seemed to stop. Ruby looked down in her hands. And then, she felt something deep within her that she hadn't in a long time. A small fire was beginning to pick up steam, and before she knew it, Ruby found herself on her feet. She brushed off the dirt, and then turned back to Ren, who was still deep in meditation.

Ruby clenched her right hand into a fist, and her frown became a small smirk, "You know Ren, I am weak. I am two years younger than everyone else. But that doesn't matter."

"What matters is what I do about it," Her smile began to grow, "I am going to get stronger. I am not going to let them keep going past me," her tears were gone, "I am going to pass everybody. I'll pass Bakugou, and Shouto, and Pyrrha, and Deku, and Yang. EVERYBODY!" She raised both fists into the air, and then shouted to the morning sky.

"I AM GOING TO BE THE GREATEST HUNTRESS THIS WORLD HAS EVER SEEN!"

She looked back at her teammate, having not moved at all during the entire conversation.

"Thanks a lot Ren," she nodded, "I really needed to talk all that through with someone. Good luck with the rest of your training!"

And with that Ruby ran off. She had a workout to plan. A few minutes later, an acorn fell out of the tree that Ren had been sitting under, and landed directly on his head. His eyes opened slowly, and he cautiously turned around, looking for what had hit him. A second later, he noticed the acorn sitting next to him, and scowled.

'I hate having to sleep out here,' he thought, rubbing the slowly growing welt on the crown of his head, thinking about why he had to leave, 'Darn Bakugou and his explosive snoring.'

He stopped, and looked down on the indentation in front of him, and blinked.

"...did...did I miss something?"

* * *

"But yea... he isn't doing bad either. It's not something I want to talk a lot about though."

'Well Ruby isn't being terribly subtle but I get her point…' but then Izuku shook his head, 'It's something she'd want to discuss later.'

Tenya, similarly, seemed to pick up on the same jam as both of them looked over to Izuku.

"I can't say too much exciting stuff happened between my team and I either. It was pretty standard, some training and stuff... but I do guess I... kind of have interesting team stuff to discuss." Izuku saw both Ruby and Tenya arched their eyebrows and listened in.

* * *

It had been just the day before the Leadership Council was supposed to meet up, actually.

Izuku'd had a bit of a day of it already and so, workout clothes on and stretching his limbs, he couldn't help but smile and relax. He had a relatively calm weekend planned for himself after he and Pyrrha got Autumn Bell finished up. He'd probably do a little bit of light studying, hang around with a few of his friends, check in with Ozpin and go to the Leadership Council. After having managed to squeak out a win against Bakugou, luck or not, he had decided that it might be a nice idea to just give himself some time to breath this weekend.

He took a deep, deep breath and let it out slowly, letting a serene expression come across his face. He was usually so jittery and so panicky, going from place to place... maybe just relaxing for a day wouldn't be such a bad thing?

"OW, PLEASE, LET GO OF MY EARS!"

"Well would you look at that boys, they are real! Who would've thought?" A chorus of laughter followed the taunt and Izuku couldn't help but frown, his expression paling a bit as he swallowed a lump in his throat. His eyes turned over to a nearby hall and he quietly stalked over, peeking his head out around to see if he could catch what was up.

When he'd heard Bakugou's story from Ruby, he honestly hadn't want to believe that, after what Yang had done to show up Team CRDL in the Dining Hall, that they'd actually take to just finding random targets in the hall to either pressure onto their side or bully, like they'd attempted to do with the explosion user. Yet... well, here was his proof. Right in the middle of Beacon Academy's hallways, in front of his emerald eyes, Team CRDL were all gathered up around... a girl from their classes. He had never exactly caught her name, it seemed like she did even more than most to not go noticed, but Izuku'd recognize the long brown hair and long, brown furred bunny ears from just about anywhere. They were pretty distinct as far as Faunus features go for how tall they stood up.

And now said ears were being pulled and tugged around by Cardin and his teammates as they all laughed, the girl's head following with each direction as she just kept asking them to stop pulling on them and that they hurt. Izuku was sure they did; Faunus features on anyone usually tended to be pretty sensitive.

So he didn't even think twice about what he did next.

Maybe he should have, all things considered. It took luck to beat Bakugou and while he could go toe to toe with someone whose Aura was roughly equal with his, that didn't make it easy. There were four of them and one of him, in addition to that.

Again, it was probably a good thing Izuku didn't think about it.

"What are you guys doing?! Stop that!"

Because if Izuku had, he'd probably have had second doubts about walking out from around the corner and standing as tall as he could, shoulders facing Cardin and his team. His sudden shout enough to surprise Cardin and his team, the four of them flinching slightly as they may have feared that they'd been caught by a member of the faculty. However, as they turn to face their new guest the fear melt from Cardin's face, replaced by that usual cocky expression of his... though the rest of his team didn't look quite so certain.

"Well, well, well. Look at what we have here boys. It's Iz... Deku. Yeah, our good buddy Deku." Izuku swallowed a lump in his throat as he watched Cardin keep his grip on the Faunus girl's ears, the girl just standing back, looking at the developing scene with a look of worry. "Seems like we've just got more and more good friends joining us in the hall today, don't we fellas?" There was a bit of laughter from the other members of Team CRDL as they look at Izuku, Keeping their eyes peeled. He saw that a handful of them kept glancing down to his hands while Cardin locked eye contact with him.

"Cardin... what are you doing to her! Why are you tugging on her ears?" The answer was obvious enough but it was the only thing he could think to say, his fists clenched slightly as Cardin just shrugged.

"Oh come on Deku, don't be a such a nag. We're just asking our little friend here a few questions 'cause we're curious about an animal's biology." Izuku bristled as Cardin spoke; calling a Faunus an animal was about as low brow as calling a moon child broken. The fact that Cardin followed it up by tugging on the young woman's ears to bring her forward a bit more only made the feeling in Izuku's gut churn harder. "You see, the boys and I were curious about whether these freaks' appendages are actually solidly attached or not. They look more like gag ears or something that some perverts would put on their heads after all. But my oh my, imagine our surprise when we get a good feel; a pulse and everything? Isn't that right friendo?" Cardin tugged on the girl's ears again as she just frowned, watching Izuku.

"... Yes. It's fine. There's nothing wrong. No need to start anything." The girl said in a polite tone as she did her best to smile at the green haired boy. "It's fine, really. Just move along. No need for anything to get started." Izuku saw Cardin nod as he looked back at him.

"See Deku? Just a little harmless fun between friends is all. Now, why don't you run off. The boys and I will play with you another time. After all, we gotta show 'Kacchan' that he just got lucky taking us all on." Cardin laughed a bit as he shook his head. "Man, you and that little shit have some cutesy nicknames for each other there, Deku." Team CRDL just snickered behind Cardin as Izuku frowned, looking at Velvet.

'She's obviously lying,' he thought, 'I think almost anyone could see that. She's just trying to take it so she won't cause a scene, try and keep a fight from breaking out,' he felt his fist tighten, 'they're taking advantage of her, to push her around, and make her feel small,' he felt some sweat form at the back of his head, 'if she really want to avoid a figh…'

'No, I can't just stand by and do nothing.'

He swallowed a nervous lump in his throat as he bent his knees a bit.

'Too late to really run away,' Izuku almost felt the edges of his mouth rise a bit, 'I already came charging out here, and when a hero sees trouble,' he felt his spine steel itself, 'well, their job is to involve themselves' He then noticed the girl still pleading with him, but he remained steadfast, 'Sorry' he then remembered something, and began to formulate a plan, 'But involving myself doesn't mean I can't get back up…'

So as Izuku bent his knees to get down into his stance, he also brought one hand up into a fist while he covertly slipped the other behind his back, reaching into his back pocket to slip out his Scroll. Just because he was going to do his best to make sure things didn't continue didn't mean he had to be dumb about it. He'd hit the emergency beacon and get a few teachers here if he couldn't get Cardin to back off himself. So he steeled himself, looking on at Team CRDL as he did his best to look as imposing as he could.

Height aside, he was just trying to channel his determination.

"If you don't stop picking on her, then I'll stop you myself!" The entire situation felt, at once, all too familiar but also all too different. This time he wasn't some powerless kid standing up and trying to do what was right. Izuku had power now, he had the ability to help people... and just like before, he still felt he had a responsibility to as well. As he took his stance, Cardin scowled a bit while the other members of Team CRDL started sweating.

"H-Hey Cardin, maybe this isn't such a good idea. I mean, you saw that fight with Bakugou and that kid's Semblance, he-"

"Got lucky, that was it." Cardin spat as he looked at Izuku, giving one last tug on the girl's ears before he let go of her. "Little punk isn't anything without his weapon and his Semblance and, would you look at that, he doesn't have them on him and the boy scout said it himself; he wouldn't use it on a person directly. It'd 'kill them'." Cardin barked out a laugh and while CRDL wasn't all that reassured by his logic they did fall in behind their leader. "We can beat him black and blue before he even knows it. Then we can actually get our rep back from Bakugo's lucky hits." Izuku frowned as he saw Cardin pound his fist into his hand, clearly ready to brawl. Well, he had tried to warn them off and it seemed like they were intent on keeping the fight up. As the Faunus girl implored them all to stop and Team CRDL started to spread out to circle Izuku, his thumb slipped onto the screen of his scroll...

"Really Velvet? Are you kidding me?"

Team CRDL bristled and Izuku flinched a bit as a new voice joined the crowd of people. Izuku tilted his head over to see the new arrival. It was... not what he was expecting, to be honest. A highly fashionable, brown haired young woman walked up to the group, tilting her glasses down to reveal an annoyed gaze as she looked at the scene in front of her.

"C-Coco!" Izuku was honestly surprised by how spooked the rabbit Fanus, Velvet apparently, sounded as she moved her hands from rubbing her ears to waving them defensively in front of her, sweating a bit at the new girl, Coco's, arrival. "Look, everything's okay, so how about-"

"You call this 'okay' Vel?" Coco responded, rolling her eyes slightly as she seemed about ready to get into a conversation with Velvet.

"Hey, mind buzzing off there, we're kinda in the middle of kicking this kids ass." Coco stopped speaking when her gaze turned over to look at Team CRDL and Izuku, our hero felt a bit nervous as she looked over and examined the scene.

"... Mind giving me a moment? My teammate here needs a bit of a lecture. I'll be over to help you take out the trash in a second." Izuku… was kind of blown away at the confidence the girl was showing, turning her attention back to Velvet. Cardin... didn't take it well. So even as Coco tried to start a conversation back up with Velvet, Cardin shouted in a frustrated annoyance as he turned on Coco.

"Okay, I am 'not' going to have a bunch of pests keep on wandering in and belittling me like this, so how about you take those crappy looking glasses of yours and get-"

One of Coco's gloved hands immediately reached out and grabbed Cardin Winchester by his own ear, the burly teen squeaking in some surprise before he screamed in a lot of pain as Coco twisted and pulled at his ear to bring him down to her level.

"Or I can take out the trash right now. Not exactly any skin off my nose." Coco said in a very much annoyed tone of voice as she tilted her face down to look at Cardin, now stooped below her thanks to her grip, her eyes hovering over the top of her shades.

"Get the Hell off of me!" Izuku watched as Cardin thrasheed and struggled against Coco, the young woman just deftly staying just outside his reach as she practically danced around him. After a moment of letting Cardin waste some energy Izuku watched as Coco 'cranked' Cardin's ear, an even louder cry of pain coming from him as he was forced down onto a knee. Izuku grimaced as he realized what Coco's doing; she was applying a lot of torque to Cardin's ear, twisting it rather than pulling it. That had two effects; one, it hurt like crazy and, two, if she put enough force into it... well... he'd rather not think about it.

"Oh what? Judging by my partner over there you were having some fun with her ears before I got here. What, can't you take what you dish out there tall, thick and stupid?" Cardin tried to fight against her grip only to yell in more pain. Team CRDL, having not seen someone so thoroughly bring Cardin to his knees before, immediately broke, their morale pretty well shattered at having been put in between Izuku and Coco. He watched as the three of them ran off, Cardin's gaze trailing back towards them as he ground his teeth.

"Cowards! Get over here and kick this scrawny, bespectacled bi-AAAAAAAAH!" Cardin's insult was cut off as Coco just kept the pressure on.

"Alright there big boy, let's set out what's going to happen. You're going to apologize to my partner for tugging on her ears like some backwoods hick who hasn't ever been part of proper society before, you're going to apologize to the little guy over there for trying to gang up one on four because you're too much of a chickenshit to actually handle him yourself-" Izuku blushed slightly as she said that, before she once against twisted his ear, "-AND, most importantly of all, you're going to go ahead and apologize to me for insulting my shades. Twice."

"You crazy bitch. Like I'll actually-"

Cardin's face was quickly slammed into the floor, the teen groaning out in a bit of pain before Coco picks him back up.

"What was that?"

"... I'm sorry... for tugging your partner's ears... for trying to pick a fight with Deku... and for insulting your shades..." Cardin growled out underneath his breath, Coco just rolling her eyes as she did so.

"Guess that'll have to do." With that Coco rather effortlessly tugged Cardin up and pushed him back behind her, the larger teen stumbling slightly as he was sent stumbling away. "Now get the Hell out of here before I change my mind about not taking your ear as a souvenir." It was clearly a light threat, not to be taken seriously, though Cardin did seem to book it rather quickly himself. The young woman dusted her gloved hands off and sighed as she readjusted her shades, Velvet still somewhat nervous as she took that moment to approach Coco.

"H-Hey there Coco, good work. I appreciate it but really, none of you actually had to-"

And immediately Velvet's human earlobe was pinched in between a few of Coco's fingers as she snapped at her ear, the rabbit Faunus crying out in surprise as Coco turned her attention back to her.

"Right, so, where were we when big, tall and dimwitted tried to insult my shades... oh right." Velvet whined a bit as Coco tightened her grip. "Vel, are you kidding me? It was bad enough when you just let kids from our year mess with you back in the day. Now I'm walking around, looking for my partner so we can go out on an assignment, and what do I find? You're letting 'first years' bully you? More than that, you're letting a first year come around to try to stop other first years from bullying you? Come on Vel, you're made of tougher stuff than that. You could've had that entire team on their backs and crying for their mommas in no time flat!" Velvet shrinked a bit as she sheepishly scratched at the back of her head.

"C-Coco, you know I don't like to fight people and I didn't want to cause trouble-OW!" Like a stern mother Coco just pinched harder and dragged Velvet along... walking over to Izuku.

"Well you did it anyway because your reluctance to actually 'stand up for yourself' got this kid here involved. Now be a good girl and apologize to the little guy." Velvet was squirming a bit as Coco brought her over to the younger man, whose cheeks were a bit red after witnessing the situation.

"Oh no, please, it really wasn't any trouble, nothing even happened with-"

"Something 'could've' happened if I hadn't been looking for her. You could've gotten ganged up on and beaten up cause my partner here didn't want to stand up for herself." Velvet winced slightly as she looked down to the side, before turning her own brown eyes on him.

"I'm sorry... I do appreciate that you wanted to help. Don't take me pushing you off as me being offended or anything... I just didn't want to see a fight start." He nodded in some understanding as Coco just rolled her eyes.

"Vel, you can't let people just walk up and tug on your ears either. You're supposed to be setting an example." Despite her tone, Coco did finally let go of Velvet's human ear, the girl rubbing at it as her partner turned her attention down to Izuku.

'Holy woah she's taller than me,' he thought, though that perhaps wasn't saying much considering how short he was. She was right up there with Pyrrha and, though Velvet's ears gave her some height on him, her own head level was much closer to his. He swallowed a lump in his throat as she lowered her shades... only to find a far more amused and somewhat cocky expression on her face as a sly grin formed on her lips.

"Come on, nothing to be nervous about there little guy. Honestly I appreciate what you were doing for my partner there. Really showed a lot of guts." The young woman just flipped her shades up as she grinned down at Izuk. "So what's your name there kid? Deku or something? Cute little name you got there." Izuku blushed; he'd never heard a girl call Bakugou's nickname for him 'cute' before.

"A-Actually, my name is Izuku Midoriya..." He stammered out, scratching the back of his head with a slight blush on his face. "B-But Deku's fine!"

He was knocked out of his sheepish embarrassment when, all of a sudden, Coco started to howl with laughter, grabbing her gut slightly as she couldn't help herself. He blushed a bit more deeply, looking down as Coco just waved at him.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's just the look on your face is all! Man, you're just a sweet little guy aren't ya?" Izuku placed his face in his hands to hide the blush, which only earned more goodnatured laughter from Coco as Velvet also got in to the chuckles. The two went ahead and waited for Izuku to recover his bearings, taking some deep breaths before he managed to regain his composure. "Anyway, nice to meet you Deku. You probably caught 'em already but I suppose if you're gonna properly introduce yourself, so should we?" Coco's casual tone came with a bit of a shrug as she jabbed her finger back towards Velvet. "That there's my partner Velvet Scarlatina and I'm Coco Adel, member and leader of Team CFVY respectively." Izuku blinked in some surprise as she said that though he bowed his head shortly afterward.

"It's cool to meet you... I'm actually the leader of my own team too, Team MNVW." Coco nodded slightly as she looked down at him, a wide grin on her face.

"That so? Well Team MNVW must be in some pretty good hands if they got a gutsy leader like you in charge. You need that kind of moxie to lead a team of Hunters in my not so humble opinion." Izuku smiled a bit as she said that though he couldn't help but kick at the ground a bit as he reached over to right his arm.

"Well... I don't know if I was as brave as you say. I mean, I appreciate the compliment but honestly I was just looking to stall for time by distracting Cardin. I was going to hit the emergency signal and then stall out Team CRDL till a teacher arrived to deal with the situation. It really wasn't all that gutsy of me..." As he glanced off to the side and said that Coco nodded a bit, a slight quirk to her brow as she takes it in.

"I'll admit, for a first year, that isn't surprising thinking... but in that case it's probably better that I arrived when I did." Izuku glanced up at her with a questioning look as Coco brought out her own Scroll. "You see, when the teachers call this an 'emergency signal' they mean it's an 'emergency' signal. You use it to call for help in the case of some kind of major attack or infiltration, like say if Grimm or the White Fang suddenly showed up out of nowhere. If you'd rang the emergency signal then me and about sixteen other Hunters and Huntresses probably would've shown up expecting some kind of major ordeal on our hands." He grimaced a bit as she said that, a slightly Cheshire grin on her face as she put her Scroll away. "The teachers would probably give that oaf a talking to, don't get me wrong... but they'd also probably give you a lecture about using the emergency signal for a non-emergency."

"O-Oh..." Izuku nodded in understanding, feeling sheepish as he glanced off to the side. "S-So how was I supposed to handle Cardin, then?" Coco grinned a bit as she shrugged.

"Pretty much like how I did. You're a Hunter now kiddo, means you gotta start being able to handle problems yourself if they ain't big fish." Izuku saw Coco cast a glance over Velvet's way, the rabbit faunus chuckling nervously before Coco turned her attention back to him. "Now if those lunkheads were set on beating you to death, that'd be a good use of the signal. As it stood, they were just jackasses... and, well, think about it. Every member of staff here or anyone who could receive your signal is a fully fledged Hunter. If they're not in class... well, they probably wouldn't take kindly to having to take time out of a day that usually includes killing Grimm or dealing with other jackasses to break up a schoolyard fight, right?"

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense. So I really don't deserve much praise for what happened... OW!" Izuku felt Coco flick him on the forehead as he cast his eyes down, the shades wearing young woman just shaking her head at him as she lowered said sunglasses.

"You still bothered to step out and stand up for my partner... a girl who, by all means, should've been able to do it herself. And you were going to stand up to a group of four thugs who'd beat the crap out of you while help arrived. I'd still say that was pretty gutsy there Deku." Izuku couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the praise despite himself. As he worked himself back up to a proper mood, he looked up at Coco and tilted his head to the side.

"So you're Velvet's partner then? Why haven't I seen your team with her in classes then? Have I just been missing you all?" Velvet paled a bit as Coco just laughed a little.

"You could say that; Team CFVY is actually in its second year. It's why it was so easy for me to lay the brute back there out." Izuku actually flinched a bit as he realized that these people were his seniors and he'd been speaking so casually to them...

'OH GODS, I BLUSHED AND TOLD MY SENIOR IT WAS OKAY TO CALL ME DEKU!'

"Chill Deku, chill. It's cool; I don't take much stock in the whole 'senior-junior' thing. No need to get so flustered little guy... even if that shade of red does go good with your hair." Izuku nearly choked as Coco broke out into another fit of laughter, both his embarrassment and her chuckles eventually dying down before she continued. "Anyway, we're second years which is why you don't see us in class with Velvet... the reason why you see Velvet, however, is because my partner here has a tendency to choke under pressure."

"... You don't have to say it quite so bluntly..." Velvet didn't deny what Coco said however as Coco winked at the young man.

"Don't get me wrong, Vel's really smart; her Semblance and weapon of choice pretty much relies on that and a strong spirit. Put her in the right situation... like say against a Grimm or a robot and she does just fine. But... well, put her in a high anxiety situation like say a test or force her to fight people and the poor girl just crumples." Coco reached over and wrapped an arm around Velvet's shoulders, rubbing her opposite one reassuringly. "So Velvet here had to retake the first year unfortunately... hey, you're in class with her right?" Izuku blinked as she asked that, but just nodded. "Tell me, how's Velvet been doing? She been answering questions and not flipping her shit during exams or are we looking at leaving her behind another year?"

"Coco!" Velvet went red in the face after Coco asked that so plainly, bringing her hands up to shield her embarrassed expression as Coco just chuckled a bit. Izuku' stopped for a second, and tried to readjust his frame of mind and catch up with where the conversation had gone.

'In all honesty, Velvet seemed to be doing fine in class to me; she didn't talk much and really didn't participate but when she's called on she does answer a question... it takes her a moment but she answers it,' and even then, that just seemed to be normal behavior, Ren and Shouto didn't seem to answer many questions 'Also, as far as I've been able to tell she's been doing alright in exams…,' he then remembered the distinct sound of a pencil being repeatedly tapped during the last midterm under Port, ' lots of tapping that I've hear coming from her direction, but hey, a professor's never called her to the side to talk so that's a good sign, right?'

"Well..." He brought a hand up to his chin as he continued to think.

'Honestly, It just seems to be getting her to get out of her shell to so she can answer the question is her main problem, but again, she hasn't seemed to freeze under the pressure and give no, or a wrong, answer.'

"She doesn't really participate willingly a lot... she usually just kind of hangs out in the back of the class too. But whenever she is called on by one of the professors I don't really remember anytime she's given a wrong answer or froze up in class, so I'd think she was doing pretty well." Izuku answered honestly as Coco nodded along with his explanation, Velvet giving him a grateful grin before Coco smiled.

"Alright, sounds good. Not that you're the only person I've checked in with; as the leader of Team CFVY making sure Velvet actually advances a year's pretty much one of my top priorities. But it's good to hear someone backing up what else I've been hearing. Thanks there Deku." Izuku just nodded softly as she thanked him, a slight red tinge to his cheeks.

"Y-Yeah no problem." Coco just laughed again as she patted Velvet on the shoulder.

"Anyway, Vel and I have to get going. Like I said, only reason I went out looking for her was cause we've got an assignment to head out to. Good meeting you Deku, hopefully we'll see you around. Maybe when we get the chance I can introduce you to my other two teammates. I'm sure they'd like to thank you in person for helping Vel out." Izuku nodded a bit stiffly as Velvet and Coco waved goodbye, the two turning to make their way back down the hall.

He paused for a moment as his thoughts ran about as fast as they could. In particular, about the meeting he he had tomorrow...

'Well, Coco does seem like a nice person and she was a team leader too... couldn't hurt to make a pitch, right?'

"Actually, Coco, do you have a moment? I'd like to ask you something!" Izuku called out after them and, he swore, there was an amused grin on Coco's face as she turned to face him, expectantly. There's a slight tilt to her head as she lowers her shades, an eyebrow quirked. Izuku saw an almost apologetic look accompany that amused grin before she spoke up.

"Alright Deku, let's hear it then." She sounded almost expectant, as if she's heard a question like that time and time again. He was a bit thrown off by it but he gathered his nerves and, making himself stand upright so he came off as at least somewhat reputable and official, he looked her in the eye.

"I was wondering if you'd like to join the Beacon Leadership Council." Both Velvet and Coco's faces seemingly dropped in surprise as they heard him speak, confused blinks coming from both of them as Coco tilted her head to the side.

"Say what now?" She asked as he nodded. He figured she hadn't heard about that before.

"You see... a group of my friends and I in the first year were having some trouble with taking up the mantle of leadership. There's this girl, Ruby Rose, who's two years younger than the rest of us so she had some trouble getting a member of her team to respect her, and then there was me... well, y-you can probably tell that I can be a bit on the rough side when it comes to talking to people or 'leading' them..." Izuku mutter slightly as he scratched at the back of his head, a slightly amused snort coming from Coco's lips as she nods.

"I guess I can imagine it. Big difference in doing what's right yourself and convincin' others. So?"

"Well... there was a third guy, Tenya Iida, who was pretty much a natural at it but was looking for suggestions and ideas himself. We all figured that if we pooled our knowledge and what little experience we got week by week that we could help each other improve and get better as leaders. Hence the name." He scratched at his arm a bit before proceeding, a more determined look about him as he nodded. "Ever since we've formed, it's actually been a big help... though having someone who actually has solid experience would probably be an even bigger help." Coco nodded, seeming to understand his point as she popped her hips to one side, placing her hands on them.

"Right, I can see where this is going and what you'd get out of me joining... and while I'm flattered, you have to understand that I'm a team leader, not the head of a charity organization. If I'm going to put my time into something like this, I'll need some assurance that I'll be getting something out of this. So?" Izuku nodded; he'd actually already thought ahead to that.

"Well recently we've been doing more to help each other learn as well. I'm a bit of a survival expert so I've been offering what I know on that to everyone in the group from time to time, Tenya's really good at Engineering and Ruby's a whiz with weapons. We also generally help each other just... get better at whatever we're interested in improving at during a meeting. If you joined... well, we're First Years in the same classes as your partner. If you wanted us to help her in any way or to report to you on how she was doing or any difficulties she might be having then you could get that information from a meeting." Coco quirked a brow slightly, an amused grin on her face.

"So, offering to give me a direct pipeline into how my partner's doing as well as a little bit of help? Gotta admit, you move in for the kill right away don't ya Deku?" Izuku blushed slightly as he scratched the back of his head.

"Oh, Tenya's also a pretty good cook and brings snacks so... ummm... yeah, that's all I got for now." He stumbled and mutter a bit towards the end, feeling sheepish as he tried to reel in a Second Year student into joining his organization.

"Hmmm... you know what Deku, you've put me in a good mood and made me a pretty good sounding offer." Coco nodded as she extended a hand forward. "Count me in, I'll join your little Leadership Council." His emerald eyes went wide as they met Coco's deep brown, the girl smiling genuinely as he gave her a wide grin.

"Holy woah, really?!" Coco chuckled as she nodded, taking his hand and shaking it as he returned the gesture with gusto. "Thanks a lot! This'll really help us out a bunch! I'm sure Ruby and Tenya will be really excited!"

* * *

"YOU ACTUALLY GOT THE LEADER OF A SECOND YEAR TEAM TO SIGN UP FOR THE COUNCIL?!"

Izuku flinched back as the game of Go that he and Ruby had been going through was now pretty thoroughly tossed out the window. After all, he couldn't exactly keep up a board game when the pieces of said game, to speak nothing of the entire board, was sent flying across the room as his two friends rose up simultaneously and screamed in surprise. Izuku raised his hands up defensively in an almost automatic gesture, as if expecting some physical harm to befall him, as he waved them about in the air.

"I-I-I know I didn't ask, and I'm sorry I didn't check in with you guys first, but Coco just seemed really nice and I thought that her experience could really-"

"WHY ARE YOU APOLOGIZING, THIS IS GREAT!" Both of them declared at once again, the two of them pulling back slightly as they each got into their own form of 'excitement'.

"Oh this is going to be so cool! I'm going to meet someone even older than Yang who's going to be coming here as a sort of, kind of, not really peer! She'll be an even older role model for me to look after and learn from! And it's another Huntress! Finally, I'll have another girl to talk to!" Ruby danced with her declaration, Tenya just looking at Izuku with a wide grin.

"What Miss Rose says is quite true Mr. Midoriya. Having a fellow leader who has been through what we have and has a year of experience on us can only help with, not just our growth, but also with the development of the Beacon Leadership Council as a more inclusive group. I have to say Mr. Midoriya, I'm almost honored; the Council was my idea, but to see you attending to its needs in terms of recruitment with such voracity to surpass my own meager efforts thus far... I find it quite touching." Tenya said all the while waving his arms about as Izuku just smiled.

"Oh it's no problem Tenya. Truth be told, it was easy for me to bring up; your idea really has helped me out in not just being a better leader but in learning a few things about how to work with and improve my team and myself. I was more than happy to invite Coco because this group's already done so much to help me."

...

Tenya seemed to be on the verge of some rather comical tears as he tried to maintain his strict and rigid composure, the young man coughing into his fist as he turned his head to the side.

"Well Mr. Midoriya... I'm quite pleased to hear that you think so highly of this organization. Still, I can't help but thank you. If only there was a way to-"

"I MOTION THAT WE MAKE IZUKU THE TREASURER OF THE BEACON LEADERSHIP COUNCIL!" Ruby suddenly called out, excitement clear in her voice, as his gaze snaps over to her in surprise.

"Wait, what?"

"Seconded! The vote moves to the floor! All those in favor say aye! Aye!"

"Wait, guys, hold on a second, think about-"

"Aye!" Ruby waved one hand in the air as she voted, Tenya just nodding firmly before bringing his hands up in a rather firm and decisive gesture.

"Then as President of the Beacon Leadership Council I hereby accept this super-majority of votes to make Izuku Midoriya, Leader of Team MNVW, the Treasurer of the Beacon Leadership Council!"

"GUYS!" Izuku suddenly shouted, finally drawing Ruby and Tenya's attention back to him. "How am I supposed to be a Treasurer of the Council when we don't make any money?" At that Tenya and Ruby both seemed to pause, both of them raising their hands up to their chins in thoughtful gestures.

"You know, Izuku does have a point." Ruby conceded as Izuku released a sigh of relief, glad that they were finally starting to see sense.

"Indeed... excellent foresight Mr. Midoriya! Truly a mind geared towards the reality of our current situation and its needs is one fitting to be this organization's Treasurer!"

"WHAAAAAAT?!"

"Yeah! Izuku, your first job as Treasurer of the Beacon Leadership Council is to secure us some funds!" Ruby immediately followed up behind Tenya's declaration and his shout of utter and complete bewilderment. Izuku looked between the two of them, trying his best to find some kind of crack in their front that he could exploit, some sign of common sense that would cause this lunacy to give way and let things return to a more even keel... alas all he saw was a united front insisting that he, Izuku Midoriya, would be the Beacon Leadership Council's Treasurer.

And soon enough Izuku sighed, scratched the back of his head and shrugged.

"I'll see what I can come up with..." He said softly as both Tenya and Ruby nodded in ready agreement. With time running short and their last game pretty well ruined the three of them decided to call the meeting here. It had been a rather productive day, he thought.

* * *

 **E/N: In this chapter we have "Meet The Heavy" a little Tenya yang bonding piece by Preventer Squall, and "Chasing Two Years" A brief foray into Ruby's world by Wind-Waker.**

 **-Shovern**

 **Oh, hey, another one of mine.**

 **Ruby has always been my favorite member of team RWBY, and I really felt she had sort of fallen short in the amount of attention she had received from the story up to this point in the writing. Part of this is because this is Izuku's story, but the other part is that other outtake writers just seemed to prefer more popular characters (For the record, there are a lot of little snippets about those characters that are either in Tales of Beacon or cut).**

 **I also thought that it would be cool to give Izuku a second main rival besides Bakugou, and of the cast, Ruby just seemed to fit, due to her ambition to follow her mother, her own status as a prodigy, and that she is ostensibly the main character in RWBY, just as Izuku is for My Hero Academia. It was a bit of a fun dynamic to explore going forward.**

 **The final bit of real push was to at least try and bring Todoroki more into the story. Up to this point...well, he just hasn't interacted with Izuku that much. This way of training his ice powers seemed like a good way to give him something to do, even though it will still be a while before he becomes more involved.**

 **-Wind-Waker**


	26. Autumn Bell

"Hey... Izuku, mind if we talk for a moment?"

Izuku turned his head to the side as Ruby approached him, a slightly nervous expression on her face as she twisted the toe of her shoe into the floor. It had only been a minute or two since they all had said their goodbyes following the end of the Leadership Council and, as usual, he'd headed off his own way to the dorms figuring that would be all he'd see or hear from Tenya or Ruby for the rest of the evening, or at least most of it if something didn't pop up. To have Ruby follow after him, with Tenya nowhere in sight, asking to talk to him... it was unusual, but he nodded his head and turned to face her.

"Sure thing Ruby, I'm not in any kind of hurry. What's up?" She cast some glances around as if looking for a sign of anyone. Biting her lip slightly she turned again to look at him.

"Let's take this out of the halls real quick. The classrooms are pretty empty so we'll be able to have a conversation in them." ... Izuku nodded slowly, admittedly now a little nervous about talking about something that Ruby deemed so private as to require a separate room, especially with a girl. Still, thsoe thoughts were discarded when he realized that Ruby seemed more generally tense and worried than flustered, as if the thing she wanted to talk about was serious. With that the two of them wandered around a bit before finding an empty classroom and slipping inside.

After they both took a moment to take off their backpacks, Ruby slipped up onto a nearby desk and folded her fingers in between themselves as she kicked her feet slightly, nervously chewing on the inside of her cheek as she tried to think of how to start.

"Izuku... listen, if you don't want to talk about this then it'd cool. I really wouldn't mind if you told me that it was too private or personal for you to talk about or if you just weren't interested. But... well, I think I'd have a lot easier of a time wrapping my mind around stuff going on with my team if I got a little more information, preferably from someone with a different perspective on things than what I've been able to gather." He blinked in some confusion as Ruby spoke, before a thought popped in his mind. 'I wonder...'

"So... ummm... do you mind if I ask you some stuff about Ka...tsuki? Like, from when you guys lived at Mountain Glenn and stuff? If not, then that's totally cool I'll understand but... well, I'm kinda hoping for a little help."

"Ruby, I haven't exactly been shy about telling you guys what my past was like. My history with Kacchan would hardly be the most personal thing I've talked about... even if it is a bit of a touchy subject." It felt weird to say that; he had been lying about his past to one extent or another, but for good reason. Still, he'd at least done his best to get the general feel and idea across even if he'd been mussing the details to keep people in the dark about his relationship with Toshinori, his nature as well and truly Broken and One For All. It'd be a bit awkward talking about Bakugou behind his back and Izuku figured that if he ever found out he might just pop a blood vessel, but he doubted Ruby would go about squealing when she's probably just as aware about that little fact.

With that Ruby nodded and took a bit of a breath, sheepishly scratching the back of her head. "Okay then... wow I barely even know where to start with all this. You two seem to have such a weird history that... I mean, where do I even start asking..." Izuku took a moment to think before looking up at her, a spark of an idea in his gaze.

"Well... how about you tell me what you already know or what you already have some idea about and then I'll see what I can do to answer it." Ruby nodded as she placed her hands in her lap, kicking her feet a little bit.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, thanks Izuku." With that Ruby just took a deep breath and looked at Izuku. "So... I mean, it seems weird to ask about stuff like this. It didn't even really cross my mind that I'd need to know anything about Katsuki when we first started on a team. I just figured he was a jerk; he was gonna go around and yell and cuss and just say all kinds of things and that I was just gonna have to manage that. I figured he was just becoming a Huntsman because that's the only thing his violent attitude was gonna let him be good at... huh, if I actually had to put words to it, I figured that he was just another Cardin." Izuku nodded; that seemed to be about his own team's and Yang's estimation of Bakugou as well and he couldn't exactly blame them... or at least it was Weiss'? Pyrrha didn't seem to like him either and Nora wasn't all that vocal on him, so he just figured that's what they thought about him.

"Then... I dunno, there was that moment after our own spar during the first week. I figured that, after beating him, I'd need to soothe his ego or something... like, if I didn't say 'Oh, you tried hard and you'll get me next time' that he'd just get even more sour about our team and just flip out. I know you said he respected strength, but I didn't figure that he'd take losing well..." Ruby's face scrunched up in thought. "He, of course, told me not to patronize him and that, of course, he was going to beat me next time. But that I needed to be more worried about being able to win next time myself, or else I would lose. Not his words exactly but I needed to clean them up." Izuku nodded before Ruby bit her lip slightly.

"I thought that if I told him I didn't care about beating him or winning that he'd cool down, that he'd take it as a sign that I'm willing to 'try' to be conciliatory and make our team work at least... and you know what he said? That if I didn't care about winning, that I wasn't fit to be a Huntress. That winning, always being victorious, being strong enough to be the best, that was what separated Huntsmen and Huntresses from people who needed rescuing from the Grimm."

Ruby frowned as he nodded along; 'that sounds like Kacchan alright.'

"After that... he just answered a question I'd been asking to try to get to know him a bit better our of the blue; the name of his weapons and... I dunno, it was weird. He didn't stop being a jerk but... well, he started listening to me and my orders more. Started actually participating as a member of the team.

"I think I get a picture Izuku but... well, straight from a source that knows him well... why does Kacchan care about being the best and winning so much? Why is that what defines his view of what a Hunter is?"

Izuku dipped his head a bit as he took some time to think. Really, the answer was scattered about in so many memories, but there was one that came to his mind in particular. In front of an electronics shop that had taken on a whole lot of stock in some Atlesian made televisions, a news report was playing; Toshinori had thrown himself into the midst of a dozen White Fang terrorists who had been holding people hostage, wanting ransom and safe passage out of the city in question. Despite how stacked the odds were and how dangerous it was... Toshinori had managed to take them all out and save the hostages all at the same time.

He'd been with Bakugou and his small group of friends at the time and he saw Bakugou's excitement reflect his own. That's when Bakugou said it; that to him, that was what a great Huntsman was. Someone who, no matter what odds were stacked against him, always won.

"Kacchan... he defines the world through strength. It's not that simple of course, there's a lot of layers to it, but like I've said before, that's the bottom line. And for him... well, in a world like ours, if you're going to be a Huntsman, you have to be strong. There's no two ways about it." When Ruby tilted her head slightly, he elaborated. "Mountain Glenn's been more acutely aware than a lot of cities just how dangerous our world is Ruby. That we humans... well, we live on borrowed time at best." Ruby grimaces as he said that, clearly in a mood to disagree but waiting for him to continue. "When Vale pretty much wrote us off... that really could've been the end of everyone. But... but it wasn't. Because someone strong came to save us. While Toshinori didn't do it alone... it can't be denied that if he didn't show up, I wouldn't have even been born... nor Kacchan, nor a lot of people from Glenn."

"For a lot of people, that strength gave us hope. Hope turned into inspiration... and a lot of people went to the combat schools after or took up survival and engineering because we wanted control over our own destiny again. For a lot of people... being a Huntsman meant being a strong Hero. For Kacchan, it was more than that." Izuku looked down at his own arm, a limb he'd regularly channeled One For All through multiple times. "It's not enough just to be strong... you have to be the strongest or at least be able to aim for it. Because that's the only way you can be sure you'll always win. That no matter what odds are stacked in front of you... whether they be the onslaught of the Grimm or dozens of criminals and terrorists... you'll always be able to beat them back. That you'll survive, that you'll have control... that your life is in your own hands."

"So... where you look up to Toshinori because of his place as the Symbol of Peace and Hope..."

"Yeah... Kacchan looks up to him as the #1 Huntsman, the man who'll never lose. For him, being that strong, having that power... it means a lot in this world, especially with how imperiled it is by the GRIMM. If you can't or won't aim for it, you're not worth as much in his eyes. Don't get me wrong; if someone was in need of help, Kacchan wouldn't waste a second trying to save them... but he'd look down on them for needing it."

"Well I don't get that. A lot of people can't help that, so why should he hold them to that standard?" Ruby asked, indignant, as Izuku just frowned a bit.

"Probably because that's the standard he holds himself to." There's a pause as he said that, something seemingly clicking behind Ruby's eyes as the words floated into the air. She settled back down, only a frown remaining on her lips. "Kacchan... I think that's part of the reason he looked down on my own dream. Back when everyone thought I was a Moon Child, I probably looked like a fool. Someone who looked up to Toshinori's feats of strengths and believed that he could be a Hero too, even without Aura."

"But... I mean... it's not..." He smiled kindly at Ruby as the younger girl seemed to fight to against the internal logic.

"Ruby... I've pretty well admitted to myself before that I was fooling myself then too. Heck... someone I really respected even told me so."

" _Some Grimm just can't be beat without Aura. So no, I don't think you can become a Huntsman without it._ "

"I'm here now not because I proved anyone wrong about needing Aura to be a Huntsman, but because I managed to get... my Aura unlocked. That the doctors happened to be wrong. Kacchan... he's harsh, and mean-spirited... but he wasn't entirely wrong." Letting out a sigh as he placed his hands behind his head, Ruby nodding along.

"... I guess that explains why he was the way he was after your fight..." Ruby muttered as she looked off to the side, Izuku nodding along.

"For Kacchan... strength, being strong and aiming to be the strongest vindicates his existence... being beaten by me of all people probably made him feel like he was weak... that he was the sort of person he'd look down on."

" _I don't owe you ANYTHING! You did nothing!_ "

"Well... that explains some stuff I guess." Ruby frowned as she nodded her head, puffing her cheeks up a bit in thought as she swirled the thoughts around. "There's still some stuff I don't get though: why does he behave the way he does? Why does he seem like such an angry jerk all the time? I mean, he's constantly slinging threats but it's not like he goes through with them a lot. He's a real... butt." Ruby seemed to cough a bit as she scratched the back of her head. "But he doesn't come off like Cardin... or at least, he doesn't most of the time." She brought her eyes up to meet his. "The only person he seems really hateful to is you... and I get why he might be so hateful to you. I mean, I don't 'get it', like, I don't get how he can act so horribly to you but still let you call him Kacchan or whatever other crazy stuff is going on in his head, but I think what you said gives me a better picture than before. I just don't get why he always acts like a jerk though."

...

Izuku almost shivered as a long dormant memory of, what he could only describe as, a 'female' Katsuki roared forward in his mind. He didn't remember much about her, as he rarely saw her after he and Bakugou had had their falling out but... but there was still some echo of a truly bizarre feeling. Of kindness mixed together with absolute, bone-chilling terror.

"Honestly Ruby... while Kacchan was never quite as... explosive as he can be now, he was always pretty harsh and blunt. Never really thought of what he was saying or cared for how people would respond to it. Usually you could tell between when he really meant to poke you in the eye and when it was just Kacchan being Kacchan... but you kind of have to get used to him to pick out the difference."

"Joy..." Ruby sighed as she shook her head, Izuku smiling as he chuckled.

"I feel for you..." Ruby smiled in response and... after a moment she lifted her head again.

"You know, I never got to ask you in specific." Izuku blinked as Ruby leaned forward, a slight grin on her face. "I wanted to ask you for a little while but one of us or both of us were usually busy with something else. You've said what Kacchan's philosophy is... and while you think his strength is amazing, I doesn't sound like you buy into the idea that winning is the most important thing in a Hero." He nodded in confirmation as Ruby smiled. "So... if Kacchan's ideal Huntsman is 'The Hunter Who Wins'... what's yours? Aside from the obvious; you can't just answer with plainly 'Toshinori'! That'll be cheating!" Ruby stuck her tongue out slightly; making it clear she was trying to move beyond the slightly more dramatic tone of the earlier conversation.

It was a pretty simple question to answer. Izuku straightened up a bit as he looked up at Ruby; even at his most nervous, he found that it was easy to feel determined or to smile when talking about his dream. Sure, he might feel sheepish afterward... but in the moment, there was a clarity that he could always readily draw upon.

"My ideal Huntsman is the one who saves people. To be the one who can protect those who cannot protect themselves. To lend strength to those in need, and give a helping hand to those who want to learn to stand up for themselves. Nobody left out or left behind." Ruby just smiled nice and wide at that,with a single firm nod.

"Yeah, I think so too." Ruby chuckled. "It's still so weird you think of Katsuki as amazing despite that but... well, I think I understand better now. Thanks Izuku, I think this'll help a lot!" With that Ruby kicked off the desk she'd been using as a makeshift seat and stretched out a bit. "Now let's get going! I've been meaning to polish Crescent Rose up this weekend and I'm not going to delay now that my business here is done!" Izuku chuckled as Ruby said that. Really, he wasn't surprised that something like that was on the agenda; from what he knew from talking to Ruby in the Forge and from talking to Yang, Ruby wasn't just a weapon nut in general but absolutely loved her Sniper-Scythe.

"Sounds like a plan to me Ruby." With that the two of them departed the classroom and, after taking some time to amicably chat on the way to the dorms, split off in due time. He was glad he was able to help... and he felt like he really settled a few questions in his own mind as well.

* * *

"Ah, Mr. Midoriya, welcome. I'm glad that you managed to make time in your schedule for this meeting. My own time usually tends to be tricky to work around so I do apologize for picking such an odd time." It was a little closer to evening than the last time he had come to Ozpin's office to chat, with the setting sun barely shining its light from the window of Ozpin's office. As he stepped through the open elevator door and into the office he just offered his Headmaster a warm smile as he shook his head.

"Oh, it's no problem at all Headmaster, really. If this was the time that worked for you then that'd be fine with me. I had time in my schedule, after all." The weekend wasn't going half bad after all and, with his more relaxed pace, he did have time to make the rather late rendezvous with Ozpin. As he was partway into the office he saw that Ozpin has two cups set out, one for each of them... though no hot chocolate has been preemptively poured into either one. He looked up at Ozpin and raised an eyebrow. "Do you not have any more hot chocolate, Headmaster?"

"I still have some leftover Mr. Midoriya, however... hmmm, how do I explain this." Ozpin rubbed his chin before an amused glint passed over his eyes. Accompanying that glint... Izuku could swear he saw a sign of Ozpin's age, as if the smooth skin around his eyes momentarily gave way to older, grayer and wrinkled skin. The illusion broke after he blinked and he shook his head, figuring he'd just imagined that. "When you get to be as old as I am, Mr. Midoriya, you find that indulging in the same thing day after day can be a bit tiring. It can make you sick of even the things in life you enjoy. You learn that, as corny as this expression may sound these days, that variety is the spice of life." Izuku nodded in some understanding as Ozpin waved him over to the table.

"You really aren't that old Headmaster Ozpin..." Izuku muttered slightly, the Headmaster just smiling at him for a moment before he chuckled.

"Of course, of course Mr. Midoriya." Ozpin set his cane to the side as the young man finally reached the desk. "With that in mind, what would you like to drink this evening?"

"You know..." He muttered while scratching at his arm. "After hanging out with Pyrrha for a while, I checked out some stuff about this Pumpkin Pete thing... and I found out they actually make a beverage. It actually sounds pretty tasty so I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty curious." He felt slightly embarrassed that, in a meeting with Ozpin of all people, the Headmaster of Beacon and a very refined man, that he was asking him for some soda. He figured he'd get a scoff at his decision or just a roll of eyes...

But once again Ozpin surprised him when he opened up a compartment in his desk and a blast of cool air flied out that, even from his side, crept across the room. He pulled out several cans of Pumpkin Pete's Cola and set them on the table. "I assume you'd like yours cold, Mr. Midoriya?"

"... Headmaster? Do you just have beverages stashed all over this room in little hidey holes?" He asked, slightly perplexed at his own question. Ordinarily he wouldn't think to ever ask such a thing but... well, after Ozpin pulled some hot cocoa out of the wall last week and then he found out he had a mini-fridge built into his desk, he couldn't help but wonder. Ozpin just looked him dead in the eye, a surprisingly deadpan expression on his face.

"... I can neither confirm nor deny this accusation." With that Ozpin cracked open his own can of cold soda, some steam rising up as the warm air met it, before pulling out a Gungi board. "I do believe it's safe to assume that, after playing chess last time you were here, you'd like to play a round of Gungi, correct Mr. Midoriya?" Izuku agreed as he grabbed for his own can of the Pumpkin Pete's Cola, taking a drink of it...

'Huh, it's actually kind of hard to describe. It's oddly... tart? that's the word for it? But sweet too. The cold temperature and bubbly texture also feels pretty bracing. It's weird... but not a bad weird.' He took another drink as Ozpin set up the board, a slight smile on his face.

"I have to admit, I'm slightly surprised you like this game Mr. Midoriya. While Gungi is hardly the most esoteric game of strategy available, it doesn't quite have the long tradition associated with other more complex board games like Go or Shogi. What drew you to it, if you don't mind me asking?" He shrugged as he set his can aside.

"Hmmm... well, I just thought it was pretty interesting is all. Growing up it's a game that my mom would play with me a lot as well, so..." Ozpin nodded in some understanding as he handed Izuku his pieces to set up.

"Well I'm certainly not going to complain when a young person your age gets into a game like Gungi. Strategy, tactics, well thought out moves and considerations as to sacrifices and gains made by those sacrifices. It's an excellent game for young leaders such as yourself to sharpen their mental acuity in order to prepare themselves for the field. Though I'd often say the same of chess and the other aforementioned games." That earned a nod of ready agreement. After all to help with tactics and learning them when he was hanging out with Ruby and Tenya at the Leadership Council they'd taken to playing rounds of Gungi to help sharpen not only their minds. He would swear he felt slightly sharper almost every time he put his mind through its paces by playing that game.

"I think you can also tell a lot about someone by how they play a game like Gungi, Go or Shogi." Izuku tilted his head to the side as Ozpin smiled. "With chess, while the pieces are meant to represent people, it's a little more esoteric. The shapes of the pieces or their descriptors doesn't necessarily reinforce that idea. The pawn, a piece meant to represent the common human soldier, barely resembles the mark and, well, it's actively described to the player as 'a pawn'." Ozpin began to set out his own pieces. "While these other games usually stick to tiles with simple names printed on them, the names and the meanings attached bring a more clear picture to mind. The pawn is still referred to as a pawn... but you get a better idea of what that pawn is meant to represent knowing that you're using it to protect your samurai, your fortresses and your counsel." Izuku nodded as he got about setting up his own board as well.

"So, as I say, I feel like you can get a lot of good information about a person based on how they play games like Gungi. I remember many souls who have sat across from me with a board just like this between us and I've always been able to see little hints of themselves in their style of play. Are they risk averse, protecting their pieces and trying to sacrifice as few as possible while making gains? Do they throw their units to the fray, attempting to take as many pieces of value as they can early so as to have an easier time later? Do they draw their opponent into a trap, using certain valuable pieces as bait, even if it means possibly losing them?" Izuku nodded again, more slowly that time, as Ozpin looked up at him with a smile.

"Apologies Mr. Midoriya, just my ramblings I suppose. Shall we begin?" A quick nod before both looked down at the board. While Ozpin had placed out his pieces in a slightly more defensive posture, inviting Midoriya in to try to go on the offense, his important pieces were placed beyond a wall of lesser pieces meant to protect them or to go on the attack first.

Izuku's own board...

He brought his hand up to his chin and though carefully about how he'd set up his board.

He'd realized that if he was going to stand even a remote chance he would need to bait Ozpin out of his defensive posturing and into attacking him, with a trap waiting behind. Thus he'd arrayed his strong pieces, mostly, on the flanks of the board while keeping his weaker pieces forward and slightly more exposed. The plan was, hopefully, that as Ozpin would move to try to take advantage of that opening that, for all intents and purposes, looked like he was just leading in to soften his defenses up with weak pieces before bringing in the strong ones, Ozpin would go in on Izuku's week middle. Before long, his flanks would move in and start picking off Ozpin's important and, hopefully, exposed pieces.

The game began and Izuku set his plan into motion, making a move here and there as Ozpin answered in turn. The going was silent at first with only the sounds of various cans of soda being cracked open and clacking of pieces on the wooden board echoing in the room. After several minutes of the both of them going at it, Ozpin finally spoke up, momentarily pulling Izuku out of his game-induced stupor.

"I have to admit Mr. Midoriya, this was a slightly more complex maneuver than I had seen coming at first." The young man felt a dry spot form in his throat when he realized that Ozpin's pieced his gambit together, the Headmaster just smiling as he moved another piece. "I hadn't figured you'd go for something so risky; risking your pieces in such a manner in order to secure an advantage like this... well, if I fell into it at any rate." Midoriya sweat a bit as he moved another piece, trying to maneuver around whatever Ozpin had in mind while still trying to play to his own strength. "If I may ask, what exactly brought this about? Why not play more carefully and try to peel at my defenses or, well, going straight for my defenses and trying to break them down."

"... You're better at this game than I am, I'm pretty well aware of that. If figure your defensive posturing meant that you'd see either strategy coming; that you'd be able to survive a war of attrition or a direct assault... and I want to win, Headmaster. It might just be a game, but I do want to beat you, to get better." Ozpin smiled at that, moving another piece. "So I had to take a big risk and try something a little more underhanded. Something tricky. If my strategy paid off then I could beat you without too much to worry about..." Ozpin nodded as Izuku moved another piece, the man clearly approving.

"I can't say I could've said it better myself, Mr. Midoriya." A relieved smile formed as he paid out the compliment, pieces continuing to move into place as Ozpin leaned slightly forward on the desk. "Planning and strategy are often fundamentally overlooked parts of the Hunter's career. Being able to think of ways to get your team and subordinates through dangerous situations safely while protecting as many lives as possible... it's hard work and takes a sharp mind to find even the most narrow way of claiming victory from the jaws of defeat. Men like Toshinori or Enji might be in the headlines for their feats of strength or courage, but it's the way in which their minds work, the thoughts that go into their heroics, that make them capable of achieving victories on such grand scales. Strength is a big part of it too, do not mistake me, you need power to do what they do... but if they just threw that power around carelessly, well, I don't think you need much imagination to know how much could go wrong."

Izuku nodded his head; he was very familiar with the power of One For All at that point and Toshinori himself had talked to him about being careful with it. It was a potentially dangerous tool as well as one that could save many lives... but he had to think about how he was using it, think about controlling it. As much as Toshinori had taught him physically, he had also trained Midoriya mentally, preparing him for the burden of Heroism that came with being the Symbol of Peace. That need to smile even when he was scared. That need to protect people not just from the Grimm and people who'd harm them, but also from his own power.

Teaching him what it meant to be a Huntsman, a real Hero.

"Yeah, I definitely get that." Izuku said with resolution as Ozpin clapped his hands together, momentarily surprising him.

"I knew you would Izuku. You have a mind for this stuff on top of the heroism that Toshinori sees in you." He blushed and smiled in response, completely blown away at having been paid such a compliment by the Headmaster. "In my line of work... well, I don't go out nearly as often as I used to of course. Nowhere near as often as Toshinori even. But I'm here in this tower, managing the pieces on the board that is Remnant; I put out assignments, I work with the Governing Councils, I guide the youth... well, you can imagine." Izuku nodded as he moved a piece. "It's not the work that gets the limelight but... well, I consider it vitally important work myself." Another nod, a little more slowly that time, as Ozpin moved a piece.

"Tell me Izuku, I'm a bit curious myself; what do you think is more important to the Hunter's profession. The work of men like myself or the work of men like Toshinori?"

...

'OH GODDESSES WHA-'

The boy's panic cut off as Ozpin raised a hand. "There's no right or wrong answer of course. I'm not fishing for an answer one way or another. I am curious however... and given the depth of your thoughts you've shown from our previous meeting and your essay, I am curious as to what your thoughts on this are. Would you care to indulge me?" Izuku looked down at the board for a moment as he let his mind wander.

"Honestly sir? This question's kind of like asking if your limbs or brain is more important. Without the limbs, the brain can't do anything and vice-versa." For a moment Ozpin's was frowning slightly as he nodded. An equivocal answer wasn't what he was looking for, more likely a declaration of purpose was. Which, he certainly had in mind but he'd thought he'd start with the obvious. "But it's more than simple anatomy, right? This whole business between Hunters and The Grimm. In the end... it's about people. Don't get me wrong sir; what you do is absolutely invaluable. People like you are part of what brings up new Hunters and what directs them to where they're needed... but Toshinori is what gives people the hope that there's a use to being a Hunter."

"There's a reason symbols of meaning... it's because people need hope. People need to be inspired, to feel like that if they give their all to a cause, that if they help each other and become better people... that there's a reason for it. That there's hope behind those actions. That's what Toshinori gives to people; he gives them purpose, he gives them a reason to keep moving forward even when things look dark." Izuku looked up to Ozpin, a slight gleam in his eye.

"Headmaster, you plan the best for people so that they can live to see tomorrow... but Toshinori brings out the best in them. He inspired them to go above and beyond what they can be, even in your own plans. I think... I think that kind of inspiration and hope... it can't be undervalued, especially with Remnant the way it is."

Ozpin studied Izuku for a long moment before, slowly but surely, a serene smile formed on his face. Izuku would swear he muttered 'Guess you were right Toshinori' as he took a drink.

"Thank you Mr. Midoriya. That answer is very reassuring. It's good to know that the mantle of the Symbol of Peace and Hope will be in good hands in the future." His eyes shine slightly as Ozpin said that, a wide grin once more on his face as he bowed his head to him.

"Thank you Headmaster! I appreciate it!" Ozpin chuckled as he waved it off.

"Think nothing of it young man. Anything I can complement of that answer came from you, not from me." Midoriya just nodded again as Ozpin looked to the clock. "Hmmm, it's getting a little bit late. We still have a bit of the game to play out but I imagine it won't take too much longer. Now then, Mr. Midoriya, I do believe I've been quite rude in hogging most of the conversation from these past two meetings. Tell me, is there anything you'd like to ask of me?"

"Sir, I remember during my first night here, a few of us students were wondering if there was any guiding principle for the way teams were chosen at Beacon, due to the secrecy around it. I remember saying from my analysis I could only conclude it seemed rather random. The others were surprised and argued it couldn't be that and the best argument I could come up with it may be due to spontaneous Huntsmen team-ups in the real world being mostly coincidental too, barring cases like teams staying together or special cases like the Iida family line. So it acting as a way to prepare us for the real thing, as well as a test of character. Specifically after being made a team leader, I do wonder if there is more to it though?"

There was a gentle smile on Ozpin's face as he looked at Izuku, and he could practically 'feel' the wisdom pouring from his eyes as he took a careful drink from his can of soda. Honestly, as Izuku felt the age-old knowledge of the man wash over him from his gaze alone, he felt a little silly even asking that. Of course there was something more to it, he was just being completely and utterly-

"No, you were right Izuku, it's pretty much random."

He had to resist the urge to face palm right then and there.

"O-Oh, right, like I said, I figured that was it." Izuku mumbled, trying to get back onto a track where he wasn't feeling sheepish for having brought that up. "S-So... ummm... were my guesses right or... what?" He saw Ozpin think for a moment as he brought his hand to his chin, gripping it slightly as he seemed to think.

"Well your reasons are very sound ones and ones that do lay as an underpinning to my thought process. However, there's something even more profound that stands as the guiding principle... something I have a great amount of weight invested in, Mr. Midoriya." He swallowed a lump in his throat as the tone of voice changed to something more grave, as if he were speaking of something great, holy and powerful. Still, that weight in the room lifted as Ozpin just smiled. "But I think that's a topic of conversation for another time... it will be interesting to hear the future Symbol of Peace's thoughts on the matter." Izuke moved to speak but, before he could really argue, Ozpin tapped his wrist, as if pointing to a watch, and he remembered that they both were pressed for time. Another time, then.

"In addition, sir, there is something that's come up the earlier today. I've been made the treasurer of the Leadership Council, which is pretty much a club where Tenya, Ruby, and I work on being better leaders, come up with ideas or tactics, and help each other with problems. Even Coco Adel, leader of CFVY, is considering membership! Sorry, I got off track explaining..I was wondering if there was any kind of small stipend for school clubs or any kind of procedure we needed to undertake."

Headmaster Ozpin nodded his head as he finished another can of soda, a small grin on his face as he did so.

"There are a few procedures that need to be handles. First and foremost Mr. Midoriya, as you can imagine, there's a lot of excitement for starting up clubs whenever people come to a new school and many look for official school support in order to be able to fund things like trips or equipment that they might need. If I recall the Book Club has a stipend that they dedicate to buying their members the new books they read every week. However... with that stipend comes, of course, people who wish to abuse it. They try to start up some new club and then immediately go for the money in order to make a tiny profit... this behavior is of course heavily discouraged and punished when discovered, but to try to prevent people from doing so, we usually stipulate that a new club must meet continuously for five weeks as part of earning a stipend for their activities."

"From there it's a pretty simple matter of figuring out... well, what exactly you want the stipend for. Book Club uses theirs for books, unsurprising, the various Sports Clubs use theirs for equipment or arranging for small games from teams from outside of Beacon and Vale, et cetera. So figuring out what you'd actually use a stipend for would be a good thing to put down on the form. In addition, the stipend is on a per-member basis rather than just an overall, one-size-fits-all basis, so the more members you'll have the more you'll have to work with. Given that so far it's you, Mr. Iida, Miss Rose and Miss Adel, I doubt I'll have much trouble allowing for a stipend once you've gotten the official requirements out of the way." Izuku nodded as Ozpin said all that and wrote it down on a small note, putting it in his pocket.

"Thank you Headmaster! I'll be sure to remember all this!" Ozpin gave a nod as he placed the remaining cans of soda away in the mini-fridge in his desk.

"I'm sure you will Mr. Midoriya. Now then, I do believe it's late enough. I wish you a fine evening Mr. Midoriya, and thank you for visiting." Izuku quickly thanked Ozpin for having him at all and then departed. It had been a long day and he was ready for some rest himself.

* * *

"Alright, let's try the maneuver one more time! After that, I think we're good!" A firm nod comes from his partner as Weiss and Nora sit off to the side, watching with some interest as they see his and Pyrrha's progress when it came to their own combination move.

As he lifted up the finger guard of Emerald Gust to crack his knuckles, very much sore from having put himself through his paces in trying to get the move down 'perfect' he and Pyrrha got back into position on one side or the other of the Atlesian Droids they'd both been wailing on to try to get the move right. "Alright, on the count of three?" Pyrrha again nodded as she swung her blade around and readied her shield. "One, two... AUTUMN BELL!"

With that the both of them rush into motion, the droid in front springing to life as it stood defensively, ready to head the two of them off as they charged at it. Before it could even move to either guard, dodge or parry, Pyrrha immediately jumped over to the other side of it. The machine turned to face her, trying to get a handle on the both of them at once. It's split decision was its downfall as Pyrrha brought her shield up and Izuku reared his first back.

 **BWOOOOO~O~O~O~O~ONNNNNNNNG~**

The sound of the machine's head slamming into the metal of Pyrrha's shield echoed throughout the training hall as his fist crashed into its side, the machine's stance seemingly going off the fritz as its hardware was buzzed by the shock of the strike. Immediately after Izuku and Pyrrha followed up with a series of hits, the machine far too stunned to respond to either of their movements. Soon enough the machine fell and the both of them, breathing somewhat deeply after all their effort, grinned at the fruits of their labor.

"Well, I'd certainly say that looked like advertised, wouldn't you say Nora?" Weiss commented with a small smile, politely clapping at their efforts as Nora just nodded enthusiastically.

"Totally! But now I want to slam something against's Pyrrha's shield with Magnhild! Think we can try that another time Pyr?!" Nora was getting more and more excited though Pyrrha's gaze went a bit thousand-yard stare as if she had imagined just what would happen.

...

They all involuntarily shivered at the thought of what might happen to Pyrrha's shield arm if it tried to take a direct hit from Magnhild.

"Sure Nora... but maybe sometime down the line." Pyrrha unconsciously moved her hand over to rub her shield arm as, slowly but surely, she placed her gear on her back. As all of them just got ready to head back to the dorms, He and Pyrrha grinned at each other. While Autumn Bell didn't have the sheer destructive power of Weiss and Nora's combination, when fighting up against a potentially dangerous foe 2v1, it would be a great opening move to put them on the back foot.

That thought alone got him a bit excited. It really did feel like things had started moving forward for his team.


	27. Cider

"Uuuuugh... Slugger, aren't you tired of all this class work yet?"

"... Um... not really? What's up Yang?"

Izuku was a bit cautious in answering as, it was rather clear by that point, that Yang herself was quite tired of the class work. A rather rare happening for he and Yang, the two of them had actually decided that rather than do anything too active that weekend, they'd both just hang out. When the prospect of doing so over some homework, to ensure that the two of them got it done, came up Yang was hesitant but... agreed. Apparently she did have some work to do that she hadn't gotten caught up with yet and Blake was nowhere to be seen. Meanwhile Tsuyu and Tenya were going over the design of her suit, apparently. Which had just left it to Yang to either go hang out with her sister's team which, well, didn't appeal because they all were apparently spending 'team time' together by order of Ruby herself.

Izuku's own team had been splitting off here and there to do stuff. Nora had insistently dragged Weiss off so that the two of them could get to know each other better as partners and Izuku and Pyrrha had already spent some time working together that weekend and she had some things to do on her own time as well. So it had sounded like a good idea to him...

Unfortunately it just seems like homework and sitting down for it wasn't Yang's forte.

"I just think it sucks. We sit in their classes every day and learn stuff and then they assign stuff for us to do on our own time when we should either be trainin' or living our own lives you know? Why can't they be like Glynda or Toshinori and just not give us homework?" Yang grumbled as Izuku just chuckled a bit nervously.

"I-It'd be kind of hard for Toshinori or Professor Goodwitch to assign us a live exercise or spar to do on our own time that they could verify, Yang." Yang just waved her hand dismissively.

"Bah, you and your logic Izuku." Izuku laughed a bit as Yang leaned back forward, resting her head on her hand as she looked over at him. "Okay so I get that we need to do this... but do we really need to do it right now? We could actually 'do' something, you know!"

Izuku raised an eyebrow a bit.

"What, like, go somewhere else on campus to hang out." Yang shrugged her shoulders.

"We could do that, we could do that... ooooor…" Yang grinned nice and wide as she leaned over towards him, "My baby Bumblebee is all ready to go! We could go out on the town in Vale and do all kinds of crap! With my ride we'd be zooming around in no time at all!"

"Really, I don't care what we do so long as its 'not homework'. Come on Slugger, even you have to be kind of tired of being cooped up in school for the past few weeks?"

"Well... I mean, I suppose that I really should be trying to learn more about the city I'm, ostensibly, living in now that I'm here. I really haven't gone out and explored much of Vale myself..." Izuku muttered a bit as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head. In all honesty, he hadn't even left Beacon's Campus in the three weeks he'd been there so far. While it hadn't necessarily bothered him, he had to admit that it limited the sorts of things he could learn and what advantages living next to a city like Vale might be able to give him. A day out exploring and spending time with a friend would be a good way of fixing that. Plus spending some time with Yang in a way that didn't involve both of them trying to beat the other senseless was also a pretty cool idea, in his opinion. He hadn't exactly spent a lot of leisure time with a lot of his friends, after all. That could be a nice change of pace.

As Yang watched his face brighten as he thought of the possibilities her own grin widened, probably thinking that she'd managed to convince him.

"Alright, alright! Looks like we've got a biter! Meet me out by the airbus dock; you need to put these books away and I need to grab my baby Bumblebee. We'll meet there, get out into the city and then just have ourselves a good old time!" With that Yang slammed her hands on the table in excitement, causing most people around them both to shush her for making so much noise. Yang, of course, just waved them off before she excitedly bolted on off. Izuku picked up his books, supplies and notes, noting that Yang had at least grabbed her stuff before running off, and then quickly saw to it that he didn't leave her waiting too long. As much patience as Yang could show from time to time, he still wouldn't put it past her to leave him and just go out to have fun if he left her hanging too long.

It wasn't long before the both of them wound up on the airbus between Vale and Beacon Academy, her motorcycle loaded up in the back waiting to be able to touch the solid pavement at the city. He freely admitted to not knowing much about motorcycles, or even motor vehicles in general, but he did have to admit there was a certain 'cool' factor to Yang's bike that even he could recognize. When the two of them finally arrived in Vale... he had to kind of stop to catch his breath. Vale... was a lot different than Mountain Glenn, he suddenly realized. It was not like he didn't know it from his own studies and he had even briefly saw glimpses of Vale when arriving on the Glenn Rail, but that was the first time he'd really stopped to take a look at it without rushing off here and there. The tallest buildings in Vale were certainly a lot taller than anything he'd ever seen in Mountain Glenn and the city itself was so much larger; when he was looking at it from the sky, it went on for so many miles before reaching the Vale Walls which, themselves, stretched up many more hundreds of feet than Mountain Glenn's.

It... felt a bit claustrophobic, if he was being honest. Mountain Glenn these days had a far more open field; yeah it was walled in but the buildings tend to be further spaced apart and don't quite blot out the sun like a lot of Vale's do. As he was looking around, he heard Yang chuckle and turned to face her.

"Oh boy, do I know that look. 'Boonies kid coming to the big city for the first time'. Ruby and I were looking at Vale pretty much the exact same way the first time we visited from Patch." Izuku smiled a bit at the little anecdote, glad that someone understood how he was feeling. "And just like us, you have a totally awesome guide to help you through your first visit to the grand old City of Vale; we had our dad, you'll have yourself good old Yang Xiao Long... and 'unlike' us, you'll be riding in style." Indeed, it wasn't long after landing that Bumblebee was unloaded in all her glory. Yang cooed after her baby a bit, checking over to make sure she didn't get dented or scratched in the flight over.

Izuku didn't know why he followed Yang along in giving Bumblebee a gender but... well, it fit, in a weird way.

"Alright Slugger, hop on. I promise that, for today, I'll take it nice and slow to let you get settled in on riding my baby. Don't want you flying off when I'm making any cool turns after all." Izuku swallowed a bit of a lump in his throat, nerves suddenly coming forward that he hadn't 'quite' thought to consider when it came to riding a motorcycle. Still watching as Yang popped open a small storage space on Bumblebee to pull out two helmets gave him some sense of safety, at the very least.

"So, what's on the agenda there Izuku? It's 'your' first day in Vale after all and I'm playing guide for the most part. What sights, sounds and other glories of the great capital of our fair Kingdom do you have a mind to see?" He chuckled a bit as Yang adopted a grandiose and fluffed up tone of voice, playing the role of a stuffy tour guide. Still, it made him think as he caught the helmet Yang tossed his way.

"Well... I am starting to run short on clothes and what I do have is either old school uniforms, the Beacon uniform or... my really messed up gym clothes." Izuku scratched the back of his head during his confession, Yang just nodding as he smiled at her. "Maybe I could go shopping for some new clothes? Might not be a bad thing to start off with and I'd know where to find stuff like that in the future." Yang nodded her head as she sat astride Bumblebee, patting the seat just behind her.

"Sounds like a plan to me Slugger. Just hop right on aboard and we'll get going." Izuku looked at the bike somewhat nervously, still slightly worried about his first time riding a motorcycle. Still, trusting Yang's experience with driving, he took a deep breath and slide onto the seat just behind her. He spot a slightly wry grin on Yang's lips as she starts her motorcycle up, causing him to jolt a bit. "You might want to go ahead and slide back a bit Slugger and then hold on tight." Izuku nodded as he did that, blushing as...

Oh...

"U-U-U-Uh... wh-where do I put my hands?" Yang just bit out a quick laugh, a slightly predatory grin on her face as she looked back at him.

"Getting some ideas there Izuku?" Izuku buried his face in his hands as he blushed, Yang just barking out a laugh as she lightly slapped the handles of Bumblebee. "Relax Izuku, I'm kidding. Look, just put your hands on my sides. It'll be fine, it's how people ride passenger on motorcycles all the time." Izuku barely managed a slight nod as she reach forward and do as Yang said, thankful when she didn't start teasing him further as she revs up Bumblebee. Suddenly a small question popped up in his head.

"Okay I understand the... the hand placement but... why did you ask me to scoot back?" Yang just grinned again though with a slight trace of red on her cheeks.

"Vibrations."

There wasn't even a moment for him to ask what she meant before suddenly-

 **vvvvvVVVVVVRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR-**

If it weren't for the helmet he had on, Izuku knew that the wind have whipped his hair to and fro as the it just blazed past his face, him being forced to close his eyes for a moment before adjusting. He hadn't gone that fast since Tenya had thrown him up to the Giant Nevermore back in the Emerald Forest and that was only for a short burst... and he was being swung wildly from side to side as the motorcycle dipped into each turn. He kept from screaming out loud as Yang sped down the streets of Vale, her ride practically gliding from lane to lane as the two of them made good time through the city.

"SO! WHAT EXACTLY HAVE YOU BEEN DOING TO THOSE WORKOUT CLOTHES OF YOURS ANYWAY SLUGGER, SEEMS LIKE WE DON'T WORK OUT OR SPAR HARD ENOUGH FOR THE KIND OF DAMAGE YOU'VE DONE TO SOME OF THEM!"Yang called out over the road of Bumblebee's engine, Izuku lifting his head up slightly in order to speak back.

"IT'S MY SEMBLANCE! WHENEVER I CHANNEL IT 100% ANYWHERE, IT TEARS UP AND DESTROYS WHATEVER CLOTHING I'M WEARING ON TOP OF IT!" Yang nodded her head as she kept her eyes on the road.

"WOW, KINDA SUCKS! GLAD MY SEMBLANCE DOESN'T DO THAT; I ACTUALLY LIKE MY WARDROBE, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!" Izuku's head went beet red as his imagination ran with that mental image. So, instead of talking, he just nodded his head and waited out the rest of the ride to the shop. After several minutes of cutting around corners and nearly screaming for his life from the experience they finally had come across some small clothing shop in Vale, a nice little store tucked right on the corner of a busy intersection. Yang quickly pulled up and, taking off her helmet, shook her voluminous hair out, not a sign of helmet head to be seen.

"Woo! Gotta say, feels really good to be back on the road! Been a hot minute since I last rode my baby around... feels good to have the wind through my hair again." Yang declared with a wide grin as she got off her bike, turning to see Izuku... frozen in place, his hands having gone from gripping Yang's sides to gripping the metal of Bumblebee as he shook a bit. "Yeah, everyone's first time on a motorcycle is pretty intense. Trust me, when you get used to it, you'll love it." He just nodded slowly, accepting her advice without questioning it, as he slowly wrenched his hands away from the motorcycle and up to his helmet, unbuckling it and sliding it off his head...

...

"... Pfffffffffffffffffft..." He looked up from his position on Bumblebee to see Yang with a hand over her mouth, cheeks puffed up with contained laughter as a clear amount of mirth dances across her eyes. At first he was curious as to what was so funny... and then he caught his reflection in one of Bumblebee's rear view mirrors...

'Wow I look stupid.'

Reaching a hand up he quickly shook his hair around as he tried to get it out of its matted state and, eventually, his mess of hair was, once again, messy.

"Damn, I wish I took a picture... ah well, I'll have an opportunity to get another one before the day's through." His cheeks went red in embarrassment as he scratched one of them, slipping himself off of her bike as they both stood out in front of the store. "Alright there Slugger, we're here. What do you have in mind?"

"I'm just really looking for something practical, you know."

"Pssh," Yang just wagged her finger, "That's no fun. We should really try to give you yo-"

"Um," Izuku cut back in, "Not today. I just need a few more sets of clothes."

Yang just stared at him for a moment, before shaking her head, and then sighing.

"Take all the fun out for me why don't ya?"

It was actually a really quick visit as they strolled through, find some new workout clothes, try them on and then check out. Nothing high fashion he'd look for an opinion on or to see how he looked, just some workout clothes to give him a bit more breathing space and that would stay together for a while. Yang still helped him pick out some good gear for what he'd be doing as a Hunter-in-training and, before long, he was forty-five Lien poorer but a small wardrobe of workout clothes lighter.

"Alright Slugger, Izuku smiled a bit as Yang said that, though a small frown formed on his face.

"Well... I was actually thinking..." He saw Yang blink as she leaned forward on the handles of her bike, watching his response. "The only reason we'll have so much time to visit so many places in Vale is because you offered to give me a ride on top of hanging out today. I know you want to play tour guide... but I feel like I also owe you a good time instead of just checking out places I want to go." He gave her as genuine a smile as he could as he beamed at her. "So how about this tour guide: you show me around to a Yang Xiao Long spot before I pick another spot? Someplace I wouldn't think of going on my own!" Izuku offered and, for a moment, he saw Yang's honestly taken aback by his offer...

Before a wide grin settled on her face, a glimmer in her eye.

"You know what Izuku, you're a good guy. Hop on, I know exactly where we'll go next." Izuku nodded as he placed his new clothes into Bumblebee's compartment and slid on behind Yang, scooting back a bit away from her and, tentatively, putting his hands back on her sides before they both sped off.

* * *

"I have to admit, when you mentioned that the place was going to have a bar, I was expecting a club of some kind..." He swallowed nervously as both he and Yang entered a small bar in Vale, the bell clinging just above the door as the customers turned to see the newcomers before turning back to their drinks.

"Psshaw. Not for nothing Izuku, but you're nowhere near ready for a club scene. You'll get eaten alive." Well, she's definitely not wrong. Izuku nodded in agreement with her and chuckled sheepishly, Yang just grinned as she picked them both out a seat at the bar. "So I chose a nice little bar I know about around here in Beacon. I don't come out to places like this too often, you are right the club scene is more my thing, but I figured some place calm like this would be pretty good for a guy like you." Izuku nodded appreciatively as he watched the guy running the bar take someone else's order... and admittedly he started to feel nervous.

"Yang... are we allowed to be in here? I mean, I know that we're old enough but... well... I mean, we're students, and-"

"It's cool Izuku. Like you said, we're old enough and I've been at bars and clubs like this even while I was a student as Signal... heck, things got pretty rowdy this one time. I'll have to tell you about it sometime." Yang said with a bit of a nostalgic beam in her eye as she shrugged. "Plus we're Hunters-in-training. We have our Aura's unlocked so even if we drank a little much, it'd be a pretty simple fix to just purge it out with some good old-fashioned Aura healing. Even if people would look sideways at kids a year younger than us coming in, they won't even blink when it's clear you're prepping to be a Hunter. One of the unsung perks of training for the job, according to my Uncle Qrow."

... So was Qrow Branwen her uncle? It was clear from her last name that she was related to Taiyang Xiao Long... that would've made Raven Branwen her mom! Before Izuku could even start internally freaking out or muttering about how amazing such a family would be for Hunters, Izuku watched as the barman came over.

"Strawberry Sunrise, no ice... oh, and if you have those little umbrellas?" The barman just nodded as Yang grinned in satisfaction. "Great, stick one in." Yang turned to him and gave a bit of a predatory smile. "I take from your little question earlier that you've never drank before, right Slugger?" Izuku just nodded sheepishly as he looked down at the bar itself, Yang just barking out a slight laugh as she patted him on the back. "Then consider this my treat. Go ahead and order what you want."

Izuku looked up at the menu and, honestly, he felt a little daunted.

"Ummm... well... I... hmmm..." He began to just stare blankly at the menu, before finally sighing and admitting defeat.

"Hey, Yang?" Yang looked over at him, a slight quirk to her brow. "I honestly have no idea what I'm doing right now... what would you suggest as a first drink?" Yang nodded, as if having expected something along this line, before turning to the bartender and slapping the counter.

"Barkeep, get my friend here some Hard Cider, the good stuff from Patch if you have any." The somewhat burly and mustachioed barkeep just gave a quick nod as he walked over to his store of liquors and various other alcohols and begins pulling various glasses and cups from their places. As Izuku waited he kicked his legs a bit nervously as he watched the man go to work, a slightly nervous lump forming in his throat as a fine sheen of sweat formed on your brow. "Getting a little nervous there Slugger?" His gaze snapped over to Yang as she gave him a nice, wide grin, he just nodded his head slowly and pulled at his collar.

"Y-Yeah... like I said, I've never drank before so this is kind of going to be a new experience for me. I'm... kinda nervous because I think I might mess it up or look pretty lame. Plus if my mom ever found out I think she'd faint right on the spot."

'Going out in the town with an attractive blonde friend and having my first alcoholic beverage while doing so?' he just internally shook his head, 'Yeah my mom would probably freak out and it'd take a lot more than just one phone call to convince her that nothing was happening.'

Yang just laughed a bit as she leaned forward on the table.

"I'm guessing your mom's the protective sort, eh?" Izuku gave a nod slightly as he chuckled.

"It's not that she's the protective sort... honestly, given that we both thought I was a Moon Child, she let me get away with a lot more than your 'protective' sort of mom might. Especially letting me go to a Combat School where I could get hurt." Yang nodded slightly as he spoke and... well, a slight smile came across his face. "My mom just worries. She wants me to pursue my dreams and live my own life and she supports me... but she's kind of like me. Worries a lot and... well..." he blushed a bit as Yang's grin widened slightly.

"Cries a lot?"

"Yeah I definitely get that from my mom." he heard Yang laugh a bit as he lowered his face to hide the shade of red on it.

"Sounds like you've got a good mom Izuku. Worries about you but doesn't keep you from pursuing your dream... sounds great even." Yang nodded as she said that, while his smile grew; it wasn't much of a direct compliment to him, but he'd be more than glad to have his friends think well of his mother. Even in spite of that night... his mom really did do her best to try to make up for it, especially now. He really did love her, when all was said and done.

"What about your mom Yang? What was she like?" He saw there was a slight hitch in Yang's form, a moment of hesitation where it seems like her lips quirked a bit. Still, the moment came and went as Yang just grinned.

"Dude... Summer Rose was pretty much the best mom anyone could ask for. She was like super mom; just as good as baking an amazing batch of cookies as she was killing an entire horde of Grimm with little to no thought put into it. She's pretty much Ruby's entire inspiration for becoming a Huntress and... well, not for nothing Izuku, I know you think Toshinori's the #1 Hunter but... well, I gotta agree with Ruby and say that it was Summer. She wasn't around as often as we might've liked, being a full-time Huntress and all but... well, when she was around... man. Those were the days." Yang said with a wide, nostalgic smile as she ran her finger across the counter.

...

'Wait?'

'Summer Rose?'

Izuku blinked slightly as he ran that through his mind again. 'But, Qrow Branwen... maybe they just refer to him as 'Uncle Qrow' because he was a teammate of their parents? It makes sense, but it just seems slightly off somehow.'

'Might...need to think about that.'

Soon enough their drinks arrived; the barkeep swinging around and places before Yang a nice little glass with an umbrella in it with some pinkish concoction swirling around the umbrella. In front of Izuku a small mug of what at first glance could be mistaken as apple juice. The only sign that he had that it wasn't just some apple juice and he was being pranked was the fact that he'd gotten it off the same shelf as the rest of the alcohol. Yang gave a quick and appreciative nod as she took her drink and sipped on it, drinking it slowly as she let it slide down her throat. Her eyes were on Izuku as she did so, apparently wanting to see his reaction to his first drink. Izuku swallowed a bit nervously as he took the mug of cider in hand and lifted it up, staring at the beverage for a moment as his nerves almost got the better of him.

'Well, waste not want not.'

Izuku quickly slammed the mug back as he took his first drink, Yang barking out a quick laugh as she carefully pulled her drink away from her lips to keep from spilling it. "Easy there Izuku, you don't need to go shotgunning Cider to look good! Just drink it normal!" Following her advice he pulled back and took a deep breath after swallowing, panting slightly at having tried to force so much of it at once. He felt a slight burn in his throat from having drunk it but... well, it really was 'very' minor at best and probably just because it was his first.

In all honesty... it wasn't bad. The comparison to apple juice once again came to his mind when it came to the texture of the drink but it was hardly unappealing. The sweetness of the apples and the cut of the alcohol made it a very different kind of drink to the ones he'd had before... and that certainly wasn't a bad thing. He took a far more normal swig of the drink and verified that, yeah, it wasn't half bad and he didn't even feel any burning when he was not trying to slam back the entire mug of Hard Cider all at once.

"There ya go Izuku. Take your time. These aren't shots you need to force yourself through. Just relax and enjoy your drink." Izuku nodded as Yang took another sip of her own Strawberry Sunrise, following it up with another swig of his cider. "So, now that I've popped your bar cherry, what next on the agenda Izuku? Got anything in mind or are you gonna let good old Yang take care of you again?" She asked with a wide grin, chuckling slightly as his face went a bit red at her turn of phrase. Honestly, he had been of a mind to get something to eat while he and Yang were out, figuring, quite correctly, that they wouldn't make it back to Beacon in time to get to the dinner spread. He took a moment to think as he ended up, surprisingly, finishing his mug.

"I was actually thinking of going out somewhere to eat. I figured we'd be out late enough to miss dinner back at Beacon anyway, so I figured why not stop somewhere to grab something to eat?" Yang nodded as she took another sip on her Strawberry Sunrise, grinning slightly as he ordered a refill on his Hard Cider.

"Hmmm, that does sounds like a plan to me. Putting some food in yourself after drinking is a very fine idea. Plus, I'm just flat out hungry." Yang chuckled as she took another sip of her drink, giving a refreshed sigh before she turned back to Izuku. "So what are you thinking there Slugger? The bar here does serve some pretty good food if you're looking for something good that's also on the relatively cheap side." He nodded in understanding but then move to take a drink of his refilled Cider.

"Well, I was actually thinking that I'd prefer to find someplace I'd be able to take my team out to if we ever got some money put together for a group outing. Plus a restaurant just seemed like it'd be the better bet for something good for dinner, if you feel me." Yang just grinned a bit from behind her glass as she nodded understandingly while he just scratched at the back of his head. "Also, Yang? I appreciate you having bought me these drinks and for, ya know, driving me out here from the beginning. So I was thinking that I could pay you back by spotting you for dinner. My treat." Izuku saw that wide grin become positively predatory as Yang Xiao Long leaned a bit against the counter.

"Ooooh? Is that so?" He nodded slowly, a slight bit of red creeping onto his cheeks form the way Yang was looking at him as she gave a wink. "Gee Izuku. Going out clothes shopping, letting the lady take you out to drinks and then offering to buy her dinner once she'd gotten a little Sunrise in? You sure play the long game... I can't help but feel like I've been caught in your web. Is this how you ensnare all the pretty girls?" Yang pouted her lips slightly as she frowned. "I feel so taken advantage of Izuku... is this what you've been aiming for the entire time?"

His face immediately glowed red as he waved his hands defensively.

"W-Wait, I don't mean like that, I'm just really grateful is all and I wanted to pay you back, I'm not trying to hit on you or anything or make you feel like this is a date, I was just-" By the time Yang busted a gut laughing Izuku realized she was just teasing him his face was glowing an even hotter shade of red as he immediately turned to try to bury his face in his drink.

"Relax Izuku, I'm kidding! I know you're just tryin' to be cool. I respect that." Yang lifted her drink back up, finishing it with a satisfied sigh. "Be careful you don't end up being a little heart breaker though there Slugger. A lot of girls out there might've gotten the wrong idea and started swooning their hearts out. I know I was certainly light-headed for a second there." At that he turn his gaze over to Yang... only to frown again when he saw the nice, wide smirk on her lips. She was poking fun at him again. "Just kiddin' Slugger. It'd take a lot more than one dinner date to get old Yang Xiao Long feeling butterflies in her stomach."

"Very funny Yang..."

"Eh, I've had to work on my other forms of comedy in order to make up for the fact that I can't make puns around my partner. I'm a little rusty but, hey, I still think my skills are... bar-able." They both guffaw at her pun, a slightly groan escaping his lips as he shook his head. "Nope, still got it." With that Yang set her glass out in front of her. "In more seriousness, I do appreciate it Izuku, but I know that you're pretty strapped for cash right now so I'll go ahead and pay for my own food. Trust me, I'm doing alright."

"I figured... I just thought it'd be the right thing to do after you paid for my drinks is all." At that, Yang snorted a bit as she grinned at him.

"Just a real sweetheart aren't ya." Izuku grimaced a bit as Yang reached over and pinched his cheek, Izuku doing his best to work out of her grip... now he had sympathy for how Ruby felt. "Besides, I already said it was cause this was an occasion; your first time out drinking. I probably won't spot you in the future there Slugger, no matter how hilarious I think seeing you buzzed would be." Izuku just nodded his head as he finished his drink.

"So, after dinner, what are you thinking of next? Figured we'd might as well plan for it so we don't spend too long sitting around."

"I was actually thinking of passing it back to you. Figured fair was fair." At that Yang nodded as she grinned again.

"I figured you'd say something like that." With that Yang took out her Lien Card and, after the barkeep swiped it, she got up. "Alright, just give me a second to get my head straightened out with my Aura and i'll be good to drive. You hold on good and tight now; don't want you slipping off just cause you had a couple drinks." With that Izuku rolled his eyes slightly as, without any trouble at all, he managed to stand up.

"I think I'll be fine Yang. It wasn't that bad." Yang watched him walk around a bit and, indeed, while his movements might be a little bit slower than usual, they were still coordinated and feeling pretty much fine. Yang watched that and, after a moment, gave a grin.

"I guess it wasn't. If I ever treat you again I'll have to get you something a little stronger than Hard Cider." With that Yang clapped him on the shoulder and the both of them walked off. "Let's go get some grub and then move on. As far as where I want to go... hmmm... well, you mind humoring me while I do my own errand?" He tilted his head to the side as Yang turned to face him. "Tenya and I made sure my baby's up to stuff for right now, but we have some upgrades in mind. I was thinking of running down to a little motorcycle shop that I frequent to see what they got on hand. Figured that you could look around at some of the prices for stuff there while I do my business. It's not quite 'hanging out with your friends' material but I'd appreciate it."

"Sure thing Yang. I dragged you clothes shopping so I don't see why I can't go to this bike shop with you." Izuku smiled warmly as he spoke, Yang's own grin widening as she patted him on the shoulder.

"Appreciate it Izuku. Now let's grab some of that grub before we get going. I'm starving." Izuku wasn't exactly far behind Yang as the both of them agreed to get a move on.

While neither location was quite as utterly new and, to be honest, foreign to Izuku as the bar Yang took him to, the restaurant and the bike shop actually ended up being interesting locations in and of themselves. Not just for what they were individually but what he ended up finding there either posted on a bulletin board or, in the case of the bike shop, on its show floor; work and goods. The restaurant was actually a rather nice dinner all things considered. The food was good and the service is definitely not something he'd complain about. Despite dealing with a few more teasing remarks from Yang about taking her out to such a nice spot, he was not going to lie and say that the atmosphere was probably better than the bar had been or some fast food joint would've been. While their talks don't get much heavier than they did over at the bar, the food was solid and the small talk is amendable.

It wasn't long before either he and Yang finished; Izuku, after all, was used to much bigger portions served up by his mother as part of Toshinori's 'Beacon Dream Plan' and woofing those down as quickly as possible in order to make sure he'd have even more time in his day while Yang didn't seem entirely bothered by table manners herself. That was, she wasn't some uncouth slob that people took notice of but Weiss would probably have a few things to say about how she acted at the dinner table... and the only reason he'd taken note of it was that Weiss had been doing her level best the past few weeks to try to make sure everyone's manners were up to snuff... and failing to do so with Nora.

Which all things considered, was rather predictable.

When the two were finished and the checks paid he was 15 Lien lighter but good food heavier which, combined with the good company, he considered a worthwhile trade.

The bike shop was next and... well, he couldn't really say much. Not because he wasn't awestruck because, hey, he was as much a hot-blooded young teenager as anyone. Seeing all those motor vehicles laid out before him tickled some instinctual part of his brain somewhere and made him a little bit excited. There were just a few things keeping him down; the first was that he really didn't have a ready understanding of engineering and so really couldn't comment on the motorcycles much more than 'they look pretty awesome'. The second was price range; even the smallest little moped scooter for sale here that could ferry him from one end of Vale to another in a more timely manner than his feet was about 200 Lien, and he knew for a fact that it wasn't so fast as Bumblebee, nor did the especially cheap models come with extra seating. No, for that he'd have to pay even more... and that really wasn't money he had on hand.

The third was that he was a bit blown away listening to Yang talk parts with the man running the store as she haggled for this bit or that bit that she and Tenya had, apparently, discussed in upgrading Bumblebee. However much Yang knew about fighting she also knew about maintaining her bike and talking parts... and if Tenya was to be believed, she and Tsuyu were also fairly good cooks, the former backed up by Ruby even. It... really did speak to how little he'd actually been hanging out with his friends that he was still learning about all this information about them after having known them for a few weeks. Personal stuff he wasn't surprised, like he said, it'd only been weeks... but even stuff like hobbies or what most of them liked was still a bit up in the air in some cases to him.

Finally as Yang's business concluded the clock ticked down and, yes, it was about time for the both of them to head back to Beacon. They both quickly remounted Bumblebee and, one long drive back to the station and an airbus ride later, they were both back on campus.

"Well Izuku I gotta say, dinner and drinkin' wasn't exactly what I was expecting but I sure as Hell am not gonna complain. Plus you're a pretty generous fellow there. We'll have to do this again sometime Slugger." Izuku smiled back at Yang and nodded his head, a wide grin stretching across his face.

"Yeah, we really will... this was a lot of fun." And he meant it too; it had been a lot of fun. Yang quickly rode off to put Bumblebee back in Beacon's garage while him, with only a slight buzz in his fingers from his first drinks ever, walked right on back to his dormitory. The afternoon and evening had, after all, been quite the event.

* * *

 **E/N: A social so big it took up an entire chapter. Fitting since this entire weekend Phase was so big that it caused so much damn lag I had to break it into two sheets instead of the normal 5 chapters per, thing I had going on.**

 **-Shovern**

 **A/N: Thought I'd take the time to mention once again that this fanfic is a edit done by Shovern and Wind based off of work I did on a Quest on SpaceBattles, as that seems to be a mistake that pops up in reviews from time to time. If you want to see where the Quest has gone, well, let's just say there's a lot of material on SpaceBattles. Just search up the name of this fic and you'll be sure to find it.**

 **In addition, now that we're far enough into the fanfic's publishing by sheer volume, I thought I'd mention that I do have a P atreon page (Google the site and Inkasters or gorilla_fingers, you'll be sure to find it either way) for anyone who'd be interested in supporting the Quest, the fanfic or even in supporting me writing more side material for it that you'd be able to vote on.**

 **-gorilla_fingers**


	28. Tales of Beacon III

That morning Izuku not only had dared to wake up on time despite staying up half the night doing who knows what with his aura, he actually had the gall to try and wake her and the other girls up for a morning jog. Weiss had gracefully decided not to bring her righteous anger down upon the repeat offender and sleep-disturber that instant, or maybe she had just been too sleepy herself? Not like that was anyone but _his_ fault.

But Pyrrha apparently had taken him up on that offer, the collaborator. And from what the girl told her later, the boy actually beat her decisively in that jog? Weiss didn't really believe that part of course, the girl was a multiple time champion and the boy's aura was clearly still underdeveloped. Or without mincing words, somewhat shoddy for his age. Not exactly surprising, since Izuku had told them he didn't have his aura for that long a time. But for Pyrrha to say that much, he must have at least held up decently well and given her some challenge, for her to let him have the win on that last spurt.

Maybe Pyrrha had intended to boost Izuku's confidence a bit? The girl did seem somewhat taken with the boy, she usually was all smiles around him. And they seemed genuine smiles, not the strained ones Pyrrha often showed to others. Weiss knew something about fake smiles, she had to perfect that skill early on, as well as learn to recognize them in others. Pyrrha hadn't really seemed as if she had a romantic interest in the boy though, despite the way they all had openly gawked at his abs the evening before...

Herself excluded, of course! Not like she could have missed the view with how Nora had set it up. It's not like she'd asked for it and some muscle on a hunter was to be expected to begin with, wasn't it?

And later that day, after she had seen him in All Might's obstacle course, Pyrrha's claims hadn't seemed all that far-fetched anymore...

After their morning training Izuku actually had shown the courtesy to ensure his team...

Weiss paused at that, saying "his team", still stung her a bit, even when she realized by then it was a bit petty.

Anyways, he ensured they were all awake and ready to take breakfast together. Her mood at that point hadn't been so bad, she had been all but sure at that point he wouldn't be able to dodge her chewing him out for keeping her awake all night.

She shuddered at how that came out, that blonde, Yang, would have had a field day with that sentence, the way she mercilessly teased them about that abs incident.

Regardless, Weiss would keep her eyes peeled on Izuku for the rest of the day, looking forward to the moment he'd finally let up and yawn, for her to deliver his punishment. At least that had been Weiss' plan until that boring lesson where even a well-behaved girl like her had to fight to stay awake, while the boy was busy taking notes for the entire team to share!

How could she still chew him out after that? And then he not only again managed to stay awake, he actually let a teacher talk him into fighting a Grimm while ill-equipped. And won near-perfectly with a single attack. Huh. Unexpected to say the least.

And when asked why he took that risk, it turned out he hadn't been talked into it _at all_ , but gave them an answer that showed commendable drive, dedication and humility. Then ran off to get his weapon fixed. And Weiss was sure he had been genuine about his feelings and intent too.

How could she chew him out after that showing?

Especially while that Bakugo boy was listening, who apparently had bullied Izuku all his life? Non-withstanding the prejudices some people had about the Schnee family due to all those rumors about abusing Faunus, Weiss certainly didn't want to entertain those views by indirectly helping a bully.

Whatever problems she had with Izuku, she wouldn't disgrace either of them or their team in the face of an uncouth brute like that. So she had decided to swallow her anger and let it be.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

Weiss had remained seated after dinner and enjoyed a cup of tea.

She had taken a sip and enjoyed the warmth that filled her. While the tea didn't exactly measure up to the kind she was used to, it was still a surprisingly nice brew. Maybe that was the headmaster's influence? Regardless it Looked like Weiss wouldn't have to start using up the limited supply of her favorite teas she brought from home as soon as she expected. She would instead have the freedom to keep it for special occasions. Maybe she would even share some with her team in a festive moment.

She threw a glance to another table where Izuku, Ruby and Tenya were sitting in private, ironing out some of the general details of their future leader council meetings.

Which had only left one other person at the same table as her. Weiss decided to ignore her for now. One shouldn't drink tea in a bad mood after all. She still felt a bit tired too after giving her all in Aizawa's exercise and she didn't get much sleep due to Izuku first interrupting her and then trying to wake her early.

Still, she was pleased with her team's performance and her own in that exercise. The other team members hadn't talked much about how exactly they solved the problem yet, but all three had gotten a perfect record like she did, so it would be interesting to hear about it and compare notes, so to say.

Izuku came from an area of mountains and forests so he should have some navigation skills, Pyrrha had shown athletic skills in her career that would prove useful approaching the exercise in a similar manner as Weiss had done. Nora's success surprised her, but it showed she could keep up outside of battle, which somewhat reassured some fears Weiss harbored.

Weiss had abused the fact that her glyphs provided her with an edge to take the high ground and improve her speed, which had allowed her to cover a good amount of terrain in a short time span. She had also taken keen notice of which directions the other people went off in the beginning and had entirely ignored areas they returned from while bearing dissatisfied looks. That calculated risk had cut down on the areas she had to search and it didn't take her that long to find Aizawa.

He gave her a perfect record, citing the calculated risk of watching the others as a high point of Weiss' tactical thinking and the skilled use of her semblance to aid her outside of direct battle as another.

But Weiss somehow couldn't shake the feeling he still looked somewhat... disappointed?

Maybe it was the amount of Dust she used? While he did tell them to use everything they wanted and had available, she doubted many students, barring Iida Tenya perhaps, had strained their Dust reserves that early. Specifically if they used up much during the hunter exam already.

Regardless, a success for her. The first of many, if she had something to say about it. She would measure up to her family name and her own goals. It was only suitable to start off like that.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

The dinner had been... interesting.

Izuku had reinforced her opinion on the source of his drive. But it had been that blonde girl Yang who had shown some hidden depth, after her annoying displays of teasing during the breakfast.

By aiding her teammate, a frog Faunus girl.

In her own crude and vulgar manner of course. Still, standing up to that Cardin person, who supposedly was also a team leader, required some courage. One thing was certain, Yang had made an enemy that day and Cardin surely hadn't been made a team leader for his manners, or rather the painfully obvious lack there-of. So he should have some serious skills to compensate his ill-bearing.

While all people at the table had shown approval at Yang's actions, Blake Belladonna seemed especially impacted by the scene. Maybe she was a Faunus rights activist?

There always had been a certain amount of human supporters looking to aid the Faunus cause, even though the numbers of human supporters were in decline due to the public fall out of the White Fang attacks, as well as more media covering how the Schnee Dust Company actually treated their Faunus workers opposed to the blatant lies that were spread for a political agenda.

Without a thought to how stupid and irresponsible that kind of political hate-mongering was in a world where negative emotions fed the Grimm threat of humanity.

But Blake seemed prejudiced against Weiss, or rather the Schnee name, from the start, so she was probably in line with the naysayers that called the truth a spin doctor campaign instead and would eat up any lie she heard.

Weiss had also noticed Blake had thrown her a look during the scene and the girl even had the gall to look _surprised_ at Weiss having positive regard of Yang's actions.

The young Schnee had been told about the campaigns against her family name and company. Experienced some of them in person too, but being in the center of someone's attention who apparently thought you were some kind of monster who would clap and giggle at the sight of Faunus discrimination was... a bit more unsettling.

It was more direct and therefore offended Weiss on a much more personal level. Which was the reason she ignored the other person at the table, Blake, barring the occasional glance Weiss couldn't resist. Her thoughts still wouldn't stop though...

If Blake supposedly was a human supporter of Faunus empowerment, it made sense she would react that strongly to the incident, specifically when she otherwise felt like a silent person that barely showed emotions.

Weiss had also seen Blake taking notice of the fact Izuku was starting to react before Yang held him back, as well as her positive reaction when he talked about protecting the weak and how terrible it felt to have lost hope. And how a hunter who can birth hope is a special kind of hero and the sort he aimed to be.

That thought gave Weiss pause.

Lost hope.

A human Faunus right supporter would probably know something about that.

Their groups never really bonded and worked together with the Faunus they shared their aims with, like the earliest incarnation of the White Fang long before it turned to terrorism.

Maybe if they did, the White Fang wouldn't be what it was today.

But the Faunus always were suspicious about their aims, afraid of being used in some way or losing face in front of other Faunus for cooperating with humans of any kind.

That would surely feel pretty discouraging to a human who only wanted to reach out a hand. The attempts of the Schnee company to reach out to the Faunus were probably often met with similar ungrounded dismissal. Faunus tended to be overly paranoid in general, somewhat understandable, but hurting their cause far worse than anyone else ever did.

They weren't satisfied with small steps and damned whatever was given or gained as _too little too late_ , specifically if the Schnee Company was involved.

It was a bit telling it even had been the Frog Faunus who brought the issue of the White Fang actually hurting the Faunus cause up in the history class lesson instead of the human activist.

Blake had looked a bit worked up after hearing the Frog Faunus, probably because she wanted to say something similar and didn't, out of fear how it would be taken, coming from the mouth of a human.

Weiss could relate, it had been on her tongue as well, but if it coming from the mouth of a human could go badly, to try saying it as the Schnee heir?

Weiss frowned and glanced at Blake, sighing internally. The girl was obviously pro-Faunus, but she'd so far hadn't even seen her actually interact with any of them.

Blake went so far as to wear a hair ornament that almost looked like cat ears from some distance to endear herself to the Faunus, but instead of reaching out to them she'd rather glare at Weiss for being the "evil oppressive Schnee heir" witch she apparently saw her as.

Weiss smiled sardonically.

For all the good will Blake probably harbored towards the Faunus, she apparently didn't actually deal much with Faunus on a personal level.

To the point it wasn't even her, Blake, who stood up to protect her own Faunus teammate.

Weiss finally realized what it was that made her angry. What gave Blake the right to judge _her_ , when she wasn't even _remotely_ practicing what she preached, but damning a Schnee she knew nothing about for the general situation was fine?

Because for all the words about understanding, most Faunus and Faunus supporters only saw the world in Black and White, dismissing even the good the Schnee Corporation did and the fact that they weren't really their enemy. Because it was easier to shift the blame on a face-less company.

Instead the White Fang was busy escalating things and the security, army and heroes were up in arms to counter that, with the Schnee Company losing money and time to that conflict that could be used to improve humanity's situation. Not to mention having the army and heroes not fighting Grimm but Faunus to the detriment of all.

Weiss would one day be the one dealing with that.

Not a Faunus or Blake, who was apparently more bark than bite when it came to defend her beliefs.

She was the heir. And she wanted to improve the situation. Unwarranted as it was, she regarded it as a blemish on the Schnee family name she intended to clean up. But Weiss knew words wouldn't cut it.

Maybe Weiss should have stood up too. Her situation was rather unique though.

But Blake? She should have stood up.

Weiss took a sip of tea, but to her annoyance it tasted bitter. The tea sat for too long. Too many disturbances to have a nice tea time.

Was she really alright with having Blake as some glaring shadow for the next few years?

What if they'd by chance had ended up at teammates instead?

How would she face her if her team faced Tenya's or they'd end up paired in spar?

Should she risk a fight where her mind would wander?

Strike her down and give her another reason to be at odds with her?

Maybe Weiss wasn't aware of how to deal with the situation in the future and maybe she should have stood up before. But should she maybe stand up now? She looked at Blake and was surprised to see her already looking at her over the book she was reading. Neither girl did avert their eyes though, not that time.

Weiss realized something in Blake's eyes was less... judging than before?

Weiss put the tea cup down. Then stood up and walked over. Aware Blake was looking at her approach with a hard to describe look on her face.

"Excuse me, Miss Belladonna, could I ask you something?", Weiss asked, trying her best not to offend by tone or posture.

Blake looked at her for a few moments and seemed to hesitate for a moment before nodding.

Weiss was about to take a seat when suddenly Izuku and Tenya called their respective names through the hall. She turned her head and saw their talk with Ruby apparently was over. She heard the sound of Blake's book closing and looked back at the girl.

"I'm sorry, it looks like our team leaders have urgent need of us.", Blake spoke up, already standing up from the chair.

Weiss couldn't help but think Blake seemed relieved about the disruption. The Schnee heir put on her best business smile and answered politely:

"Think nothing of it. It wasn't really that important."

 _"Except it kind of was."_ , Weiss thought, a bitter taste in her mouth.

 _"Must have been that tea..."_ , she told herself.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

The proceeding dinner had also been... interesting.

For one thing, Iida Tenya had reinforced her decent opinion of his. While it seemed a bit early and maybe it shouldn't have been in hearing range of everyone else, the idea of a leader council was obviously a useful one. That somewhat bubbly girl Ruby and Izuku did well in seeing the worth of that suggestion.

For a moment Weiss' thoughts were driven towards Blake.

Weiss felt a tinge of sadness at how that encounter after dinner had ended. It hadn't been easy for her to stretch out a hand like that and considering how that went...

She didn't regret doing it, but she wasn`t sure she'd be willing to do so again anytime soon.

That incident with the Frog Faunus, Tsuyu?, had been what would have set the right mood for a reasonable talk. For a moment Blake and her had been on common ground and each of them knew it at the time. Weiss wasn't so sure how a conversation between them would have went even with that kind of common ground to ease the start. Without it? She doubted it. Blake had been too wary of Weiss initiating a conversation to make her believe it would work out.

Weiss decided that for now she couldn't justify letting herself be distracted from her duties to herself, her heritage and her team by that issue, despite her open dissatisfaction at the fact. She might reconsider later-on when things had settled a bit. Or if Blake made a step towards her first.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

Originally Weiss's performance in Aizawa's test had been up to her own standards. But after later hearing about how Izuku's group handled it, she had begun to understand Aizawa's hesitation to give her

The highest grade after that group effort had preceded her own attempt. She had briefly wondered what it said about her she didn't even consider cooperating with the others for a second.

Had it been at that point she started to feel she hadn't evaluated Izuku and herself fairly? While on paper both of their approaches had equal merit, from a team leader's perspective...

She felt she'd come up short in comparison due to concentrating solely on her own performance.

Regarding their team talk, Izuku had welcomed all of her ideas and they had gone over them during dinner and in the latter team meeting. Part of her proposals about finance management were to be put into action and she agreed that her initial focus on Dust use could be postponed a bit until the team had trained some basic teamwork. Dust wasn't easy to use and incorporate in ones fighting style, even she would admit that and she came from a family that specialized in it and had provided her with the best of teachers. That difficulty could potentially distract someone from picking up their teammates' more general habits, simply by being too busy fine-tuning their own Dust use.

Weiss also had felt her sentiment at using Dust in spades so early would have been less if she didn't have the means to use it in amounts others would consider obscene spending to begin with.

From a team perspective it made sense to first have an approach that left more resources for general purposes. She'd consider it a long term project though and said as much during the meeting.

She glanced at the corner of the room. Izuku was still at it. The nerve. Did he not get tired?

Maybe boys just needed less sleep than girls in general? Still no reason to keep her awake like that!

The boy was a bit of an enigma. She felt something intriguing about him. And no, it wasn't his abs, despite what that uncultured blonde, Yang, said during breakfast. When he first came to talk to her, he didn't do it harboring any ill intentions, nor did he have any ulterior motive, which was... somewhat refreshing? If not endearing.

Izuku hadn't even been aware of her family name. Nor really cared about it after being told, beyond excusing himself for maybe having accidentally insulted her. And he didn't try hitting on her either, which tended to be the second most likely reason someone would talk to her.

His knowledge had impressed her, as did his humility when he analyzed possible team-ups and excluded himself from them. Despite being a bit awkward, he had left a good impression on her in general.

And not only on her. Tenya especially was clearly holding the boy in high regard already, due to his keen analytical mind and his performance during the exam. The way Pyrrha and Izuku ran to help Tenya and his partner out, taking on the giant Nevermore and winning. With Izuku apparently having no hesitation about hurting himself and willingly lowering his chances for the rest of the exam.

Weiss wouldn't have minded having Izuku on her team, specifically when he was already partnered with Pyrrha, who she planned to work with from the beginning. Despite Nora drilling away at her sanity, she did take notice of Izuku's emblem pick after all and while she'd still have preferred Tenya Iida at that point, she had to admit Izuku had shown some comparable qualities. She also hadn't really cared for all those glances Blake had given her when she thought Weiss wasn't looking. Even if she had not known the particular reasons of the girl's reservations about her at that point, it was part of the reason she had actually preferred having the Pyrrha and Izuku team as additional members instead of Tenya and Blake to precede unnecessary trouble in the future.

But having Izuku on _her_ team and being on _his_ team were entirely different things. She would have to get used to it. She was used to enacting authority. The times she was under authority involved mostly only older members of her family and the experiences with that, mostly with her father... had left her yearning to take control of situations herself, whenever possible.

Regardless, Weiss had decided from the beginning that she would still give her all to do well on the team and should the boy not satisfy the duties and responsibilities his position as team leader brought with it, she would take measures to replace him as the leader. That went without saying.

Still, she really didn't have much left to criticize. Regardless how hard she had looked for _something_.

If what Izuku told them was true (and who was she to really doubt that, considering _she_ was the one withholding information from her team in regards of keeping her summoning ability a secret), he only had his aura and semblance for a short time and his potential couldn't be denied. His drive was clear and his goals commendable. He went and hurt himself without hesitation in the forest, acted the same way when Nora faked herself being in danger and also behaved himself well-mannered while surrounded by three girls. This morning he had called home to his mother even! Awkward as Izuku could be, he apparently had been groomed well and Weiss was willing to give him a fair chance.

Unless she caught him yawn tomorrow. Then there would be a well-deserved reckoning. She smiled at that, before becoming serious again.

But for Izuku to exceed her, admittedly overly low-set expectations that much. She had started to question herself after Aizawa's exercise.

To the point she went after Toshinori Yagi after class. After seeing him in person, she knew it had been worth it to enter Beacon instead of visiting an academy in Atlas instead, like her father had insisted on at first.

Still angry at the situation with Blake and at herself for being so confused and lost on merely the second day, Weiss hadn't stopped herself from running after him, seeking some guidance.

The symbol of Hope. It held a certain kind of magic to it, didn't it? Even to her.

And with him being the hero Izuku looked up to so much, she felt that was the common ground she needed to feel justified in seeking counsel without feeling weak. While she maybe deserved to be chided for her weakness in the entire matter, surely no-one could really damn her for asking someone as esteemed as All Might to help her?

If someone like him deemed her worries silly, surely she would be able to get over them, right?

Except he didn't consider them silly. He could _relate_. His words, however unexpected, had ringed so true. Not only in her mind, but in her heart. While she wouldn't have dreamt of telling Izuku about her mindset before, in the end she took Toshinori Yagi's advice and made the leap of faith.

Yagi had told her he didn't expect Izuku would judge her for it. And even when she still judged herself about it... Izuku _really_ didn't.

It would be hard for her, but she felt she made a good first step. The burden of knowing her feelings wasn't on just her own shoulder's anymore and that made it easier to bear. To what degree she still had to find out.

* * *

"We should have a cat theme."

"Wait what?!"

Blake shouted, startled. She stared at Yang, trying to determine what brought that out of the blue and then the blond was staring at her and-

"You know, because we're team TABY, like the cat. Meow." Yang teased while holding her hand in a manner similar to a cat's aggressive warding pose that for some unfathomable reason people thought looked cute.

"Nobody else does team themes with their names." Blake said, trying to kill the thought fast. "This sounds like a waste of time."

Yang just blew her off. "Oh please, that's because most teams have terrible names to try and make a theme with. Plus there is this one second year team I met, CFVY, where they just wear shades of dark brown like coffee. I'm not saying we should go overboard, just a little something to show team bonding."

Tenya, Blake was horrified to note, seemed to be giving it way too much consideration. "I see. A means of showing team unity would be one way of raising both moral and cooperation as it would both show our allegiance and can help endear a group mentality by helping to reinforce association of membership with the group. A most excellent idea Yang."

"Yeah, it's just purr-fect." the blond quipped before quickly ducking down to escape her partner's retaliation. "Ha! Ow!"

The ow came courtesy of Blake performing a face smack with her book. "If you dodge you won't learn. And if you want some sort of team theme fine, but not cats."

"But it's right in our name so it makes the most sense." Tsuyu pointed out. "Blake, do you have a problem with cats ribbit?"

Blake tensed up massively as she tried to think of what to say, her words coming out as stammering worthy of Izuku. "What no I don't have a problem with cats who has a problem with cats I just don't think they should be our theme I mean I don't think we should have a theme but if we did it shouldn't be cats."

"Oh my god." Yang said, her eyes going huge. "It all makes sense now. Your reaction to the team being named TABY. Flinching when that one dude said you had catlike reflexes. Looking around nervously whenever somebody says something like "they're being catty". I get it now. You-"

"Wait no I can explain I-"

"- are scared of cats!"

"- don't... wait what?" Blake's brain came to a screeching halt as she tried to process that.

Yang broke out into a big grin. "You're scared of cats! It all fits. You just don't want to admit it because it's embarrassing for a badass to be scared of a _little kitty cat_." she finished off in a teasing tone and baby voice.

"I am not scared of cats." Blake defended herself on reflex, before realizing that she didn't have an answer yet to the obvious follow up question.

Which Tsuyu naturally provided. "So then what is your problem with cats ribbit?"

Blake thought hard but couldn't come up with anything. Even an allergy wouldn't work well as it wasn't like a real cat would be involved and if she got exposed to one without reacting it would just raise further suspicion. Slowly she sank her head deeper into her book, letting out a groan of misery.

"Alright that is enough of that." Tenya cut in, coming to his partner's rescue. "It is clear Blake doesn't want to discuss this and we should respect her privacy. In addition the point of team themes is to raise group cohesion and using a theme that is clearly not approved of by one of our team members is counterproductive and possibly even hazing. As such while I do still enjoy the idea and believe it would be beneficial to the team we will have to take time to select an idea we can perform that nobody on the team objects to especially not to such a degree."

"I... yeah you're right. Sorry Blake, that was totally rude of me. We cool?" Yang asks, holding up a fist for a bump.

Blake rolled her eyes and gave a small bump. "Well what do you know, you are learning."

Yang grinned. "Well if I couldn't my grades would be a cat-tastrophy." For that one she got smacked by the tongue and the book. "Why?"

"I decided I'm joining in on the cat ones." Blake explained casually.

Yang sighed. "Well that's just perfect... wait wait that wasn't a-"

Smack smack.

* * *

'Hurts.'

'Everything hurts.'

His left arm was already hanging limply to the side broken through the use of his powers, his right only bruised and battered yet still unbroken.

His breaths were harsh and labored.

He felt tired

…

so very tired.

Still he tapped into his aura, the light of his soul flickering in response, a quick look at his scroll showed it dipped down to the red.

He'd been at it for hours.

Breaking, healing, training.

Over and over again.

But-

He couldn't stop.

Not yet.

He felt that he was so close, so close to a break through.

'So very close.'

...

'One more time.'

He gritted his teeth and ignored the pain.

'Just one more time.'

One For All shined within him, a surge of energy raised from it and flowed through his right arm.

'You can do this! You can control it. You will control it! You will release its energy and not break your arm. Not this time!'

He poured his soul into his punch, while his mind and will focused on controlling the enormous power within his limb.

" **SMMAAAAASSSSHHHHH!** "

His arm broke, his scroll rang out to warn him that his aura dwindled close to nil.

Bone pierced flesh, and blood seeped freely from fresh wounds.

He screamed in pain.

"Arrrrgggghhhhhhh!"

'Endure it, you can endure it.'

…

'Don't pass out.'

'Think.'

'That will help, help distract you from the pain.'

'Too much power? No, that's not it, you made sure to use as little as possible. That- didn't even hurt as much as it did when you broke your left arm.'

'You- you don't even-'

'No. No passing out. Not now. Not again. Not, yet.'

'Ah it's bleeding a lot, that looks really bad.'

I- I need to do something. Bandages. He should put bandages around the arm, just set it in place, as long as he set it in place and wait for his aura to replenish so he could still continue training.

He needed to get stronger.

For his Team, for his friends, for his dreams.

For Toshinori.

He just needed to hold on a bit more, one or two more then he'd drag himself to Peach.

Yeah, just take a quick break, recover as much aura as possibl-

His legs gave in before his will, and his face met the floor.

He heard the door open, and a rush of hurried footsteps.

He tried to look up, and the last thing he saw before he passed out were a pair of worried green eyes.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

Long gone instincts found themselves surfacing instantaneously.

The nearby first aid kit shoots toward her as he body moved without thinking, power already coalesced upon her hands as they work on the injured student. Bandages, splints, medicinal dust, and various other tools move, as invisible hands brought about by her power work in tandem with her own.

" _LYN! HELP ME!"_

" _Yagi would you stop screa- what happened to your arm!?"_

" _Please don't tell her! I don't want Teacher getting mad at me again!"_

" _And why not?"_

" _It's nothing serious I swear!"_

" _You broke your arm! For the second time this week! Was it another Deathstalker?"_

" _I was actually trying to make a dent on the cliff and a huge part of it fell and crushed my arm! Can you please-"_

" _No. Yagi. No more. This is the last time I'd be doing this for you."_

" _But-"_

" _I promised to help take care of you, if you get injured, but this, this is too much, too reckless, too stupid."_

" _Ah crap. Lyn, I'm sorry. I swear it was an accident, see my arm isn't even that badly hurt HAHAHAHA-SHIT!"_

" _You! Just give me a second-"_

" _Ah, damn it, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry HAHA-ouch. Oh, that smarts."_

" _Just promise me you won't do anything this stupid again."_

" _I can't promise that."_

"… _you never really told me why you push yourself this hard Yagi. Would you at least tell me why?"_

" _Ah, well. It's actually pretty embarrassing. Well to be honest? Because, I need to get stronger, this world, it's so dark, and hopeless. It needs a pillar to lean on so it can stand. It needs a hero. I'll be that hero no matter what it takes, no matter how much damage I do to my body, even if it breaks or turn to ash, as long as I can keep others safe, as long as I can make them feel hope and make them smile, then it would be all worth it."_

" _Even if it kills you?"_

" _Ah, well I hope it doesn't. I mean I want to live a long life, start a family, maybe even have kids one day, but well if I can save this world, or pave the way for the one who'll save it, then I'd probably die happy."_

" _*Sigh* I can't be mad at you when you smile like that."_

" _What was that?"_

" _I said at least make sure to take care of yourself. How would you save this world, or anyone else, if you can't even look after yourself?"_

" _Ah but I have you to look after me righ- Ouch that hurt! You're supposed to be hel- OUCH!"_

"… _idiot."_

A tired sigh escaped her lips, before they curved up into a small smile.

She never did stop healing and taking care of that idiot until the two of them graduated from Beacon.

She went on to teach, guide and train a new generation of huntsman and huntresses, while that smiling idiot roamed Remnant inspiring those new huntsman to heights that no one had previously imagined.

And then…

' _I Got Him...I Got Him'_

She still hadn't forgiven him for that.

It had hurt when she had found him, a hole in through his body.

It hurt seeing him in a bed, hooked up on machines, and near death.

It hurt even more after, when he reassured her that everything was alright, brushing her worries away.

Acting tough, and confident, full of machismo while she watched as his body and powers slowly withered away every time they met.

Yet he still kept on smiling.

'That idiot.'

She shook her head and looked over her work on MNVW's unconscious leader, a temporary patch work at best, her skills upon healing injuries has long since rusted from disuse, but it would do for now. At least until Peach would work her magic and take care of any lingering issues that she may have missed.

A faint glow of purple surrounded young Midoriya, warm yet stern, powerful but controlled, she drew upon the power of her soul, broken arms held in place by the power of her semblance, as she slowly floated his body beside her, intent on bring him to the infirmary as fast as possible.

That boy was just as stubborn as his mentor, honestly she'd thought he'd be smarter than him from what she'd seen and heard from Aizawa, Port, and Oobleck. It was endearing in a sense, much like Yagi was long ago, young Midoriya had within him the same drive and passion to go further and beyond most huntsmen, but such a strong drive needed to be calmed and tempered, less he burn himself out before reaching his full potential.

"You really know how to pick them."

She'd make sure that he'd get a lecture from her after he'd recovered and perhaps a heads up to one of his teammates to look after him after his sessions, or at least teach him about moderation? But first she'd talk to Yagi, he'd most likely back from his daily hunts in the Emerald Forest so perhaps she'd invite him out for some drinks, hopefully she'd get him to listen and make sure his protégé wouldn't nearly kill himself while training in the future or at least agree to have someone supervising Young Midoriya during his training sessions.

If not, then she'd make time to look after his student, perhaps give him some tips on how to train and use his aura as well as words of wisdom from a huntress such as herself.

She trusted Yagi to make sure that Izuku Midoriya would grow into a powerful and outstanding huntsman, one who goes above and beyond all expectations, and achieve the impossible.

So she would teach him, how to be smart and fast, how to move and think like a huntsman, along with intricacies of aura, and hopefully mold him into a huntsman who doesn't needlessly cause heart ache to those that love and care for them like some idiots do.

'Yes,' she thought to herself, 'I'll make sure that he doesn't turn into an _idiot_ like Toshinori Yagi.'

* * *

Izuku and Weiss were in their dorm room. Nora had gone off somewhere and Pyrrha was currently on Nora duty so there was only the two of them in the room.

Izuku was currently writing notes when his hand stopped and his head tilted to the side as if he was confused about something and couldn't figure it out.

"Hey Weiss" Izuku called.

Weiss spun around with a curious glance on her face.

"I've been wondering for awhile now but why do you fight in high heels? It must be quite difficult" Izuku asked.

Weiss' mind went whirling as fast as it could. How could she answer something like that? Then the answer came to her.

"They are combat heels" Weiss blurted out her answer. Not really sure that Izuku would believe her. The idea of combat heels were just as ridiculous as a combat skirt.

"Oh, like your combat dress?" Izuku nodded and asked another question.

Crap, she forgot that she already used that excuse for fighting in a dress. There's no way she can tell him that she fights in a dress just because she like dresses after all. Even if it took years to learn how to fight in one without it getting caught on something.

"Yes, like that" Weiss responded, not daring to meet his eyes.

"Oh right, I've been looking up combat dresses but I couldn't find anything. The closest I got was Ruby who mentioned combat skirts. But I couldn't find anything on those either" Izuku said as he turned to his notes about the possible benefits and demerits of a combat dress. From what she could see, there was much more demerits than benefits written down.

That was bad. She really didn't want to wear some tacky pants just because they were more practical.

"Anyway, what put the combat in combat heels, Weiss?" Izuku asked as he picked up his notebook and a pen. An eager look shone from his eyes as he prepared to write down her every word.

"W-well, they add more damage to kicks?" Weiss asked more than stated. She was talking out of her ass after all.

"I see, I see" Izuku nodded while writing down in her notebook. That is, until his head once more tilted to the side in confusion. "You use kicks Weiss? I've never seen you use them"

"Not exactly" Weiss said as her brain worked at full capacity to come up with an excuse. "But it's better to have the option than not"

"Even at the expense of some mobility?" Izuku asked, wanting to know all the advantages and flaws of his team.

Weiss nodded. She felt like anything she said would just sink her deeper and deeper into the bullshit she was spewing.

"I see. Then it would be better to add some close combat kicking to your training" Izuku mumbled to himself as he wrote down notes after notes.

Okay, that wasn't what she expected. She definitely didn't want to go around kicking people like some sort of brute. But she didn't want to tell him that the only reason she wore high heels was so that she doesn't feel so short even more.

* * *

"Maail time!" Nora practically pirouetted into the room, a small collection of letters with a small brown package underneath. While Weiss and Pyrrha seemed to perk up at the call, Izuku was conspicuously absent. "Hey. Where's Fearless Leader?"

"Where else?" The heiress groaned, leaning against her desk and shaking her head. "He said he almost had his aura calculations done and was going to the library for research. I doubt we'll see him for another hour." When she heard Pyrrha's giggle, a small smirk cracked her lips. "If he wasn't a huntsman, he would be the most terrifying teacher in history."

"Or office worker."

"Or a bullhead pilot."

The trio shuddered, and Weiss was quick to change the subject with a distraction. "What's in the box, Nora? I doubt it's mine, since my family wouldn't sent something via postal service."

Nora set the letters onto her desk and held the box up for her inspection. "Hmm...it says it's to Izuku. From a... Inko Midoriya.." She gasped and flashed them an eager grin. "It's from his mom! That's so super cool! I wonder what's inside, maybe some book or keepsake from home or maybe a acceptance presentcauseIdunnowhatshe'dsendImeanitcouldbeanything! Maybe even a boat!" In awe of the possibilities, she gave it a hard shake to try and discern its contents.

Pyrrha frowned and reached out hesitantly. "Now now, Nora, that isn't ours. It could be fragile for all we-"

*RIIIIIIP*

That was all the warning they had before the paper gave way, sending the box inside flying right into Weiss, who toppled over with a startled shriek. While Pyrrha had gotten up to check on her, Nora was focused on the card that had fallen out, ignoring her partner's aggravated shouts and reading aloud. "Dear Izuku, I know you're becoming a young man, and I know you said I didn't need to worry, but you know how I am." By now the other two were silent in their captivation. "While I love and trust you very much, I have to make sure you act responsibly. Please don't tell your team, since this isn't the sort of thing you should bring up around young ladies. It's just not proper." She ignored how Weiss' eyes drifted to the box, her look blossoming into one of outright disgust and horror. "Just remember; Be safe. I'm not ready to be an grandmother yet. Love Mom." Nora smiled and closed it. "Ya know, that was really sweet. I wonder what's so protective about her package." She looked to Pyrrha for some clarification, but found her struck stone silent, her face going a bright shade of red that reminded her of heated metal.

She followed her quavering gaze to the box that the Schnee heiress was holding as far away from her as she could with two fingers, like it was going to bite her or something. Oh well. It gave her a chance to lean in and read the front. "Huh. What's a con-dom?" She sounded the word out, brow furrowing as she tried to connect the dots she knew she was missing. "And how does this involve grandbabies?"

Apparently that single word was enough to snap Weiss out of her trance, letting out a loud 'EWWWW' before flinging the box away. The peerless reflexes of Pyrrha Nikos sprang into action, snagging the box out of the air before she even realized it. "Oh my!" was all she could manage before throwing it back to Weiss.

"Don't throw that at me!"

"I'm sorry!"

"Don't be sorry! Here!"

"Nononoewewewewww.."

The literal back and forth between them was fun to watch, but curiosity got the better of Nora and she snagged the box out of the air. "Aw c'mon guys! What's so weird about these things?" She flipped it over. "They look like hat-shaped balloons."

Weiss slowly got to her feet and held her hands out, as though she were dealing with some volatile substance. "Nora, you need to put those down now. Those are disgusting things no self-respecting woman should ever touch."

Nora rolled her eyes. "Like Izuku's mom would really send him something dirty. And the box looks clean anyway."

Now the Invincible Girl stepped forward, face still thoroughly flushed. "That's not what she means, Nora. What she means is..erm..." She stopped and looked over to the only other sane mind in the room. "Should we be explaining this sort of thing?"

Weiss stammered and sputtered a long moment, trying to find an answer that made sense. But nothing was making sense! She just reached out and grabbed the box from Nora. "N-No we will n-not explain any of...that! Obviously we'll all be heading to the nurses' office, and hopefully they can tell Nora what she wants to know, without sacrificing our dignity in the process." She felt her confidence beginning to rally. Now she had to hide these...things, and they would talk with Izuku about this sort of inappropriateness.

"Hey everyone! I left one of my notebooks."As though summoned by some spite-filled god, Izuku's voice grew louder as he opened the door, big sheepish smile on his lips as he started for his desk. Then he noticed how they were all focused on what Weiss...had in...her...hand? He blinked, like the slow shutter of a camera, before looking at the scandalized Schnee. The silence went on for several moments before he turned, closed the door, and sighed loudly. "W-Weiss, I kn-know our f-f-families have different ways of doing th-thiings, but that's not the sort of thing you should just..wave around." He was the leader. While it was very odd, and really unexpected to see in Weiss of all people, he wasn't going to just allow that sort of thing to fly. It wasn't proper, and obviously made the others uncomfortable. Except for Nora, who looked like she had questions he'd rather bite his tongue off then answer. "You're an adult, and I respect your choices, but I think we'd all just prefer some things stay private. Ok?" He offered with what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

Which apparently didn't work, since Weiss let out some kind of incoherent roar and lunged like a feral cat, knocking him to the floor and pinning him down with her body. If he wasn't trying to keep her hands from his throat, he'd probably be blushing like mad. Who was he kidding? He was blushing anyway. And so was Weiss! "W-Weiss! Not in front of the others! It's lewd!"

"Die!"

Nora was too confused to try and help Pyrrha as she tried in vain to get their teammate off their team leader. Oh well. She'd just go ask Ren. Obviously he'd know what all the fuss was about. Then there'd be hat-shaped balloons for his whole team too! This is gonna be awesome!

* * *

 **E/N: To start off We have Second Night, Tea Time, and the second part of Second Night, all by Vandalgyon. Followed by Team Themeing from White Eyes's, Idiot, be Seyvrin, Combat Heels by thebebb (This is the one that inspired the conversation with Pyrrha a short while back.) and Finally an Ounce of Prevention by... Preventer Squall.**

 **A/N: Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!**


	29. Grimm Hunt

"Alright you bunch of newbies! Listen up and listen up good! Today's gonna be a bigger exercise than the last, and I'll expect you all to listen and listen good! Today all of you, as your respective teams, are going to go out into the Emerald Forest for a hunt! You won't be hunting relics this time though... you'll be hunting Grimm!" Izuku heard a chatter break out as Toshinori flashed that smile of his. "Using your Scrolls as cameras, you all will be expected to snap a Team Photo of you all having taken down the largest Grimm you can find. This is the only way to make sure that you all have proof of your hunts for, as you know, the Grimm dissolve on death. The goal of this exercise is to find the largest Grimm that you can find, kill it and then snap that picture. The bigger the Grimm, the better your grade…"

"Now, to be clear, I'm not expecting you all to go out and try to find some Elder Grimm for the sake of this exercise. That's suicidal and foolish. Instead, there's a range; if you come back with no pictures snapped, you fail. Killing and snapping a picture of a young Nevermore will get you points but... well, you won't like your grade. A Beowolf is considered a C. You'll pass but it'll be considered average. From there we scale up until we get to an Ursa Major, snapping a picture of its corpse with your team in frame for comparison will net you an A. If you happen to find anything bigger than you can kill safely, consider that extra credit…"

"That being said, if you bite off more than you can chew, I or another teacher will jump in to help you and get you out of the forest. You'll fail but you'll live. The purpose of today's exercise is both to test your ability to find, identify and track pray and then take down that pray. A good tracker should be able to find out both the general species of the Grimm he's pursuing and its relative size, which means that you shouldn't stumble into anything too dangerous unless you go looking for it. This is all about understanding your limits and finding the pray to suit those limits. It will also prepare you for future Seek and Destroy missions in the future where you'll need to track down your specific targets without getting too caught up in the more general Grimm ecosystem. No point in wasting energy on small fries when your main threat is still out there somewhere, after all." Toshinori laughed slightly as everyone nodded in understanding. "Now then, get together with your teams and discuss what you'll be going after. From there, we'll drop you all off in the Emerald Forest. Teams aren't allowed to directly hinder each other or steal prey. This is a Team Exercise so you all aren't meant to help each other; know that a teacher is nearby and, if the students were in any real danger, then a member of the staff will step in. Any questions?" Upon hearing none, Toshinori gave a thumbs up to all of the students.

"Fantastic! You all have fifteen minutes to make a plan with your team! After that you'll have two hours to hunt around the Emerald Forest." With that they all broke up into small groups, Izuku getting together with Pyrrha, Nora and Weiss.

Izuku's almost encyclopedic knowledge of the more local Grimm species to Vale paid off in a big way. Not only did he manage to recall his notes on the Ursa as a species but he managed to apply that knowledge well; Izuku knew what they were looking for when it came to tracking down these beasts and he knew where the Ursa generally resided. With all that information in hand it didn't come as much of a surprise when, as they were looking around an area that seemed ripe for the presence of Ursa, Izuku managed to track down a set of tracks. The Ursa, being beasts that generally drag their claws across the ground as they roam (that is, when they're not specifically charging something), made it a bit hard to determine how large _the_ Ursa they were tracking was. However, that was something they were clear about; that it was 'one' Ursa.

"Aw, only one? That's lame, I was hoping we'd have a whole herd of them! Then I could try breaking one and riding it and using it like Bear Cavalry to kill the others!" Nora grinned maniacally as she cackled. Izuku and Pyrrha looking absolutely lost while Weiss just sighed and shook her head.

"No, really. She did that. Twice." Weiss rubbed at her temples, as if the very memory of Initiation had given her a headache. "So long as it's a Major, I'm fine with tracking this down. We need that A after all and I shall not take anything less." Izuku and Pyrrha nodded in agreement; with it being Toshinori's class, he really did want to pass with flying colors in order to show that his mentor and predecessor hadn't made a mistake in picking him. So the four of them roamed around, following those tracks and trying to find the beast that left them...

Izuku saw it before it saw them... though... that... really wasn't all that surprising.

"... Izuku... how big is that Ursa Major?" Pyrrha asked quietly as she looked at Izuku, and he just swallowed a small lump in his throat.

"... If I had to guess? Thirty feet tall when standing on its hind legs."

"... Did we just stumble across an Elder Ursa Major?!" Nora asked, sounding super excited.

He shook his head. "Nope... judging by the size of it... that's just an Adult Ursa Major."

"They get bigger!?" Weiss had to restrain herself from shouting as she looked at the lumbering mass of muscle and bone in front of them all, the Ursa Major walking along as it did so. He hadn't quite expected to find that as he walked along... but well, here it was.

"On the bright side... we would get an A for killing it." Pyrrha said and Nora nodded enthusiastically. Weiss seemed a little more hesitant, though there was still that determined gleam in her eye. Meanwhile he brought his hand up to his chin as he began thinking through his plan.

The rest of his team expected him to either activate the safeties on Emerald Gust or to give the order to move away in that moment. The former would suggest that he was planning to attack while the latter would suggest that he knew they were in for too much...

"Alright... here's the plan for how we're going to take this thing down."

When Izuku didn't do either and, in fact, flexed his fingers in preparation for what his makeshift plan was calling for him to do, the worry on their face became evident.

"This Ursa's armor is going to be tough to get through. We'll need a blast from a Flash Freeze in order to ensure that we do the most to it that we can... but after that, we really need to be careful. He's a little slow, but he's big and strong and if he gets on top of you... well, it's going to hurt." Everyone nodded slightly in agreement as he bit his lip. "So Weiss, Nora, I want you both to prep a Flash Freeze. Pyrrha, have your rifle at the ready to take shots from back here. Weiss, once Nora's done firing off her Flash Freeze... super charge her. I think we'll need it here... and it's as good a time as any to really test it." Weiss and Pyrrha nodded in agreement as Nora kept her gaze locked over at Izuku. "Nora, once you're done firing off your shot, you and I are going to go in and deal with the beast head on. It's going to be at its most vulnerable after you hit it with Flash Freeze... the harm you and I will be able to inflict on it will be pretty immense." Izuku clenched his fist again.

"You start swinging... and I'll smash it with my right hand. If worse comes to worse... I'll go for broke with my left arm."

"Izuku, this really isn't worth you breaking your arm and fingers for..." Pyrrha muttered quietly, it being clear enough that she didn't want to see a repeat of what happened with the Giant Nevermore. Izuku shook his head as he grinned back at his team in an attempt to reassure them.

"We need something this big in order to get the best that we can right? Besides... I heal up after a little while. It won't be so bad. Even if things go really downhill and a full smash wouldn't be enough, there's a teacher nearby. This will be some good experience for us... and more importantly, it'll be our first big exercise as a team against an opponent who would... well, who would try to do us in. Wouldn't do to not go in with everything we have, right?" Pyrrha and Weiss, while somewhat placated, clearly didn't like the idea. Nora, on the other hand-

"Sounds like a plan to me Fearless Leader! Let's smash this thing right into the ground!" Nora grinned as she shifted Magnhild to its grenade launcher form, Pyrrha following suit by bringing out her rifle. They all nodded as Izuku turned to Weiss who, after a moment, just sighed as she brought out Myrtenaster.

"What I won't do for an A..." There was a slightly crooked smile on Weiss' face as she spoke, though it quickly disappeared as the girl focused and focused hard on the task at hand. Soon enough two grenades in Magnhild's barrels were shimmering with a layer of Dust-created frost, the very sight of which caused Nora to grin nice and wide as she took careful aim at the creature.

"Open wide you waffle-loving-" Before Nora could continue her taunt she fired, her grenade soaring through the air as it flew right on course with the unsuspecting Ursa...

One loud explosion later and the Ursa's body was not only rocked by the force of the explosion but also the large layer of frost and ice that spread over its body, freezing its very fur and, clearly, chilling it right to the bone. Immediately Izuku and Nora moved in to take advantage, his hand at the ready and Nora already shifting Magnhild back to its hammer. Meanwhile Pyrrha raised her rifle, taking what aim she could and fired, missing the Ursa by a wide margin. It was not that much longer before the great, bear-like creature turned its head to face them all and narrowed its gaze, roaring in great anger as it began to charge his way.

The movements from there were precise on his team's part, flowing through each movement. Nora waited behind, eager but still patient as Weiss prepared the second part of Izuku's plan. Pyrrha moved to a better position, intending to take another shot at the Ursa... and again, it didn't meet its mark. The Invincible Girl grunted behind him but, from the sounds of it, kept her cool even as she took a step forward. He took a deep breath as he brought his right hand up, feeling One For All travel down his arm and into his finger. That... that would be Izuku's second time using a Smash against an opponent. His use of Glenn Smash against Kacchan didn't count; it was an indirect counter to his attack. The first was the Giant Nevermore... but that was done more out of instinct and desperation than any sort of hard plan.

Now, Izuku was consciously moving forward and bringing One For All into him, not out of some desperate gamble but as part of a solid plan. He hoped he'd do well here...

"GLEEEENN... SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!" With a loud cry he felt his finger bones break as he flicked in the direction of the Adult Ursa Major and, soon, a very large shock wave rode straight at the giant Grimm. The Ursa stopped its charge for a moment as it met head on with his Smash, the creature bristling under the weight of his attack as he heard the ice that had frozen it over slightly crack and break under the intense pressure, bits of the Ursa following the ice as it flies. The creature roared in pain and, though it didn't skitter back from the force, he could tell he had hurt it. Clenching his fist in hand, wincing from the pain of his broken finger, he couldn't help but smile. It worked, it really worked.

"Alright Nora, have some of this!" He turned his head just in time to see Weiss complete a small swish and flick of Myrtenaster and, employing a solid piece of her own Aura, Weiss made the Dust dance for her. A small cloud of it sprung forth from its container and into the air in front of his teammates and, with little more than a strike of her sword, caused the Dust to crackle, spark and then, finally, blast its way towards Nora in a bolt of Dust-made lightning. Nora just grinned nice and wide, a manic energy overtaking her as her anticipation built...

And then Nora laughed. It almost chilled Izuku how loudly Nora laughed as the lightning struck her, as her Semblance immediately diminished the blow and brought it into her. It... it was a level of energy he hadn't heard in Nora's voice before. As her eyes sparked and shined with this new energy and as her smile stretched the length of her face... he suspected that Nora hadn't felt a jolt of energy like that before either.

"I'm... gonna... **SMASH**!" With little time to pause Nora dashed forward, kicking up a cloud of dirt and dust as she charged the Ursa Major. Bringing Magnhild back, Nora took a swing with her mighty hammer and, though he had no sympathy for the Ursa, he couldn't help but cringe at the sound of flesh being absolutely pulverized and the cracking of ice that came with Nora's blow. The Ursa visibly recoiled from the force of the hit and, with a great deal of rage, attempted to swipe at Nora... who just deftly ducked out of the way of the mighty creature's great swings.

" **I'M GONNA SMASH YA! I'M GONNA SMASH YA GOOD! I'MMA SMASH AND SMASH AND SMASH AND SMASHANDSMASHANDSMASHANDSMASHANDSMASHANDSMASHANDSMASHANDSMASHANDSMASHANDSMASHANDSMASHANDSMASHANDSMASHANDSMASHAND** -!"

Izuku winced and recoiled and, from the periphery of his vision he could see that Pyrrha and Weiss were as well, as Nora just started... Gods, there was no other word for it, 'liquefying' the torso of the Ursa Major. Her mantra, her war cry, echoed across the forest as she repeatedly brought Magnhild into the chest of the great beast, the Ursa soon enough recoiling, crumbling and then, finally, dying under the force of Nora's several swings... and yet the girl didn't relent. She just kept on going until she had practically slammed a hole straight through the Ursa's chest straight through to solid ground. After a moment's hesitation where the Grimm corpse, finally, began to disperse, Weiss finally spoke.

"Nora! Stop! It's already dead! Just... just calm down!" Nora twitched slightly, jolting to an immediately halt mid-swing almost unnaturally. Her body continued to spark and twitch before she turned to face them all, that manic grin still on her face.

" **STOP, WHATDYAMEAN STOP PARTNER?! I FEEL LIKE I NEVER HAVE TO STOP AGAIN! I BET I COULD RUN THROUGH THIS ENTIRE FOREST AND KILL EVERYSINGLEGRIMMTHATCOULDPOSSIBLYLIVEHEREWITHJUSTMYLITTLEHAMMER! I DON'T NEED TO STOP! I CAN'T BE STOPPED! I'LL GO EVERYWHERE AND KILL EVERY GRIMM EVER EVEN THE MOST TERRIFYING ONES BECAUSEIJUSTCAN'TBESTOPPEDNOTBYANYONEORANYTHING**!" Nora's words every now and then sped up in time with a sudden surge of lightning that coursed across her body, Nora's manic energy slowly building and building more and more as she seemed to practically 'glow' with power.

" **ALL SHALL LOVE ME AND... AND...** AND... and... aaaaaandddduuuuuuh..."

Almost as soon as it had entered her, the vast store of energy and power that Nora had swung around seemed to immediately depart, Nora's mad and manic expression slowly but surely drooping along with that loss of power as a vacant, wide-eyed and open mouthed look soon replaced it. Every now and then the odd twitch would send Nora's head tilting but... well, at least she wasn't yelling anymore. Before any of them could break the silence Nora just raised both of her hands up, both giving a thumbs up, as a dumb grin crossed her face.

"I'm okay!"

The rest of them looked at each other and then looked back at Nora... yeah, none of them were exactly convinced.

"You... you sure about that, Nora?" Izuku asked, cautiously, as he approached her slowly.

"I'm okay!"

"... I mean, not for nothing Nora, but you weren't acting okay." Pyrrha answered, awkwardly rubbing her arm as Nora just jabbed her thumbs up toward the sky.

"I'm okay!"

"... Well... if that's the case then let's go ahead, get our picture with what's left of the Ursa and get out of here." Weiss said with a slight sigh, Izuku and Pyrrha both nodded in slightly stunned agreement. Nora, on the other hand...

"I'm okay!"

"..."

"I'm okay!"

"Uh oh."

"Alright... let's snap this picture and get out of here. We've got what we came here for, let's get Nora out of the forest and to a professor. She's never been like this before..." Pyrrha and Weiss nodded in ready agreement as Izuku pulled out his Scroll, while Nora continued to give a pair of thumbs up... though if she heard or in any way recognized what he had said, the dumb grin on her face certainly didn't show it. As they all stood before the deteriorating corpse of the Ursa Major and snapped a picture... it really was pretty huge compared to them all. Grade assured and their need to stay in the forest over and done with they quickly departed, Weiss dragging Nora along as the girl seemed barely aware of the happenings around her.

Izuku heard the intermittent sound of gunfire, battle cries and clanging of bone against metal across the forest as the four of them made their way back toward the starting point of the assignment but, as far as the four of them could tell, everyone seemed to have things well in hand... or if they didn't, they could always depend on a professor to bail them out. As they all walked along Nora stayed in her state, continually jabbing her thumbs up and declaring that 'she's okay'. They all grew more and more worried about Nora, fearful of what had happened to her, as they slowly but surely made it to the edge of the forest.

As ten minutes of that passed though, Nora suddenly dug in her heels and stopped, nearly causing Weiss to careen over from the girl's sudden show of force. Before Weiss could scream or yell though they all watched in surprise as Nora brought her hands up to her head, shaking it out as her eyes rolled around in her skull for a moment.

"Ugggh... did... anyone get the number on the train that hit me? I feel like my head's been split open..."

"NORA!" The three of them practically jumped and yelled all at once as they realized that Nora's back, only for Nora to wince at the sound.

"Ooooh... not so loud. The ringing hurts..." Ordinarily Izuku'd be gawking at the sight; Nora, the usual bundle of energy who never depleted up until she was ready to sleep, and even then usually managed to keep somewhat active up until the very moment she conked out, actually seemed exhausted and depleted, almost as if she were sleep deprived. It'd have been amusing if it weren't for the past ten minutes of worrying about whether Nora would ever be okay again... and from that if Ren wouldn't murder him for putting his best friend at risk.

"I'm sorry." Pyrrha said, much more quietly, as the rest of the team nodded.

"Nora, what was that? Why were you acting so... so... sooo..." Izuku tried to put kind words to it, though he really couldn't, so it was left to Weiss to finish for him.

"So dumb?" Nora quirked an eyebrow at that as she looked at them all, rubbing at her head in an attempt to relieve her headache.

"What are you guys talking about?" Question asked, the three of them got to answering it as best they could. Nora blinked as they all described the situation and, eventually, smiled. "Wow... it sounds like I looked ridiculous! Can I see the picture?" After a moment Izuku dug out his Scroll and showed Nora the photo... which immediately caused her cheeks to puff out from laughter as she gave a small 'pfft'. "Oh wow, I look like an idiot! This would've been hilarious to see!"

"Well it wasn't exactly funny in the moment. We were really worried that you were hurt somehow Nora." Izuku say as Nora's smile dropped a bit, an apologetic expression on her face.

"I'm sorry guys... well, I don't know if I can apologize because I didn't mean for that to happen... and I didn't even know it could." The rest of them blinked at Nora's explanation, as the orange haired bomber just shrugged her shoulders. "Honestly, that's the first time something like that's happened to me... or maybe it isn't and Ren's just never brought it up, but I don't think that could be it, Ren wouldn't keep stuff from me especially with how long we've been together, but not, you know-"

"We get it." The three of them said in unison as Nora just chuckled nervously.

"Right... anyway, I really didn't know that could happen to me... I wonder what caused it..." Nora frowned slightly as she thought it over, though Weiss just placed her hands on her hips.

"If you ask me that's pretty straightforward; your Semblance must've been overcharged with how much power I put in you and your mind and body couldn't take it. You're probably burnt out." Nora frowned as Weiss said that, but nodded in agreement.

"I do feel pretty burnt out... guess that'd also explain why I haven't had this happen before. I never got shocked so good in my life before... I felt 'really' strong... guess I when the juice was gone my brain left with it."

"We'll have to keep that in mind in the future. As much of an asset as your Semblance is Nora, we don't want to use it in a situation where we'll be expected to fight for a significant amount of time after you use it... losing a member to that kind of overcharge isn't worth it if we don't finish the fight with it." Nora nodded at Izuku's decision, a wide grin on her face.

"Sounds like a plan to me Fearless Leader! Now... can we get out of here... I feel like taking a nap..." They all nodded in agreement as they all turned and walk along, ready to earn his grade and a bit of a rest.

* * *

Tutoring with Pyrrha was, honestly, a pretty easy-going experience from Izuku's time with her. As much as he was eager to learn from her as it concerned things Aura, it seemed like Pyrrha tried her hardest to show as much dedication to learning about Hunters from him. Part of it, no doubt in his mind, was a way for her to show her gratitude. After all, while Izuku was attentive as he was because he 'needed' to learn, he also didn't want to waste Pyrrha's time by being a bad student and he guessed that Pyrrha felt much the same way. However, she also seemed to be genuinely interested in learning more about her profession and the people who'd come before her. Izuku supposed it was pretty natural; having seen what his intimate knowledge had gotten for him, she likely wanted to see a bit of that drawn into her own experience as well.

That had brought up the subjects of his notebooks, however. As much as Beacon's textbooks were good sources of information... well, Izuku didn't want to say that his work was, at that point, more exhaustive than theirs but... well, he'd written thirteen volumes of work on Hunters alone, scattered across thirteen little notebooks. One textbook wasn't going to be able to stack up as well by comparison. Plus his notes had been thorough and the textbook had to limit itself to more general information. So, after a while, he had dropped using the textbook as a means of tutoring her and had just gone to drawing information from his own Hunter Analysis For The Future books to tutor Pyrrha.

Things had gone really well. When Izuku'd first considered things, however, he wasn't too sure about handing the books over directly. It wasn't that he thought Pyrrha wasn't smart enough to parse what was in them, Gods knew, Pyrrha was sharp herself. But... well there was a whole bunch of embarrassing stuff in these books too. Like his Hunter's Outfit design, or the fact that, in his notes on Yu Takeyama... he'd kinda described her as 'sexy' in one of the side notes. Pyrrha wouldn't look down on him for it... but he really didn't want to let that little sliver of information get out.

On the other hand, if he handed the books over to Pyrrha directly then he could put his focus on other things while tutoring Pyrrha rather than just having his nose shoved into his notebook while he prattled on to her. He could look up more information or look over her own notes while she studied. It would be a lot simpler.

Izuku shrugged his shoulders as he went back to looking through his own materials with which to supplement Pyrrha's reading of his notebooks. Honestly, it hadn't felt like all that hard of a decision to make. Sure there was some embarrassing stuff in his notebooks, or at least stuff he thought was embarrassing, but there was nothing in there, or any of his notebooks, that was gravely serious for anyone to find out. He wasn't the type to be so careless, after all. Izuku realized that if he mentioned One For All in specific in any of his notebooks it would be all too easy for someone to just pick one of them up, read it and learn about his secrets. Even in his Aura and Semblance texts he kept it vague. It was always just 'my semblance', never named or its source indicated as anyone or anything but himself.

No, no one would ever find out about One For All from his notes.

So really, what harm was there in letting Pyrrha read from them? After all, while she might find some of it funny, he knew Pyrrha well enough by that point to know that she wouldn't relentlessly tease and poke at him, like Yang, and most 'definitely' wouldn't go to any malicious extremes like someone like Cardin might. It was Pyrrha; maybe she'd laugh, maybe she wouldn't. Either way, it'd be fine.

As they both went on studying, he heard Pyrrha flip a page in Hunter Analysis For The Future Vol. 13 and, mere moments after that, he heard her chuckle slightly. Izuku sighed a bit as he realized that she'd found something amusing. "What's up Pyrrha?" He asked, keeping his eyes on the book in front of him as he could practically feel Pyrrha wave him off.

"Oh it's nothing, just... just a little something in this notebook of yours. It's just nice is all." Izuku nodded as... wait, nice? Not 'cute' or 'funny' or 'embarrassing', but nice? He blinked curiously as he turned his head, his emerald eyes laying a peek on the page that Pyrrha has open...

His skin immediately paled and went mouth goes dry.

Two words, followed by an exclamation point. For the 'Y' in his last name, he added a little doodle, turning the two prongs of the Y into the most signature part of his hairstyle, a set of those odd black eyes just underneath them.

'Toshinori Yagi!'

"It's really nice that he actually gave you an autograph! You've talked about how much you idolize him and how much of a hero he is to you so I have to imagine you were so nervous! He really must be a very kind man to give it to you... did you have to pay for it? He doesn't come off as the sort of person who'd force someone who looks up to him to pay for a little autograph but... well, sometimes you don't have that choice." Pyrrha said, presumably from experience. His mouth stayed dry as Pyrrha continued to look at the autograph, a slight quirk coming to her lips. "It's weird though, it's really early in your Beacon notes... very really."

Oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap-

Okay, okay, okay. Just... just calm down. He could work his way around this. Just... just think carefully, speak carefully and... and speak with confidence. That's it.

"Well you see, it's a funny story actually. I actually got it from him this one time he was visiting Mountain Glenn." He saw Pyrrha's eyes light up as she leaned forward, a small smile on her face.

"Really? How lucky." She said with a nod as you smile a bit.

"Yeah, it really was. A once in a lifetime meeting with my all time favorite hero... and I got his autograph." Honestly, he was still mystified thinking back on those events. It really was so lucky that he met Toshinori when you did. If he hadn't... if Izuku hadn't become his Successor, then Izuku's dream probably would have died that day. If he had never met Toshinori, he'd have been forced to confront the reality that he couldn't be the Huntsman he wanted to be thanks to his birth. If he hadn't met Toshinori, his goals and life's ambitions would've eventually come to a screeching halt.

"He didn't even charge me for it!" The smile on his face widened. He really didn't; he'd nearly passed out from a confrontation with one of the Grimm that had gotten through that day, attacked in broad daylight, and not only had Toshinori Yagi saved he... not only had Toshinori Yagi waited for him to wake up to ensure you'd be alright... but he put his autograph in his notebook. For nothing. At that moment it was probably the most hyped he'd ever been in his life. So much happening all at once and... well, all of it just seemed to verify how amazing, how awe-inspiring Toshinori was in his eyes. "It really was the coolest thing. I'd already been using that notebook for Hunter notes so I thought that I'd keep it in there and keep writing as well... you know... so I'd have a chance to look back on it every now and then..." Izuku blushed slightly as he scratched his arm. Honestly, with the way those past several months had been going, he'd almost forgotten about the autograph. After all, he'd spent so much time around Toshinori as his Successor that being around him has just become... normal. Amazing, but normal.

To remember how excited he was about that autograph... it had felt nice to reflect on it.

"I wanted to use it to inspire me. After all, I was dead set on coming to Beacon... because even Toshinori got his start here. It reminded me of where I was going... and that I had a long way to go before I was ready to accomplish my dream."

"... It really does mean a lot to you, huh? An autograph from your hero." Pyrrha asked, a gentle smile on her face as Izuku looked back up to her. He just grinned and nodded, his panic having faded away as his smile formed. His partner looked back down at the signature... and there was a moment where her own smile dropped. "You know... it's funny. There are people out there who'd probably be as excited as you are about getting my own autograph. People who'd wait countless hours or pay whatever price my managers might set to get it." Izuku blinked slightly as Pyrrha's smile quirked a bit, the girl looking over the blob of text in front of her. "I've had children walk up to me after a tournament and describe me as their hero while I signed this or that... and my sponsors and managers tried to pitch the idea that I, as a tournament fighter, was someone to look up to and admire. Someone who's example could bring meaning. Little old me, a Mistrali girl who didn't grow up with terribly much... rising up to fight people in pitched combat. A hero." Izuku smiled a bit as she spoke, quirking his head to the side.

"It really does sound like something. You've got to be a little proud of something like that, right?" Izuku asked, a genuine grin on his face. He flinched slightly as his own smile was met with one that seemed a little strained as Pyrrha just nodded.

"Oh, yes, most assuredly so." The tenor of her words was stilted but before he could move to question his partner she just took a deep breath and beamed at him. "Well, as nice as it is to talk about all this, I should probably actually get back to studying from your notebook rather than gawking at your autograph." Izuku chuckled slightly, his nerves ebbing away entirely as he just felt grateful that he'd managed to avoid this potential pitfall. Thankfully that was probably the worst thing in his notebooks, so it was all just smooth sailing from here as far as he was concerned.


	30. Hammer Time

It happened when he was just outside of his dorm room, books stacked in hand and a wide smile on his face. He'd managed to snag a few interesting volumes out from the shelves of the Beacon Library, some material on Aura and making it stronger, and he was looking forward to making good use of the material. However, just as he was about to open the door-

 **THWAAAAAAAP!**

The door slammed open and flew right into his face. If not for his Aura, Izuku was pretty sure that would've broken and bloodied his nose. As it stood he just shouted out in surprise, stumbled ass-backwards and fell flat on the ground, his books scattered around him as he brought a hand up to his face to rub his sore schnoz.

"Oh, goodness! Izuku, I'm sorry!" Izuku looked up to see Weiss. There was an odd combination of emotions on her face; aggravation was in the background and easily the most apparent as he'd seen it cross Weiss' expression more than often enough to know what it looked like. Thankfully it really didn't seem like it's aimed at him and just seemed to be a very general irritation that Weiss was feeling at the moment. The other emotion and, more importantly, the one actually aimed at Izuku was an apologetic expression as she reached down and helped heft him up... admittedly it took a bit of effort on her part but with his help they both managed to get him to his feet. "I was just rushing out to get some quick air and... well, I guess I didn't expect you to be just outside... darn it, looks like I made a mess at that." The irritation seemed to grow as she saw his scattered books.

"It's okay Weiss, accidents happen." Izuku saw her nod as, nonetheless, both Izuku and Weiss reached down to pick the books up off the floor, gathering them up between them before they went back into their team's room. As he placed the books in his reading space, and Weiss followed his lead, he looked over to his teammate with concern on his face as she quirked her eyebrow. "Something wrong Weiss? You seem a bit wound up." Weiss snorted slightly at that as she looked up at him.

"That obvious huh?" Izuku saw her wince as he flinched back a bit, Weiss just reaching up to rub her forehead as she took a deep breath. "No, no... I'm sorry. I am a bit... wound up as you said." Weiss admitted as he nodded, gesturing over to a chair.

"You want to talk about it or...?" Izuku left the question off as Weiss looked at him for a moment, furrowing her brow slightly before she shrugged.

"It would be appropriate I suppose. This involves your position as our team leader as much as it does anything else." Izuku blinked slightly as she muttered this, Weiss just running a hand through her ponytail as she took a seat. Before long he plopped down into a seat across from her and, as Weiss took a moment to collect herself, she then turned to him.

"First, I don't want to alarm you too much so let me start by saying this; our Team MNVW's supply of Dust, and it's current running cost, won't change. My own connections will see to it that whatever... little market fluctuations about to hit isn't going to hurt our team's bottom line." Izuku blinked as Weiss said that, causing Izuku to tilt his head to the side as he crossed his arms.

"Alright... good to know. What exactly are we dealing with that such a thing might've been a concern, Weiss?" At that the white haired young woman sighed in annoyance as she faced him.

"Tell me Izuku, how much have you heard about the Dust Robberies that've been afflicting Vale?"

The Dust Robberies? Izuku'd heard... only very little about it to be honest. It would come up in Mountain Glenn every now and then when the robberies would affect deliveries of Dust to and from Mountain Glenn but... well, such robberies really didn't hit Mountain Glenn as the supply of Dust was more closely regulated and controlled by the City Council of Mountain Glenn. No private entity ever got it and no one was stupid enough to try to barge down the Combat School or City Hall to try to steal some. He'd heard that such robberies were becoming more rampant in Vale though, which ended up killing a motion in the City Council to allow private shops to begin selling it commercially in Mountain Glenn.

Izuku'd also heard rumors that apparently The White Fang was behind an increasing amount of those robberies... though that was just it, a rumor.

"Well... you have to understand that the robberies haven't really reached Mountain Glenn, so there wasn't a lot of news about them going around. We'd hear about it if it interrupted a shipment coming from us or heading out to Vale, but it was rare outside of that." Weiss nodded in understanding, waiting for Izuku to continue his train of thought. "I have heard that they've been becoming really rampant as of late. A lot of shops have been getting hit and more frequently as time's gone on. I hear it's been getting pretty bad." He frowned slightly. "I know your dad's the Head of the largest Dust Company on Remnant, but I still don't quite understand why you'd be so upset." Weiss nodded again, having figured that, and crossed her arms.

"I suppose I couldn't ask for you to know if you live all the way out in Glenn. You see, Izuku, the problem isn't just that Dust shops are getting hit. That'd be bad enough for business on its own but it wouldn't be the worst thing. No, what's making matters worse, and why 'I'm' feeling so irate in particular is because so far only shops that work in direct association with the Schnee Dust Company have been being robbed!" Her voice raised up in volume toward the end, marking her truly frustrated state as he flinched back a bit.

"O-Oh yeah?" Weiss nodded as she bit the inside of her cheek a bit.

"Yes. It didn't start off that way of course, this is a very recent development. For some time the robberies affecting Vale hit, seemingly, any available target to them, getting Dust wherever they could. Now though? Every store that's hit gets its Dust directly as part of a deal with the Schnee Dust Company for exclusive rights. Any shipment that gets interrupted are shipments coming from our mines and heading abroad. It's 'stark', so much so that my own father's finally taken notice of it... and he's been letting everyone within earshot of him know how infuriated he is at this sudden attack on the company."

That... yeah, that would be pretty odd. It wasn't like the Schnee Dust Company wasn't used to being specifically targeted by groups of people. Lawsuits weren't all that uncommon in recent history for the Dust Company as former workers tried to get their just pay for accidents taken on the job, other businesses had also been trying to undercut the company's stranglehold on the Dust market for years...

And of course there was the whole can of worms concerning the White Fang. That... that wasn't a pretty issue to deal with at all and it wasn't something Izuku felt entirely comfortable thinking about. It was a pretty huge mess as far as he was concerned.

Still, usually criminals didn't take a 'direct' interest in certain companies. He'd heard about small businesses being targets for rackets and protection money, but usually he didn't hear about criminals targeting big huge corporations that had the money and resources to resist in most cases.

"You think it's some rival business buying them off or something? Or maybe someone trying to take advantage of how thin your father's company is?" Weiss puffed out her cheek slightly, but the annoyance seemed less to do with Izuku than something else.

"The former... it's possible, but you'd expect it to be something you'd see in Mistral... or in the very, very, 'very' back corners of Atlas, sad to say." Weiss huffed slightly, clearly bothered as she shook her head. "As for the latter, I doubt that any random, petty group of crooks would be stupid enough to directly target the Schnee Dust Company. Spread thin or not, it wouldn't take much effort for money to find its way into the right places for small groups of criminals to be put in their place. No... my father most definitely does not think it's just common thugs... and a lot of people are in agreement with him, myself included." Izuku got the vague sense that that might have been a pretty rare thing to happen but he kept his mouth shut.

"Well... who do you all think is behind it then?" Izuku saw Weiss practically turn on a dime to look at him, mouth open and ready to speak... but she paused. She bit the inside of her cheek for a moment as she looks at him. It was... rare to see Weiss hesitate to speak her mind.

"Before that... er... tell me, Izuku. What are your thoughts on the White Fang? Just... thought I'd ask."

Well that wasn't exactly subtle.

The White Fang... well, that wasn't a potential minefield just waiting to be set off, now was it? Izuku knew all sorts of people had all sorts of feelings about The Fang and the issues surrounding them. In the end, while he couldn't speak to it a great deal himself... he did have his own thoughts on the matter.

"Well... I think the White Fang is... er, well, more like 'was' a good idea that forgot its message." Izuku saw Weiss raise an eyebrow as he spoke, clearly waiting for him to continue. "I mean, initially it was a group that was meant to foster peaceful relations between humans and Faunus. To help bridge the gap that was created by the Faunus Rights Revolution and to help fight discrimination against Faunuskind. They protested for better labor conditions and for more equal laws and did so peacefully... it really was a great idea." Izuku bit his lip slightly as he looked off to the side. "I probably would've been frustrated that things weren't changing quickly either. It really is a great cause when you think about it... and who knows, maybe that's what made them turn to violence. Still, that just makes it even more of a shame; the violence they commit, the hopelessness, despair and hatred they inspire... it hurts their message of equality and badly."

"Now... now that panic is the only thing people care about. The fact that they're hurting innocent people doesn't even seem to matter. It's reckless and... and they do need to be stopped. Not just because they're hurting our people, but because they're hurting their own people too... and they're making it harder for us all to just get along." Izuku sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "Or at least, that's what I think..."

"It's not just that they're hurting their own people and cause by making themselves out to be as mindless as every bigot might think them. They're also hurting the Faunus through their choices in targets." Weiss wasn't necessarily scolding him. In fact, judging by her tone, she somewhat approved of his outlook. However, there was still a deep current of frustration in her voice. "Like you said, it's one thing to protest for better working conditions... but to actively attack the shipments of one of the biggest employers of Faunuskind for some kind of change? It's like they're just trying to spread misery and everything else is just a fig leaf." Izuku arched an eyebrow as Weiss said that. It felt more like the latter was Weiss' full feelings on the matter. More than that, he was beginning to puzzle together just what lay at the center of Weiss' nervous energy here.

"Hold on, I've heard some rumors, but do you think-"

"That it's the White Fang behind these sudden attacks on the Schnee Dust Company's businesses and imports into Vale? It's the only reasonable explanation Izuku. There's no business interest here suicidal enough to try to hire out common thugs to do this and, like I said, the reach of the Company is long enough that a common crook couldn't hope to think of getting away with this... plus it makes no sense. Why only attack Schnee targets when there's so much more scattered across the city and that would be, at this point, more lightly defended? It only makes sense if the Schnee Dust Company is being actively targets and I'd bet my last Lien that these rumors about the Fang's involvement aren't just rumors."

Weiss' certainty actually caused Izuku to flinch back a bit. Yeah, on a lot of levels it made sense; if there was one organization that certainly wasn't afraid to repeatedly and explicitly target the SDC, it was the White Fang. Still...

"I mean, I dunno Weiss, I mean, common robbery doesn't really seem up the White Fang's alley, don't you think?" he asked, scratching the back of his head. At that, Weiss just scoffs.

"So what? Terrorism, murder, the destruction of private and public property and more is right up the Fang's alley but they're 'too good' for stealing?"

...

Well Izuku couldn't deny it, she had a point.

"This isn't just common theft either. This is Dust. Highly combustible, used in many different devices and the cornerstone of modern, proper society and, when it comes to the especially 'fine' Dust, 'very' valuable. Who knows what a group like The Fang could do with a great deal of it put into their hands. Up to this point they've just been making due... that wouldn't have to be the case if they've been stealing 'this' much Dust. It's some scary stuff Izuku... and it's ultimately frustrating because there's so little to be done about it." Weiss threw up her hands as she continued. "The SDC is already putting as much of their resources together to deal with The Fang as they can but with so many cells acting in unison, there's only so much to be done. Meanwhile our company, the largest employer of Faunus 'period' is hounded for our business practices by other companies that barely employ the Faunus... if at all! As if my family is bringing this personal little vendetta on ourselves!"

Yeah, Weiss was getting more and more angry and it was starting to sound more and more personal. Weiss seemed to realize that herself as she took a deep breath and massaged her temples.

"Apologies Izuku... I've had to hear about things like this for a while now. It's grown rather irritating to have to come back to nearly every time I pick up a Scroll to answer a call from home." Izuku had to admit, having been around Weiss for several weeks now, it was getting easier and easier to forget that she was the daughter of the owner of the largest company in all of Remnant, one of the most politically and economically important at that as well, and that she was lined up to be its 'heir' to boot.

In addition, even he'd heard of the slightly more unflattering things that the SDC had been accused of doing as part of its business practices with its Faunus workers. To have all of that stuff swirling around her head so often... he could see why she'd get so aggravated.

Still... it seemed off.

"So... if this is the White Fang... then what's the plan?" Izuku saw Weiss' attitude jar a bit as he asked that, the blue eyed heiress turning to look at him, causing him to flinch under her gaze. "I mean... it sounds like you all have been dealing with the White Fang for a while. If the Fang really are behind this then... I mean, there's got to be some kind of plan to deal with them, right?" Weiss blinked as he said that though, in short order, she nodded her ascent.

"Indeed there is... when it's 'confirmed' that it's White Fang operating." Weiss clicked her tongue as she crossed her arms. "The morning report of a robbery before we arrived at Beacon labeled Roman Torchwick as the man behind these robberies though... which, looking as much into it as I have, I don't buy. He was a big time crook around here, but nowhere big enough or stupid enough to go specifically targeting my father's company." Weiss clicked her tongue again as she frowned. "But for right now, so long as the Vale Police Force is convinced that 'he's' the one behind it all, they aren't going to lift a finger and they're 'certainly' not going to use measures that would ensure The Fang would have trouble keeping this crime spree up."

Izuku nodded in understanding. Usually when it was The Fang that got involved with stuff... that was a big deal. Given how many branches of The White Fang there were, how many Kingdoms they infiltrated and how widespread their damage was, there was a certain heightened protocol in place for when people suspected The Fang got involved. It wasn't hard to imagine that Vale wouldn't want to go to those levels unless they were sure it was The Fang behind it.

"So for right now then...?" Izuku led as Weiss just sighed and rubbed her temples.

"So for right now, it's up to private investigators or Hunters to try to piece this together and see if there's proof one way or the other." Weiss scoffed as she stood up. "And given that this isn't Atlas, I wouldn't be surprised if Vale drags its feet on this." Weiss still seemed annoyed but her aggravation, frustration and anger seemed lessened now that she'd had an opportunity to talk things out. In fact, it seemed to lessen by the second as Weiss tapped her chin. Finally Weiss seemed to return to normal as she finally, fully, relaxed. "Thank you for listening to me ramble on Izuku. I realize that this subject must not be of much interest to you, but I appreciate that you took the time to hear my concerns out." Izuku nodded as he tried his best to smile at her.

"It's no problem Weiss, I'm your leader after all. If there's something bothering any of you it's my responsibility to make sure you all are alright." That actually caused a small smile to grace Weiss' lips, before she nodded imperiously and raised her chin slightly, obviously attempting to build that air of High Class pride back up.

"Of course it is. I'm glad to see that you're taking your responsibilities so seriously, even in these small details Izuku... our team really is in good hands." he blushed and scratched the back of his head, a sheepish grin on his face from the praise. "Now if you'll excuse me, I think I need a walk. A bit of fresh air is just what I need right now." Izuku nodded in agreement as the two of them parted ways, Izuku going back to the books he had intended to study.

...and yet…

...well, Weiss had given him a lot to think about...

* * *

"IMMA PAY YOU BACK FOR THE CLOSE COMBAT TRAINING FEARLESS LEADER!"

"UH, THANKS, THIS IS KIND OF WHAT I ASKED FOR?!"

Confusion over Nora's sudden shout of frustration aside, the two of them immediately got into it. By now he and Nora had finally figured out the patterns to their fights; that they'd eventually dissolved into a slug fest between the two of them in the center of the arena. Nora was way more aggressive than Kacchan and, even in the midst of her Battle Rage, as she liked to call it, she never deigned to use her grenades on Izuku for... obvious reasons. Likewise Izuku didn't spar with Nora for the sake of using his shotguns at range; he wanted to be a better fighter. So he'd meet her head on and just keep on trying to actually land some hits on her.

Which, after all his training, all his hard work, it seemed like he was starting to catch up in that regard. As the fight started Nora was going as aggressive as she possibly could, taking several swings at him... while they were all aimed at his torso, he could tell what she really wanted was to go for his legs.

'Man, she must've gotten really agitated sparring with Weiss. '

Still, as he brought Emerald Gust up he managed to smash it into the head of Magnhild to knock it away before ducking underneath the next swing. By then Nora had ground her teeth and brought her hammer in for a third hit, one that, for a moment, he was panicking at the idea of trying to dodge...

But then Izuku pulled upon his new reserve of Aura in order to force himself to meet Magnhild head on with Emerald Gust, the gauntlet smashing into the face of the hammer and, low and behold, the hammer was what gave first! Nora growled in agitation at not being able to hit him, much the same problem she'd faced with Weiss, but he pushed on. Izuku tried to swing a couple times at Nora but that effort was met with little to show for it as Nora just managed, with a small boost of Aura, to move out of the way of his one, non-flailing punch. As much as he was now able to properly knock Magnhild off its trajectory, it seemed that the force of the blow still knocked him off his own footing... Nora'd been working out, it seemed. She was even stronger than before.

Nora went for another trio of swings, trying her best to do more than just make him stumble around or be forced to use his Aura on the defensive. The first swing he reached out and grabbed Magnhild by the handle as it was coming for him, making a quick shift in the trajectory of Nora's swing to send it away from him. Growling a bit Nora brought Magnhild back around but missed so widely that he didn't really have to put much effort into moving out of the way. With a grunt of frustration Nora brought Magnhild over her head to smash down on Izuku but he just quickly hopped back and away from the blow as it made a small crater in the ground. He swallowed a nervous lump in his throat as he went back in for a couple swings.

Nora's eyes went a bit wide as his first swing barely grazed her side, her Aura being the only thing that allowed her to move out of the way. That advantage, however, would not be there for her as he blazed in, his other fist reared back at he gave a quick yell and swung forward. This one struck Nora directly in her gut and the following shotgun blast... well, it caused her to flinch a bit. He gritted his teeth; his own punch didn't even bother Nora's Aura, having absorbed it entirely. The Gravity Dust in Emerald Gust's shells helped carried its own damage through but not by much. he'd gotten a hit in on Nora but, by the Gods, was it not enough to do much damage to the battle-crazy girl.

It was another trio of hits she tried to send his way that ware, again, with a little bit of Aura pumping through his system deftly parried, ducked and smacked away. Nora was fuming at that point; he managed to tag her while she was still having trouble getting a hit in on him. If it was any consolation to her, Izuku thought to himself, at least if she ever did hit him, he knew it'd 'hurt'. He was still having trouble doing much to her even when he did hit. Still, persevering, he went in for another couple swings. The next few seconds went on like that for both of them; while his punches were on point, Nora managed to burn her Aura to duck out of both of them, and tried to follow that feat up with a few swings of her own. They were wild and out of control though and only one of them really called for him to bring up his hands to slam Magnhild away from his body.

After a short time he finally managed to tag her again though! In a series of swings where Nora was forced, again, to use her Aura to duck out of the first, he brought his other fist around to slammed it into her ribs, the shotgun blasting off again... and again, Nora just flinched. He felt so frustrated; he was hitting her and hitting her hard yet it was for hardly anything at all! That point was perfectly punctuated to him in the next few moments as, again, Nora started swinging. So caught up was he in his frustration that he failed to really get in time with Nora's third swing. Not even burning Aura would be able to save him that time and so he braced for impact as Magnhild swung down from over Nora's head and into his chest.

The wind was quite forcefully expelled from his lungs as the head of the mighty hammer crashed down into his chest. He gasped in pain as the shock reverberated through him. His Aura didn't buckle and give under the pressure but holy woah was that still a lot of force he just felt push against his body. Nora really was terrifyingly strong when he thought about it. Still he grit his teeth and clenched his fist as, breathless though it was, he gave a quick shout back at Nora and swung forward. Both his punches started on point... but one seemingly more so than the other. His form was perfect as his right fist flew forward and, though Nora was able to move out of the way of his left, he managed to tag her once again with a forceful blow. She still only flinched from it all but... but it was a hit. He had paid her back tit for tat.

It just wasn't enough in this case.

Nora's next swing was a real doozy. Somewhere in the middle of it Nora's footing was dropped and, unable to dig in her heels, Magnhild's sheer weight carried into the swing caused the young woman to spin in place a couple times, the girl yelping slightly as she forced herself to stop eventually, a little more dizzy for the experience than before. He saw an opening and went for it, throwing two punches that he swore would hit this time. One did and, as before, Nora merely grunted and flinched while the second... well, Nora somehow managed to turn her dizzying experience to her advantage, moving with her flailing body to deftly dodge out of the way of his second attack.

Once she recovered her footing though she was immediately ready to go back on the attack and, well, that was that. Her swings were all on point and eventually one just caught up with Izuku. With a powerful smash it landed in his ribs, causing him to lose his breath and stumble off to the side. Moments later the warning bell went off and he knew Nora had won the spar, again.

"Wow Fearless Leader, you landed more hits on me than I did you this time! You're really improving!" With the fight out of the way and Nora having established her dominance after whatever was bugging her from the Combat Practice, Izuku just sighed at her good-natured attempt to lift him back up as he scratched at the back of his head.

"For all the good it did. I barely left a mark on you, much less actually moved the fight in any meaningful way in my direction." Nora just shrugged as she sat down to relax a bit, Izuku quickly followed her lead as he collapsed down onto the ground so that his Aura could recover a bit.

"Well I mean, it's not like you can help it, right? You just gotta keep working at it and you'll get stronger eventually. Heck, with your Semblance you'll probably be waaaaay stronger than me eventually! So just keep at it!" Izuku smiled a bit at Nora's persistence and... well, it did make him feel a little better.

'Plus, it's not like she doesn't have a point,' he thought, flexing his right hand, 'My use of One For All has improved a bit recently…'

He just hadn't really thought about how he'd wanted to use it in a fight. As it stood, his control over it wasn't that strong... and it grew weaker the more he tried to forcefully use that small amount of One For All. He probably shouldn't be using it for every little movement yet but... well, it wouldn't be a bad idea to come up with some strategy for it.

He groaned to himself…

'I still have so far to go…'

* * *

"Mr. Midoriya, it's been hours now, it's well past time that we ended our session for today." Glynda Goodwitch spoke to Izuku in a stern tone, signaling that she had just about run out of patience with his stalling. By now he'd learned to get a good read on the professor's moods as his weekly, and in some cases more than weekly, training exercises with One For All had given him plenty of opportunities to do so...

Admittedly it was learning exactly how her tone communicated that she was running out of patience with his insistence that he break his bones repeatedly, but still, progress was progress. It varied from time to time; some days he could push himself and wouldn't manage to annoy her for a while but other days she was going to be strict with his time spent breaking his arms. Like everyone it seemed she had good and bad days and, on the former, she was willing to see his point on the importance of his training...

But on the latter, she saw a seventeen year old breaking his arms and needing to stop before he got himself seriously hurt.

In all honesty, he couldn't exactly blame her for looking at it like that. Still, he needed to train and get better with One For All. He _needed_ to get better with One For All. Being able to use the Glenn Smash was a start, but only a start. It still required Izuku to break his bones and he knew that it was still so much weaker than what he was capable of with a full punch. Plus it's uses were still limited; he didn't think he could quite stomach using it against human opponents of any kind, even those who were trying to attack him. He'd almost certainly reduce anyone like that to paste. So even as Glynda folded her arms, another sure sign that she was just about done with Izuku stalling for more training time, he looked pleadingly at her.

"Miss Goodwitch, please. I feel like I'm so close. Just a little bit more. Please?" He saw her face twist slightly into its more authoritative veneer, a look that said that she's about done with his pleading...

But still, it was only "about done". Izuku watched as she sighed and readjusted her glasses.

"One more. That's it. After that, we're leaving." Izuku nodded in firm understanding at that; she meant it and he was pretty lucky to have one last shot. It was with a steadying breath that he flexed his aching arm a bit as he prepared for another Smash, swallowing a lump in his throat as he stood off in the arena, tensing and relaxing his muscles.

He reared his fist back. He needed to control One For All better. He couldn't just be constantly breaking his bones every time he used it. Even if he could only use a little bit, even if it was only a small amount. Izuku felt One For All run up the length of his arm, pulsing through him and causing his muscles to swell, pressing against the skin and the pain began to well up. Izuku knew what came next; his muscles eventually tore and his bones broke from the pressure. It was like filling a balloon with too much air or microwaving an egg so hot that the yoke inside just broke the shell and comes splattering out... though thankfully without the exact same level of gore on his end.

As he started to bring his fist forward, that was the image in his mind. An egg in a microwave, power being pushed through it... he just... he just...

"SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!"

As he lashed out with his fist, two things immediately jumped out to him and, he imagined, Glynda Goodwitch. The first was that his Smash was nowhere near as powerful as it usually was. In fact, in comparison to a usual Smash, or even the Glenn Smash, the gust of air that followed his hit was downright pathetic. Still, he could live with that kind of disappointment as his eyes, and the eyes of his professor, immediately snapped down to his arm.

His completely and utterly unbroken arm.

"Mr. Midoriya... what did you do?" Glynda asked, seemingly stunned, as she brought a hand up to, at least attempt to, casually readjust her spectacles.

"I-I-I dunno!" Izuku cried out, surprise evident in his voice as well as he brought his arm back to inspect it. There it was, plain as day; unbroken and without even the slightest hint of a bruise across it. And yet just then he pushed in some amount of One For All into it, he felt its power coursing through it. What should've ended with his body cracking under the pressure and breaking instead ended up with an admittedly weak Smash... but no harm done to him.

"Mr. Midoriya... I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I believe that you just successfully used some small part of One For All." Izuku took in a sharp gasp of air as she said that, his mind racing with the possibilities.

'I have…?'

'...'

'I HAVE!'

"HOLY WOAH, I DID!" He exclaimed, a smile spreading across his face as he clenched his fist. "It wasn't a lot by any margin but... but I did. I used One For All without breaking myself! Oh man, what was I thinking when I did it... WHAT WAS I DOING WHEN I DID IT! I got to get my notes, I gotta write stuff down... I need to try to do it again to-" He was stopped from rearing his fist back in preparation for another Smash by Glynda who had quickly snapped her riding crop. Despite the clear satisfaction she had in his progress, there was a certain hard edge to her gaze too...

'Oh...right.'

"Or... I can take a break for today because that was the last I had in me for now?" A curt nod followed his assessment as Glynda let him drop. Izuku sighed slightly as he rubbed his arm, still feeling somewhat sore, but there's a genuine smile on his face. It was small potatoes compared to what he knew One For All could accomplish... but still, it was progress. Significant, obvious progress.

He immediately got to writing notes before either he or Glynda had left the arena.

* * *

'Still such a long way to go'

"HERE IT COMES!"

And Nora's words couldn't have been more appropriate as the swing came in hard and fast, slamming into Izuku's gut as the fight barely managed to kick up for the second round. Izuku gasped as his Aura immediately dropped back down into the red and he was sent skittering back. Nora winced slightly as she looked him over, laying stunned on the ground and doing his best to get the air back into his lungs.

"Man Nora... I knew you were strong, especially when you killed that Ursa... but you really are just on a whole other level, aren't you?" Nora shrugged her shoulders as she placed Magnhild across her shoulders, wrapping her arms around the handle.

"I don't know about that Fearless Leader. I mean, I only got 'that' strong because of Weiss' attack... and after that I would've been pretty useless in a fight." Izuku looked up at Nora, a wide smile on her face as she looked down at him. "Meanwhile you got that awesome Semblance of yours! When you get a hold on it, you'll be scary strong Fearless Leader! Plus even now you just have to break a finger or two to use it! Not as cool as breaking your legs to use it, but still!" Izuku couldn't help but chuckle as Nora eventually let Magnhild slip to the ground beside her as she extended a hand to pick him back up.

"Yeah, but right now, even without our Semblances, you're so much stronger than I am..." As if to punctuate that point, Nora rather effortlessly hefted him up from the ground.

"Eh, maybe, but there's tons of stuff you're better at than me besides being strong Izuku! Like school stuff... don't tell Weiss, but I don't think our team's gonna be getting perfect As..." She whispered conspiratorially and apologetically as Izuku just chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "You know a lot more stuff than I do and I'm a lot stronger than you... but stuff like that doesn't have to stay that way. You're training hard and Weiss is doing her best to tutor me... so hey, we've got room and time to change! So don't sweat the small stuff Fearless Leader!" Nora grinned nice and wide again and... well, her nonchalant and carefree attitude actually felt a little bit infectious.

"Thanks Nora." Izuku said with a grin while Nora just nodded.

"No problem! You can pay me back with some pancakes! Come on, I'm starving!" Izuku laughed and nodded in agreement as he follow in behind Nora. Pancakes did sound good at that moment. Though, as he opened the door out of the training room, he couldn't help but mutter under his breath.

"At least the food here is free."

* * *

 **E/N: If you thought that second round was anticlimactic for you, imagine what it was like for the people who decided to use 5% of One For All for the first time, who had to wait a day just for** _ **that**_ **to happen.**

 **-Shovern**

 **A/N: You know what they say; the dice giveth, the dice taketh away.**

 **-gorilla_fingers**


	31. Coffee Break

"Salutations my fellow Team Leaders! I hereby call this week's meeting of the Beacon Academy Leadership Council on Tactics, Training, Leading and Team Cohesion, shortly the Beacon Leadership Council, to order!"

"Tenya, you're cheating, we agreed on the shortened name, if you're gonna use both in the introduction it's only making it even longer and worse!", Ruby rose immediately protested and Izuku nodded in agreement.

Tenya had the decency to look a bit embarrassed when he answered.

"I apologize, I promise it was the last time, for nostalgia's sake. Nevertheless, as always I'll start with a simple role call! Izuku Midoriya, Leader of Team MNVW?"

"Here...", Izuku answered, by now having given up on trying to loosen Tenya's preplanned structure.

"Very good! Ruby Rose, Leader of Team RSBR?"

"Present and accounted for, the same as Tenya Iida, Leader of Team TABY!"

"Excellent! Completing the members, I...", Tenya scowled at the young girl after he realized Ruby had taken the words out of his mouth. Their youngest member was nibbling on a cookie, radiating a perfect picture of innocence.

"Indeed, because I am here...", Tenya said, then looked at Izuku who couldn't hold back a grin at Tenya's unintentional All Might impersonation. The youngest Iida family member sighed, not realizing the reason.

"Well, Since Miss Adel is not joining us until next week, I guess this really makes all current members present and accounted for. This meeting may therefore come to..."

The boy was disturbed by the sound of the door opening.

"Actually, didn't you forget someone?", a voice called out to them.

While Iida raised a brow more at the lack of courtesy of not knocking beforehand, Ruby's eyes went wide at the entrance of their sudden guest and Izuku's face paled a bit.

"Cardin Winchester, Leader of Team CRDL. Present!"

The boy brushed his burnt-orange hair back, while pulling a chair over the floor, in pretty much the loudest fashion possible. He gave the door a shove and it shut with a loud bang. Then he sat down in reverse, hunched to put his elbows on the chair. He was tall enough even in that position to look down on the rest of the students seated at the table, a glint in his eyes.

"Only if you'll have me, of course. Unless this little club is simply too exclusive to let me in? Really, I wonder why none of you had the courtesy of inviting me in the first place. I only heard about this when I was looking into a little info about our young friend here."

At that point Cardin reached out to give Izuku's shoulder a small shove.

Tenya fumbled a bit and readjusted his glasses, clearly taken aback. The young man looked at Cardin.

"Well, Mr. Winchester, my goal for founding this council was to help each other and pool and increase our respective knowledge. But I also desired it to run smoothly."

Ruby interrupted him.

"Also, the day he asked us to join you were bus-too occupied with bullying Tsuy-a Faunus classmate and getting reined in by my sister. Which doesn't exactly send a message of... uh trustworthiness!... or reliability."

Cardin shot her an annoyed look, clearly putting her on a mental list as an extension of Yang who surely already made it there due to said incident.

"And if my sister is to be believed, you fall rather short of any expectations anyone might have of you. And as she said, 'Considering I got to check it firsthand…'", Ruby added, completely missing the implication of the statement, "I'm inclined to trust her on that."

At that point Cardin's eyes grew colder.

"Yeah, your sister does look and dress like the type to be an expert on such topics! I'm sure she's got _years_ of experience.", he quipped back, grinning at Ruby's look of confused irritation, but then the young girl shut him down, giving him a sudden glare.

" _Also_ , while he didn't outright say who it was, I'm pretty sure you had fight-an encounter with my teammate Katsuki Bakugo, who solved it all on his own. From his own words, 'without even breaking a darn sweat'. But you better be sure that next time, should it happen again, my entire team will have his back, Cardin."

'She just censored Kacchan' Izuku felt a bit of sweat develop on the back of his head.

Cardin seemed slightly shaken at that, but he quickly switched targets and turned to Izuku to not let on that the youngest student in the room had hit a mark.

"Well, Deku, my old pal. Surely _you_ don't have anything against me joining? Why, just a few days ago we had _such_ a nice conversation that was oh so rudely disrupted by some random Faunus and her keeper. A meeting I only consider postponed, by the way."

Here Tenya Iida cut in, with a voice colder than any of his friends had ever heard out of him before.

"Mr. Winchester, Izuku Midoriya is a valued member of this council, so you will not only address him with his proper name, but more importantly show him the respect he deserves. Or I can assure you that I will not only deny your proposition but also see yourself out personally. Furthermore, I don't want to see you bother or insult my teammates Tsuyu Asui or Miss Rose's sister Yang Xiao Long in my presence now or at any time in the future or I will take measures to ensure that you don't continue with it. I hope I have made myself abundantly clear on that topic, Mr. Winchester?"

Cardin threw his hands up and laughed.

"Whoa, dudes and dudette, chill a bit, will ya? Maybe I was just a little grumpy at not having been invited? It's quite insulting, really infuriating! But alright, I won't insult you people anymore. And Mr. Midoriya, you shouldn't get so worked up over that Faunus, you know? White-knighting to look good in front of a girl is something I can expect from someone like you, but it really made you jump to assumptions."

"Her _name_ is Velvet Scarletina.", Izuku added in a serious tone, looking directly at Cardin.

"Like I'd care. Call her whatever you want to call her, she's insignificant to me. But all of that shouldn't be an issue. You're a team leader council and I'm a team leader. Isn't that what this is all about? Would you throw out any current member if you ended up arguing for some small reason? If you wouldn't, then the same things are hardly a valid reason to prohibit me from joining, are they?"

Tenya Iida was about to raise his voice, only to hesitate a moment when he caught sight of Ruby Rose feverishly shaking her head at him. The boy sighed. Procedures had to be followed, even if that was one of the few times that made him regret that fact of life.

"I'm afraid Mr. Winchester has something of a point there. While I won't hesitate to enforce the rules, including punishments for misbehavior up to and including the dismissal of any member, his earlier behavior can't be taken into account for that. So I am in favor of letting him join as a probationary member."

Cardin's smile was nothing short of insulting at this point, beyond happy with himself at what he was pulling here. He certainly enjoyed the chaos he was causing a great deal.

"Heck, NOPE! Just look at the guy, he's only here to disturb our work, are you guys blind, he's sitting there laughing at our faces, messing with us! Izuku!", Ruby Rose turned her head, staring in disbelief at Tenya's decision and searching for support.

"Maybe this isn't that bad. Sure, right now it may be troublesome, but... maybe we can find an understanding and lay our problems to rest if we get to know each other a bit more? That would be better in the long run.", Izuku declared, but his face said he didn't really expect it.

'Still, Izuku is the kind of person giving everyone a chance,' Ruby thought. Or maybe all that time with Kacchan had just made it hard for him to stand up to bullies in general?

"Preach it, Midoriya, I'm sure we'll become the _bestest_ of friends in the long run. That's a two versus one majority, isn't it? And with that the notion has passed, I'd say. Right, Miss Ruby Rose?", Cardin beamed at the young girl.

Ruby couldn't believe her ears and jumped up, agitatedly pointing at Cardin, who didn't mind and just reached out to her plate and grabbed her half-eaten cookie. Which only served to spurn her on more.

'The nerve of this guy!'

"I can't believe this. He's only here to spy on us to better mess with us and our team mates! What are you all even thinking! If that creep's in, well... then _I'm_ out!"

"Ruby!", Tenya called out to her. Him calling her by her first name cooled her down somewhat, if only due to the surprise factor. Tenya barely ever did that and so far only had done so when they'd been on their own.

"Please think of your team mates, before making such a drastic decision. Cardin Winchester will only join on a probational status. And rest assured, I will not tolerate _any_ kind of misbehavior."

Tenya turned to the leader of Team CRDL, painfully aware of Cardin's shit-eating grin.

"While we will give you the benefit of doubt, you should realize you're on very thin ice, Mr. Winchester. I give you the same advice I just gave Miss Rose, consider your own team mates before you decide on anything drastic. Because this council has something substantial to offer and as a team leader you simply owe it to your teammates and to yourself as a student of Beacon as well as an aspiring Huntsman to give it a serious try to make things work. If anything, take a good look at all of our three teams and ask yourself if there's _really_ nothing you can see that they might offer for you to improve yourselves."

Before Cardin could answer that plea, there was a knock on the door.

The door was opened and Coco Adel, leader of team CFVY entered in a confident stride.

"Hello, I'm sure Izuku Midoriya has filled you all in already. A pleasure to see you. While today my time was sadly too limited to participate, considering my future intentions, I thought I'd drop in for a few minutes anyway to prepare for next week."

The second year student then lowered her shades and looked at Cardin Winchester, the way someone would look at a fly in their soup. As in, a slight step below disgust, due to disinterest diluting it.

"What's he doing here?", she inquired, a slight sour note entering her voice regardless.

"First, welcome, I'm Ruby Rose, leader of Team RSBR and second, _he_...", Ruby filled that last word with as much disgust as she could manage without making a grimace. "He has just decided out of the blue to join our council! To my regret."

"Is that so?", Coco answered with slight anger, which brought up a smug look on Cardin's face.

"Well, if that is so, then I..."

Izuku face-palmed, knowing that Coco would never willingly join a council that had the person bullying her teammate as a member. Why, just why had all this turned out so bad? All of them had been so happy about Coco, a second year student!, joining and now it was all utterly ruined. Even Tenya had a bitter look on his face.

"Then I would simply be elated to join too! I figured I'd wait until next week after I got to know you guys a little better, but why prolong things unneededly?"

The fashionable girl sat herself on the table, putting her arm around the flabbergasted Cardin's shoulder.

"Why, I was hoping to spend some more... _quality time_ with my _special_ friend Cardin Winchester and was worrying how I could do so... in a _subtle_ manner. Getting a chance like that _weekly_ , well, that's nothing short of a gift of the heavens!"

With that she leaned in and gave him a faux-affectionate tender finger flick to his earlobe, the one she had manhandled during their last encounter.

"Oh, we're gonna have some fun, Cardin Winchester! Maybe I'll even fetch _Velvet_ to make some photos of the _aftermath_ with that beloved camera of hers. That sweet girl simply _loves_ to share her pictures with _everyone_ she knows..."

Coco raised his chin to look him in the eye and smiled.

"Sharing is caring after all." Then the second year student's smile vanished entirely, replaced by a stare down.

"And I really _do_ care, Cardin."

The tall boy suddenly seemed all-too eager to get the hell away from the older girl.

"Yeah right, sorry to disappoint you, I hardly have the kind of free time you lazybones all have. See ya, suckers, I've had my fun today!"

The boy made his escape, shutting the door to the point of breaking, if it hadn't been for Glynda Goodwitch pushing to make all doors in Beacon sturdy enough to handle even an aura-empowered teenager's emotional outbursts.

A few moments of silence while all of them listened to his angry footsteps getting further away.

Then Izuku spoke up.

"I take it Cardin hasn't actually signed his membership card yet?"

"Why yes, Mr. Midoriya, I was just about to point that out myself!", Tenya Iida immediately answered, a rare grin on his face.

Ruby snatched the empty card from Tenya's hand and with all the wide-eyed fan girl-ism she could muster, uttered:

"You're a Huntress! _Can I have your autograph_?", holding the membership card in front of Coco's face.

"I'm hardly a Huntress yet!", Coco laughed out.

"But just now you clearly saved us innocent victims from a dastardly villain's plan like a true Huntress. So don't mind the details, as a second year student you're way closer to being one than us and that's close enough for me. Now, sign up, sign up!" She was almost thrusting the card in the older girl's face.

"Kid...I like you already!", Coco giggled, giving her an affectionate pat on the head, before signing the card.

"New member, GET!" She held the card up in triumph, before calming down to what for Ruby could be considered normal, "Well, you certainly have net yourself a bunch of brownie points with all of us today, but if you want me to upgrade that to an _actual_ delicious brownie, you've got to stop calling me kid! I'm Ruby Rose!"

"I like a girl who makes a decent sales pitch. Kinda reminding me of how your friend Izuku there has gotten me interested in all this in the first place. But next time I expect some coffee to go along with that, Ruby!"

"We certainly will ensure to brew some. I am Tenya Iida and it's a pleasure meeting you.", Tenya declared, vigorously shaking Coco's hand. He then turned on his heels, slammed himself into his original place at the table, and raised one hand to the sky.

"Now due to the rapid membership changes we just underwent, I'll take things from the top!"

"Salutations my fellow Team Leaders! I hereby call this fourth meeting of the Beacon Leadership Council to order! I'll start with a simple roll call! Izuku Midoriya, Leader of Team MNVW?"

"Do we really need to do this agai... You know, I'm not even going to ask this time, I'm here."

"Very good! Ruby Rose, Leader of Team RSBR?"

"I am here!"

"Excellent! Coco Adel, Leader of Team CFVY?"

"Right here stiff."

"Magnificent! And obviously I, Tenya Iida, Leader of Team TABY, am present and accounted for! This meeting may therefore come to order!" Izuku watched with slight amusement as Coco just blinked in stunned awe at the way Tenya was swinging his arms about and the stoic nature of his tone of voice in spite of the bombastic nature of his movement. He watched as she slowly craned her head his way, tilting it as she looked over the rim of her sunglasses.

"He's... always like this?"

"Yeah, I think he had a script prepped." Izuku admitted with a nod, taking a small bite out of some of the food that Tenya had prepared and brought to the team meeting.

"Pretty neat." Coco mutters to herself before taking a bite of some food. "And Hell, I'll take just about anything if he brings food like this. Some good stuff you got here stiff." Tenya Iida nodded his head, a bright smile on his face as he readjusted his glasses.

"Thank you Miss Adel, I wasn't quite sure what would be to your liking as it concerned the culinary arts, so I decided I'd bring out a rather broad batch of meals that could service most tastes and see what you preferred so that I might put something together a bit closer to your taste." Coco chuckled a bit as Tenya went to work speaking, his arms slashing and cutting through the air as she nodded.

"Well thank ya Tenya, that's awfully considerate of ya. Hmmm... I'll have to get back to you on that. On the one hand I like your sweets but... mmm... this really is some good stuff."

"I'm afraid I can't take all the credit for it. Two members of my team are quite excellent chefs themselves with far more practice." Coco just grinned nice and wide as she looked over.

"Awww, you all cook together? That's pretty sweet. I remember trying to organize activities like that with my Team during the First Year... it didn't go so hot." Coco admitted as she took another bite, Tenya just nodding his head.

"Please, feel free to speak freely. No one here is judging you Miss Adel and we would all benefit greatly from your prior difficulties and experience in leading a team." Ruby nodded as she finished eating a cookie, the girl giving a smile.

"Besides, not like we haven't had trouble ourselves... well... mostly me, but it got fixed!" Ruby declared as Coco smiled.

"Right, of course. Sorry, still kinda trying to get a feel for this little club you guys have got going here." Coco admitted as she leaned back in her seat. "It wasn't so much that I had a hard time getting them to do stuff... it's that my team... weeeell... they're not exactly social butterflies." Coco brought up a gloved hand for her to start counting off fingers. "I have to imagine you guys are already filled in on Velvet, so I'll spare you the details-" A nod from Ruby and Tenya confirmed Coco's suspicion as she moved on to finger two, "-then there was Fox who was kind of big on the whole stoic thing going on. Guy doesn't wear sleeved shirts because he wants to show off his scars while looking all broody, that kind of thing." Ruby snorted a bit as Izuku and Tenya nodded. "Then there's Yatsuhashi... honestly the guy's a teddy bear and he loves showing off for girls, but... well, he can be a bit shy because a lot of people are a bit freaked out by how tall he is. Guy's friggin' huge and he's only 18."

"So getting them to do big social things was a 'mess'. Fox liked to act a bit too... oh God, what word should I use?"

"Standoffish?" Tenya suggested.

"Edgy?" Izuku tossed in.

"Tryhardy?" Ruby offered lastly and, at that, Coco snapped her fingers.

"That's it, Tryhardy. Thanks squirt." Ruby puffed out her cheeks at the nickname given to her by Coco but eventually smiled when Coco passed her a cookie. "But yeah, guy was a total Tryhard... still kind of is actually, but he's at least made progress on working the stick out. Velvet was of course a nervous wreck and was prone to jumping at just about anything and Yatsuhashi... you know, Gods love him, but when it wasn't fighting the guy could be a bit of a klutz. Bumped into all kinds of things and knocked them over."

"So I'm guessing big team outings and activities were pretty much out." Tenya said as Coco nodded.

"Yeah. No matter how much I may have wanted it that way or thought it would've been great, I had to take my own team's personalities, needs and wants into account. It's easy to get buried in the 'idea' of doing something that sounds like it'd be good for your team without thinking if it'd actually jell with all of them. As a leader, I had to learn to not just think of my teammates as one unit out of four and instead as people. We've been making a lot of progress since then but... well, stuff still takes time."

"Well that's a very good start to this meeting I'd say." Tenya declared with a wide grin. "It's a nice start to the lessons but, for now, I say we get to discussing what the official business for the Beacon Leadership Council is for today."

"Right on. Been kinda lookin' forward to this to be honest; I was wondering what official stuff you guys get up to from Deku's description of it." The three of them nodded as Tenya cleared his throat.

"Indeed, so, let us show Coco exactly what it is that the... hold on a moment. Deku?" Tenya blinked in some confusion. "I'm sorry Miss Adel but, well, I'm not sure where you've heard that name but it's actually a bit of an insult aimed at Mr. Midoriya, so if you wouldn't mind-"

"Oh no, it's totally cool. I heard it when Deku and I met and I thought it sounded cute. Deku here said it'd be fine if I called him by it." Ruby tilted her head to the side at Coco's explanation.

"Huh, that's weird. Izuku, why would you let her call you by that name?" Ruby and Tenya looked over to him and he started praying to every God he could think of that he wasn't blushing.

...

Judging by the way Tenya's jaw dropped and Ruby's cheeks puffed up with laughter, they hadn't heeded his prayer.

"Mr. Midoriya, you said yourself it was an insult! Why would allow other people to call you it for such a... such a reason?!"

"I DUNNO, IT WAS LIKE A REVOLUTIONARY DISCOVERY OKAY, I COULDN'T HANDLE IT!" He declared with his blushing face hidden behind his hands.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA! You're, ahahaha, you're so shameless Deku! AAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!" Ruby held onto her gut as she laughed, Coco just chuckling as she took the scene in.

"Well, looks like this is going to be a hoot."

"So wait, what is this that you're wanting help with, Deku?"

'Deku' continued to go a red as Ruby chuckled under her breath, Tenya was still just shaking his head at the display.

After some more good natured teasing The Leadership Council meeting had circled around to assisting each other with tasks or studies that the others had felt some need for help in accomplishing. The turn order had finally fallen to Izuku, who had insisted that he quickly go out and change into some of his older gym clothes in order to train with... well, One For All. Not that he'd told them as much when he'd left or intended to tell them. At the moment he just wanted to keep it down to the simple explanation.

"Just... something of a breakthrough I've made with my Semblance." he said as he took a deep breath and stretched out a bit. At that both Ruby's chuckling and Tenya's stern gaze finally melted away as interest rapidly replaced them.

"What, another one, already?" Ruby asked as Izuku sheepishly scratched the back of his head.

"Well... I've been working on a lot of stuff all at once, and working really hard at it. It's more like I had a lot of balls in the air that I'm finally managing to catch and see progress from." Tenya nodded his head seriously as he stroked his chin.

"Indeed, Yang's told me that you've been quite persistent in your training with her. I'd have to imagine you'd carry that attitude into your work with your Semblance as well." Izuku nodded in agreement as Ruby seemed to grasp what Tenya's saying. Coco, on the other hand...

"Wait, hold up. You can't control your Semblance?" The older student asked as she placed her hands on her hips, Izuku flushing in some slight shame as he nodded.

"Y-Yeah... I have a really hard time of it because my Aura was awakened... pretty late in life. My Semblance is pretty powerful so whenever I've tried to use it... well, there's tended to be backfire." he said cautiously as Coco just arched an eyebrow over the rim of her sunglasses.

"How much backfire we talking about here?" Ruby and Tenya even looked a bit uncomfortable but, before long, it was the blue haired young man who cleared his throat to speak up.

"When I first saw Mr. Midoriya use his Semblance, it completely shattered every bone in his arm and caused a deep bruise to form from his upper arm down to his fingers." If Coco's eyebrows were quirked before they shot up way over the rim of her glasses as she looked down at Izuku.

"Holy shit, no way." Izuku just nodded grimly as he affirmed Tenya's statement. "Holy Hell, that sounds like it hurts."

"It... it really does." He agreed as he finished his stretching. "Up until now I haven't really been able to control 'any' of my Semblance. I'm either not using it at all or I'm using 100% of its power and destroying my own body... but..."

He took a deep, long breath and closed his eyes, trying to feel out the power that he knew sat just underneath his skin. He could feel the whole mass of One For All swimming in his Soul... the raw power that if handled too lightly would tear his body apart as he tried to channel it. However with 'extreme' focus he was able to take a small portion of it. Just a small, small, 'small' portion of it and channel it where it needed to go. Ruby was the first one to notice, her silver eyes going wide in surprise as she looked down at his right arm. Tenya and Coco's gaze soon followed and the three of them stared as his skin started to glow. First a light golden color formed over his right arm, shimmering and producing a small amount of light forged from the energies of One For All. Then, the rest appeared; shifting shapes, most often in the contours of cuts or scars, colored a shining, brilliant red form across his right arm as the tiniest bit of One For All was channeled

As soon as it settled, his arm started to balloon ever so slightly. Not to the great extent that it did when under the influence of 100% of One For All, but very noticeably: his already somewhat cut muscles began to take on more form and definition as they grew in size and, before long, it was easy to tell that his right arm was much larger than normal.

"Holy cow..." Ruby muttered numbly as she watched Izuku slowly bring his right arm up, clenching his fist in a cautious gesture. It still hurt like Hell to hold even such a small chunk of One For All like that... but it didn't hurt nearly as bad as 100% did. His bones were still straining and his muscles still threatened to tear at any moment... but they held. Maybe it was his own Aura holding them together or maybe his own improved natural strength but, either way, his arm held and didn't break.

"It's not a lot of my Semblance... but it's enough to make a difference... but it's hard for me to control it for too long, so I have to get used to summoning it forth quickly and then making use of it." Almost as if to underline that point mere seconds after he'd summoned that small chunk of One For All forth his grasp on it slipped and it delved back into the sea of his Soul, a sigh of relief released from his chest as he scratched the back of his head. "So what I want to work on is doing so under stressful circumstances, like when I'm being swung at or what not. I was hoping you guys would help." Tenya and Ruby nodded immediately and so did Coco, but it was clear that the older student was still utterly bewildered by his Semblance. While she was taking it in, Tenya was already beginning to come up with a far too complex training schedule, while Ruby was seemingly trying to figure out a way to have Emerald Gust take off some of the damage that his semblance caused. Coco almost seemed to have been completely stunned by just how much power he had in his...thin form.

Finally, after a few minutes, she just shook her head. And then, she perked up, and returned her attention to the younger man.

"So, Deku, how was Velvet this past week?"

Izuku nodded in understanding, and then tapped his chin. He then brought up everything he could remember about her time in class, giving a fairly positive, though still factual, account of the Rabbit Faunus's performance.

"... So she had a little bit of a stumble when Oobleck reached out to her in specific to try to answer a question about the Faunus but, well, after that she was able to steel her nerves and give the right answer. The professor even seemed really impressed!" Izuku finished with a small grin as he nodded his head. "I think that's actually about it for this week!"

"... Gotta hand it to you Deku, when you promise something, you deliver." Coco put aside a beverage that had been brought for the Leadership Council as she leaned forward in her seat, a smile on her face as she looked around. "Good food, not half bad company from you, stiff and squirt and... well, this was actually pretty productive. I got to say, for a bunch of freshman, you guys are ahead of the game" The three of them each nodded their heads at Coco's assessment, before the leader of Team CFVY turned to face Izuku. "You even kept up your end up the bargain right off the bat. I'll want more sometime in the future, 'course but this was a nice show of good faith Deku. I appreciate it." He couldn't help but blush, pleased at the praise.

"So does that mean you'll be coming to more meetings in the future, Miss Adel?" Tenya asked, his arms going through their motions as the girl turned to face him, dipping her sunglasses down to look him right in the eye.

"... You know, what the Hell, why not? This was fun and pretty useful. Consider me a full member... if you'll have me, of course." Coco offered and it was not even a second before Ruby practically jumped up out of her seat, arms up above her head with a cheer.

"Are you kidding?! You're a super cool older Huntress, Team Leader with loads of experience! Of course we'll have you!" Izuku and Tenya nodded in ready agreement as Coco just smiled earnestly. Finally, the ring of the wall-mounted clock drew all of their attentions to the time as Tenya nodded.

"I do believe that shall have to suffice for today. I hereby call this week's meeting of the Beacon Leadership Council to order! Have a good evening everyone!"

* * *

"Alright kid, you're either going to toss me to the side or get a fist to the jaw! Now get ready to throw... OR GRIT YOUR TEETH!"

In all likelihood, Toshinori just declared that to psyche Izuku out. To get him to take the threat 'very' seriously so that he'd have some push to actually go through with the toss. He wanted to think that as Toshinori, in Hero Mode, dashed towards him , his fist reared back and that beaming smile on his face, that it was just a very elaborate game of chicken the older man was playing in order to get him into the right frame of mind to actually go at it with everything he had.

On the other hand, his gut was screaming at him that Yagi was going to take his head off and he needed to flip him, right now, like, RIGHT NOW RIGHT NOW! In a way, Toshinori succeeded in what he wanted... it just resulted in Izuku screaming a bit as he quickly ducked down into his stance and brought his hands up. It was a rather beautifully fluid motion all told; Toshinori didn't put up much resistance and, later on, Izuku figured that he wanted to see if he got the basic form down. While Izuku couldn't say for certain, since he was far more focused on actually tossing the giant missile of a man away from him, he could say with some certainty that Toshinori soared rather bodily through the air and, with a few bounces, eventually stopped on the ground flat on his face.

"T-Toshinori! I'm sorry, are you alright, I didn't mean-"

"AAAH-HA-HA-HA-HAAA!" Toshinori laughed good-naturedly as he immediately sprang to his feet and gave a small salute. "Nothing to worry about my lad, I'm perfectly fine. Although your throw was very well executed, you aren't quite 'that' good yet to put a man of my skill and strength down." As if to reassure his protégé, Toshinori flashed his grin as he flexed and, yeah, Izuku's nerves immediately did settle down. "After all, I am Toshinori Ya-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHCK!"

At that point, the stunning transformation that Toshinori would undergo whenever he'd spent too much time in Hero Mode wasn't much of a surprise to Midoriya... a little jarring sure but he didn't quite screaming his head off like he used to. Instead a concerned smile crossed his lips as he walked up to him, supporting him as he hacked up some blood into his fist.

"You've been in that form for a while. You probably need a break, right?" He asked and, after a moment, Toshinori finished wiping the blood off his mouth before dusting his hands off on his now considerably looser cargo pants.

"Yeah, yeah that sounds like a plan my boy." With a nod Izuku helped Toshinori over to a nearby bench, the older man just taking a quick seat as he continued to cough here and there though, thankfully, it seemed the blood had been hacked out by now. "Gotta hand it to you Izuku, you've been taking to my lessons like a fish to water. Started off as an amateur not too long ago and now four weeks later... well, you're getting closer to where you want to be. Not there, but closer." he nodded in understanding; his more fluid and loose forms were probably his best bet still for actually defending himself... but when it came to getting a grip on an opponent and bodily tossing them, he was pretty sure that his work with Toshinori was rapidly eclipsing a lot of his other forms. It made him smile; it was another small way he was making progress... and one that he was earning from his Hero no less.

"Thank you Toshinori... but I really couldn't have done this without you. Without your guidance and training... well, I wouldn't be here at Beacon at all." Toshinori just grinned a little as he reached up to ruffle your head.

"I helped you kid and I certainly gave you One For All... but I think we both know that you're kidding yourself if you think your own work ethic and ability had nothing to do with getting you here. You're taking in so much of what I know so fast that it's crazy... Hell, but the time you're half my age you'll probably be as good at all this stuff as I am. Who knows, maybe better." Izuku couldn't help but turn red from Toshinori's praise, a sheepish grin crossing his face at the look of obvious pride that Toshinori had on his.

"Thank you... that... really means a lot to me, sir."

"Means a lot to me too kid." Izuku blinked a bit as Toshinori withdrew his hand, a grin still on his face. "Means that I don't have to worry a lick about One For All going forward. It's in perfectly good hands." Yet again Izuku beamed at this as Toshinori just chuckled. "In fact, Glynda's been telling me you've been making some pretty serious progress while I've had my back turned with all this teachin' crap. Swear, I feel like I can't keep up with how much work you're puttin' in." Izuku nodded as Toshinori's grin widened. "So how about you lay it on this old geezer young man: what've you gotten up to?"

"SMAAAAAAAAASH!"

It wasn't even really a Smash, when he thought about it. Without the force of 100% of One For All behind it, he'd actually have to work on his form to make a 'Smash' with so little of it count for anything. Still, the word itself gave him confidence as he channeled what little of One For All into his right arm as he could, without breaking it, and punched forward. There was a slight breeze that blew from his hand as his body turned into the blow and, all the while, Toshinori watched with a wide grin on his face as he had his hands placed together.

"Well, I gotta hand it to you Midoriya, you didn't oversell it at all; you really can control a bit of One For All now. Ye Gods, young man, I turn around for a week and you go and pull something like this out of your back pocket!" Izuku smiled genuinely at Toshinori's compliment, shaking out his hand as the still painful tremors of using any amount of One For All, small or not, in his body still echoed out in his bones and muscles.

"It... it was only really recently, and I haven't had much opportunity to use it yet... but still, I was really excited and I wanted to show you." Toshinori nodded his head, enthusiastic in his own way, as he smiled and brought up his fist. "I really managed it. I can control some of One For All! I can control... uh... I can control... huh... how much can I control, anyway?" He asked, tilting his head to the side as he examined his own right arm. Really, it was hard to parcel out just how much of One For All he could control. I mean, it wasn't like he had a huge amount of experience with-

"If I had to take my guess, I'd say that your cap right now looks about like 5% of what you're capable of." He blinked in surprise at Toshinori's estimate, turning his emerald eyes over to him as his mouth dropped a bit.

"You can tell just by looking?" Toshinori nodded as he reached down and picked up a plastic water bottle to hold in his grip.

"Yeah. I've seen what you can do with 100% of One For All after all and, well, I may not understand the 'mechanics' of controlling One For All myself, I do at least have a good gut feeling about this Semblance and I can generally put together how much power you, myself or... or my predecessor was putting out. After all-" As if to demonstrate his point, Toshinori tried to crinkle the still full bottle of water in his hand only to fail miserably. But then, it was slow, but his muscles did bulk up for a brief moment and Izuku flinched, expecting the bottle of water to immediately blow up under Toshinori's immense power... only for it to slowly crush and break under his strength, water flowing out from forming cracks in the bottle as Toshinori's controlled strength put just the right amount of pressure on it. Afterward Toshinori deflated again and tossed the remaining trash over into a bin.

"-I've pretty much made it my business to be as precise as I can be with One For All. The Symbol of Peace and Hope can't just go around causing massive collateral damage wherever he goes and he really shouldn't knock criminal's heads off with one punch when he should be strong enough to bring them in alive. That's not what being a Symbol to the people of Remnant is all about. I might not understand exactly what I'm doing... but after a while, you learn to get a good feel for One For All. I don't know exactly what you're doing, but I've had One For All for so long that know what I'm looking at." Izuku nodded in vigorous understanding as Toshinori said that and it really did make sense to him. "So, judging by how strong you are at 100% and what you just pulled there, yeah, 5% sounds about right."

"Just 5% huh?" Izuku looked down at his fist again with that thought. He still had such a long way to go then. Yeah, it only took four weeks for him to get to this point but... well, even here and now, his control wasn't perfect and his body still strained under the weight of One For All. Plus, much like his own Aura, he didn't imagine it'd get easier to control more power as he went along either.

"Don't give yourself that look." Izuku looked up to see Toshinori just smiling at him as he reached out and ruffled his hair. "You started off not even having One For All five weeks ago and look at you now. I'd be proud as Hell of that accomplishment if I were you. Don't get so down in the dumps now young man." Izuku couldn't help but smile under the words of his Hero and Mentor as he offered up a small nod.

"I won't... thank you Toshinori."

"Don't sweat it." With that, Toshinori rubbed at his chin as a thought slowly forms behind those black and blue eyes of his. "Speaking of... now that you 'can' control some amount of One For All... it wouldn't be as dangerous as it could've been for me to start passing some stuff down to you." Izuku eyes went wide as Toshinori waved his hands. "I don't mean like control, we've well established that I know jack shit about what makes my control of One For All work. Hell, you've probably got a better idea in your head than I do." At that, Izuku frowned a bit as he looked down at his hand.

'Well... if I had to describe it... I guess it'd be kind of like-'

"It's like... putting an egg in a microwave!"

...

"Pardon?"

"Yeah you know. If you put too much heat into the egg all at once, then the yoke's going to bubble up and crack the shell! So if I don't want that to happen to me, then I need to control just how much of One For All I'm actually pushing into myself all at once." Izuku nodded, the metaphor firm in his mind as he smiled. Toshinori, on the other hand, just looked a bit stunned as he tilted his head to the side.

"You... sure that's the metaphor you want to go for young man? I don't want to say too much but it does sound kind of..." Izuku blinked as Toshinori started before the older man just waved his hand. "You know what, forget I said anything. If that metaphor is what works for you, then that's just fine." He grinned again. "What's important is that you're making progress to making this Semblance your own in your own way... and that you're doing a fine job of it." Izuku again couldn't help but smile under his mentor's praise.

After the brief discussion of his taste in metaphors, Toshinori waved it off. "Anyway, while I can't help you with control... now that you've got some, I could teach you some of my moves." Toshinori scratched the back of his head. "I can't guarantee that you'd always find them useful or that they'd fit with the way you fight but... well, I thought I'd offer at any rate."

Izuku considered it for a long time. There was a part of him that hesitated for a moment; he'd already taken Toshinori's Semblance on and he wasn't anywhere near as good with it as he was yet, so it didn't feel quite right to take on his moves. On another level, there was a little part of Izuku that said that his moves just 'weren't' for him. That he wasn't built to handle One For All like he was. That he needed to start from scratch. On the other hand, he felt like that was reductionist. Months ago he wasn't built to handle One For All 'at all'. He was weaker then, so much weaker, and using it then would've completely destroyed him. After a lot of hard work and effort... well, at that point he could control some small part of it, and as time went by he'd be able to control more and more. Toshinori's moves didn't have to be a stopping point... they can be a bridge to new ideas and concepts and ways of thinking about using One For All that he hadn't considered due to lack of experience.

In the end, that latter arguments won out and Izuku ended up smiling nice and wide at his predecessor.

"I'd be honored Toshinori! Whatever you're willing to teach me, I'll do my best to learn!"

"Now that's an answer!" Toshinori clapped his hands together as he slowly stood up from his own seat, a wide grin on his face. "It'll have to be during special times like this but whenever you want to young man, I'll be ready for ya." With that Toshinori dusted off his pants as he kept that smile on his face. "With that... I think we've just about done all we can for today. I'll see you later young man, you keep safe now." Izuku nodded as Toshinori moved to depart from the training arena, a smile still on Izuku's lips as he watched him go. Soon enough, though, a nagging thought tugged at the back of his mind. Something that had crossed his mind before, especially when talking with Ozpin, but... it was something he'd considered more and more as he and Toshinori spent more and more time training together. He looked down to the side for a moment, his nerves keeping him from speaking up immediately, before he summoned forth his bravery and looked up at Toshinori's back.

"Uh... Toshinori, sir?" Toshinori stopped in place as you call out, turning his head to look over his shoulder to look at Izuku. "I was... I was actually wondering... would you... maybe... want to hang out?"

...

"Huh?" Izuku saw that Toshinori seemed genuinely surprised by the question, his jaw dropping somewhat upon hearing it. Izuku's face immediately went a beet red as he brought up his hands defensively.

"Y-You know what, never mind, it was a silly question I should've realized you'd be too busy for something silly like that, what was I thinking, well it's been great talking ToshinoributIreallyneedtogetoutofyourhairbecausethisisgettingreallyawkwardand-"

"WOAH WOAH WOAH, settle down Izuku, take a breath!" Izuku immediately did so and he couldn't help but hyperventilate a bit as his embarrassment ran through his mind. Toshinori reached up to scratch the back of his head, as he's want to do, as he glanced off to the side. "I was just caught off guard was all, I wasn't saying no." The older man grinned slightly as he looked at Izuku, a self-depreciating expression on his face. "I figured that a young guy like you'd be preferring to hang out with his friends or a couple of Beacon's lovely ladies rather than fart around with an old man like myself is all. Kind of surprised me."

"You're not that old Toshinori..." Izuku said again as the older man just grinned, the boy's sense of self slowly reasserting itself as he looked at him. "And yeah, I could... but... well... you and I really haven't talked that much outside of training... I know you're my mentor and that I'm supposed to be learning from you on how to be a better Huntsman... but... well, it just... I thought it'd be nice to also just talk. So that I could try to learn more about you."

Toshinori paused as he took that in, the mentor scratching his chin in thought as he looked down to the side. After a moment of silence Toshinori nodded his head as he looked back to Izuku, placing his hands in his pockets.

"Sounds reasonable enough to me kid. What exactly did you have in mind?"

'What did I have in mind...'

"I dunno... I thought it might just be nice to talk a walk so I could ask you a few questions, maybe get to know a little more about you." He saw Toshinori grin a bit as he spoke, the man crossing his arms as he turns to face him while he arced an, admittedly amused, eyebrow.

"Oh? Trying to get more data for your notes are you? Can't help but still fan boy after all this time?" Izuku sputtered slightly at Toshinori's ribbing, his voice cracking slightly as he tried to stumble for a correction. Shortly thereafter Toshinori just laughed, waving a hand slightly as he shook his head. "Relax kid, relax. I was kidding. Sure, I'd be down for something like that. Come on." Izuku calmed down as Toshinori reassured him and quickly fell in line behind him, the two of them wandering off out of the arena and then, after a while, outside of the building proper.

Beacon's campus really was a thing to behold. His time had, so far, mostly been spent either inside the building's illustrious halls or out in the City of Vale, very little time actually spent on the campus itself taking in the sights of what Beacon had to offer. As he walked around with Toshinori for a bit, each of them trying to find a place where there aren't 'too' many people around and where they could get at least a small bit of privacy, he couldn't help but marvel at the sights of the... well, to be frank, 'castle' he'd been living in for the past few weeks. Buttresses and arches and towers galore, with Ozpin's own office sitting at the very top of the grand clock tower that stood darn near smack-dab in the center of it all. From what he heard, all four major Hunter Academies were like that; after all, it was hard for their campuses to not seem like resplendent gardens and marvels of architectural wonder when they had set their bases up in the halls of the Old Kings, with some updates and buildings added in order to make them more suited as actual campuses, of course.

'Thank you Professor Oobleck.'

"So, I'd say we've got ourselves a nice little track all by our lonesome. So lay it on me kid, what's on your mind?" Izuku swung his gaze down from Beacon's campus back to Toshinori as the old man smiled at him, a slightly nervous grin stretching across his own lips as he scratched at the back of his head. Now that he was there and actually asking his questions he honestly felt a little bit nervous. Some of them were a little personal after all and he didn't want his mentor to feel like he was intruding on his privacy... but on the other hand, he really just couldn't help himself. Toshinori was his predecessor, his hero. He 'wanted' to know more about what his experiences were like. Maybe then he'd have a better idea of what he could do instead of just continually winging it.

"Well... I was actually wondering how you met your predecessor?" Toshinori blinked slightly as Izuku clarified. "I mean, I don't know if passing down One For All was supposed to be some kind of official process or not, so that... well, like for example, you and I meeting was just some accident that you rolled with, or if it was always just kind of random. So I thought I'd ask how you met your mentor, the Seventh User?"Toshinori nodded at his question as he raised a hand up to rub his chin slightly.

"To answer part of your question, One For All's passing down has been a matter of... random chance or fate, whatever you'd like to call it, ever since the Semblance came into being." Izuku nodded as Toshinori turned to him, placing his hands on his own chest. "Ozpin's predecessor, Headmaster Nezu, only really became aware of One For All through my predecessor... Nana Shimura."

"Nana... wait, you mean the Huntress from Mistral Academy? The one who won the 12th Vytal Festival Tournament?"

"... Kid you are scary sometimes with how much you know about this stuff, you know that right?" The kid chuckled sheepishly as he looked down to the side, his face thoroughly red. "But yeah, that's her alright. You don't know much about her because back then, after the war, Hunter's were probably at their lowest point in terms of relevance to the public. With one War barely 24 years back in memory and seemingly another one, the Faunus Rights Revolution, right around the corner... Hunters really were just exterminators for hire as far as anyone could be concerned. No matter how strong they were or how effective they were against the Grimm, people kind of shut them out. They'd sit and watch us clobber each other in the Vytal Festival Tournament but... well, it was more sport to them than anything actually serious that had any meaning to their lives. Nana grew up in that environment and lived and died as a Huntress in that environment. She didn't want fame or to be well known... she just wanted to do her best. Even when her best didn't seem to move the dial all that much."

"Anyway, like I was saying, Nezu was the first person to become aware of One For All and was the first Headmaster of Beacon to really start moving resources around to try and help out the Users. Before that, we were mostly on our own, doing what we could in this crazy world to live up to our ideals and... to fight the good fight. If we came across someone along the way who embodied our vision of what One For All was meant to be used for, someone we knew could be a hero... then we passed it down. That's how I met Nana: I was doing what I could to become a Huntsman at the time. I was freakishly strong for my age and that only continued as time went on, it's why I had such an easy time adjusting to One For All. That strength would carry me a long way... but it wouldn't be until I met Nana that I'd see my own dream fully realized." Izuku watched as Toshinori shoved his hands into his pockets, a smile growing on his face.

"Tell me if this sounds familiar to you kid; a young man believes, more than anything, that was the people of Remnant need is a Pillar. He looks around and he sees people who do their best to serve the community, to keep people safe, alive and smiling... and knows that he wants to be them. But not just them... an exemplar of them. He wants to be a Huntsman but, more than that, he wants to be A Hero. Someone who inspired joy and hope in people the same way the legendary Huntsman did. He knows that the reason there's so much suffering is because people are truly afraid... and what they need is a Symbol of Peace and Hope to rally behind. He wants to be that symbol..."

"But... no matter what natural gifts he might have, he's not quite able to make it all the way to his dream. There's something in the way. Something blocking him off. Something keeping him cut out from his hopes and vision. Then... one day, seemingly out of the blue... he meets someone."

"He meets his Hero."

"Well... it sounds like you're talking about me Toshinori. "Izuku scratched the back of his head, recalling just how his own first meeting with Toshinori had gone. "I really don't understand what that has to do with this though sir. I mean... I was Broken, I 'couldn't' become a Huntsman. You said it yourself, you need an Aura to take on the Grimm. I'm sure your own roadblock was serious but... well, I can't imagine what'd impede you more in becoming a Huntsman than being a Moon Child."

"Yeah, I'd say that estimation is about right. You only really get stopped or frowned upon for being a Hunter by being Born of The Moon. That was my experience, at least." Izuku nodded his head as Toshinori spoke... and then he stopped dead in his tracks. His emerald eyes, surely wide as dinner plates, turned to face his mentor as he just gave a big old smile. Izuku muttered and stumbled over his words for a moment before Toshinori raised up his right hand, his thumb pointing right at himself... where he said six words Izuku didn't think he'd ever forget for as long as he lived.

"I was Broken too, young man."

"Broken... you were..."

"She wasn't easy on me at first." Izuku couldn't help but shiver as Toshinori continued, placing his hands in his pockets. "She said in no uncertain terms that someone who was born a Moon Child wasn't capable of being a Huntsman. That my dreams, while admirable, shouldn't lead to me carelessly tossing my own life away. After all... she had been a Huntress for so many years by that point. She knew from experience." Izuku could tell that Toshinori couldn't help himself; the smile on his face grew wider. "And you know what I said? I told her to... err, I told her nuts to that." Toshinori scratched his cheek. "I had my dream. I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I wasn't going to sit around and wait for the people to have their Symbol of Peace come around, if it'd ever come... I was going to be that for them. I was going to give them hope where they didn't have any..."

"She told me to prove it then." Toshinori grin grew and grew and, Izuku swore, there were tears pricking at the corners of his eyes... tears he quickly swept away. "So... I did. I spent weeks under her tutelage, taking whatever she could throw at me as far as training was concerned. She told me that, if I could pass her 'curriculum' then she'd personally put in a word for me with one of her friends at a Huntsman's Academy to get me in. That she'd see to it that I could chase my dream. Well... after hearing that, how could I not give it my all..."

"Long story short... one day, after we were done training Nana gave me this smile. A bright and wide smile unlike anything I'd ever seen. There, right in that moment, that woman stood tall and proud, looking down at me as I set exhausted in a pool of my own sweat... and I couldn't help but smile back. Especially when I heard those words..."

"'Be proud, Toshinori! You're different from all those that had it to begin with... You have won your power!'" Izuku saw Toshinori drop his arms after declaring that, before he turned his eyes down to him. "I always wondered how teach felt in that moment. What was going through her mind. These days... I think I've got a pretty good idea."

'Do not cry, do not cry, do not cry, do not cry, do not cry, do not cry, do not cry, do not cry...'

'...'

'Crap... there it goes.' Big old tears formed in the corners of his eyes as he watched Toshinori beam down at him, his mentor laughing a bit as he brought a hand to the back of his head.

"Jeez young man... how many times is that now? We're having a moment and you gotta go and ruin it by gettin' all teary on me." Izuku nodded in understanding as he brought an arm up to wipe away at the tears that were just pouring out from his eyes. He knew that it was true, it's just that... well...

"I know Toshinori but... but I can't help it. Every day I work as hard as I can so that I can prove that I'm worthy of being your successor. Of being the next person to wield One For All. To hear you say something like that... it's just... it's just great. It tells me that I'm making progress..."

Izuku turned his head up to face Toshinori, giving him the biggest, beaming smile that he could manage. He had to say, even Toshinori looked a little bit impressed by the sight.

"It means that I can keep moving forward! That I can be your Successor! That I can be the Symbol of Peace! Hearing you say that, it inspires me to keep trying... and that's what makes me so happy. That my dream... my dream..." Again he started sniffling as he brought his arm back across his eyes. Dammit, he knew that wasn't cool at all like Toshinori said, but he just couldn't-

His thoughts stopped immediately as he felt Toshinori place his hand on the top of his head, ruffling his wild mane of hair as he did so. "Don't worry about it kid. Just get the dust out of your eye and we can keep up with our walk. Sorry, I really should have learned to tell the difference between you getting a bit of dirt in your eye and you actually cryin'. Course you wouldn't be cryin' at a moment like this... what was I thinking, right?" Izuku choked out a bit of a laugh as he took the moment to reign in his tears and emotions. After a deep breath he managed to look back up at him, his eyes red but, comparatively, dry as he resumed smiling at him. "Good stuff kid, good stuff. Now let's keep going. I have to imagine that wasn't the only thing you wanted to know about this old man."

Izuku quickly followed Toshinori's footsteps, taking a moment to gather his thoughts as the two of them continue on their stroll. Izuku brought his hand up to his chin and stroked it a little bit, thinking carefully for a moment before looking to his mentor. "Well... I mean, aside from being a teacher and tolerating training me, what do you like to do for fun?" Toshinori barked out a laugh at the question, the older man scratching at the back of his head.

"Ah, want to know what old men like myself get up to when you kiddies have retreated to your beds huh? Sorry to say that the details aren't quite as salacious as you might think. Burning the midnight oil hasn't exactly been much of a thing for an old fart like myself for a while now." Izuku shook his head as Toshinori referred to himself as such again, the old man just scratching his cheek. "Well let's see here... I'm guessing you'd also mean aside from Huntsman stuff too but... well, to be honest kid, I do find being a Huntsman to be pretty fun. Savin' people, killing Grimm, going around being people's hero. Your dream is my dream kid, and getting to live it... Hell, it's one of the best things to have ever happened to me." Izuku nodded in complete understanding as Toshinori explains that.

"But I'm guessing you mean social stuff... well, before I met you, I'd usually hang around with the gang. Folks like Glyn, Naomasa, Oz and Qrow."

"You mean Qrow Branwen?! He's part of your all's group too?" Toshinori nodded as Izuku asked that.

"Yeah. Soon as that lazy bastard actually shows back up I'll have to introduce you to him... er..." Toshinori scratched his cheek. "Well, I'll see which Qrow shows up before I introduce you." Izuku blinked in confusion as Toshinori muttered that before he waved it off. "Anyway, it's not just business. Glynda and Naomasa are part of my old team so whenever we can, we like to get together for some light drinks. Hasn't happened for a little while, mostly because Naomasa got bumped up to Detective so he gets to be a hotshot around the Four Kingdoms, but we manage from time to time. Oz is just good company and Qrow..." Toshinori suddenly looked shifty. "When Qrow's... in a good mood, let's say, he's not half bad conversation himself. The guy usually ends up with some crazy stories with how much the travels."

"Aside from all that... well, I haven't really don't too much of anything just for the fun of it for a while. Been managing my condition, trying to be the best Hero I could and... well, now I'm doing my best to get you ready to succeed me. Haven't had much of a social life in a while."

Izuku thought on that for a moment before he turned to look up at him.

"Well... maybe we can change that then? Maybe we can hang out from time to time?" Toshinori arched a brow at that... but in the end just chuckled and nodded.

"Sure kid. Sounds like a blast." With that the two of them settled into a comfortable conversation as they continued their walk, the originally planned short walk quickly turning into laps around campus as Izuku and his mentor spoke with each other at length.

* * *

 **E/N: Starting us off we have "Not the Member you Were Looking for" by Vandalgyon. And there you go D3lph0x, a little bit about Nezu.**

 **-Shovern**


	32. Dragon Battle

_"You're lookin' a bit distracted there Slugger. What do you have on your mind?" Izuku looked up at Yang from his position on his back, benching some really heavy weight as his bangs clung to his forehead from all the sweat. He moved to speak but gasped a bit as he remembered, oh right, the huge weight he was currently trying to keep from slamming into his chest and killing him. With a great deal of effort as Yang just nodded her head and grinned as he managed to push the hundreds of pounds of weight off of him and sit up, trying his best to relax his aching muscles as he looked up at her._

 _"Do I really look that out of it?" Izuku asked as Yang tossed him a towel. The blonde just shrugged her shoulders a bit as she walked over to a bench that sat just on the opposing side of him, taking a seat as she looked at Izuku._

 _"I mean, it's not terrible. It's not like you've got this thousand yard stare going like you're going through some Color War Flashback or anything." Izuku snorted a bit at Yang's description as the lilac eyed young woman just shrugged. "You're usually just more focused on what you're doing whenever we get down to training like this. Right now... I dunno, your body's certainly into it, but it feels like that mind of yours is one thousand miles away." He nodded as he put the towel to the side, a slight frown on his lips as she tilted her head. "So what's got your mind runnin' off there Slugger? Let's hear it."_

 _He took a moment to gather his thoughts as he tried his best to parse out what it is on his mind, before he scratched at the back of his head awkwardly, a gesture he'd long since picked up from spending so much time around Toshinori in the past. "Well... you know Professor Goodwitch is going to be having us spar tomorrow, right?" Izuku saw Yang nod as his own head dipped a bit. "Well... I've been thinking about last week and... well... as great as managing to finally beat Kacchan was... I know that it wasn't entirely in my own hands that I won. A lot of it was just dumb luck." Izuku expected Yang to fight back against him, to tear down Kacchan and insist against his mindset..._

 _"Yeah, you did get pretty lucky there Izuku." She laughed slightly as she saw the surprise on his face, the young woman shrugging. "Don't get me wrong, I think Bakugo's a tool that my baby sister shouldn't have to put up with, and neither should you, but I'm not about to hold you back from getting better by lying to your face about where you stand. That's not my style." She smiled as she shook her head. "So yeah, you got really lucky and managed to pull out a win... I don't see why you're letting that hang around your head though Izuku. You dropped 'the bomb' on Bakugo!"_

 _..._

 _"Oh that was funny and you know it."_

 _"It really wasn't." Yang sighed and shook her head as he couldn't help but smile; despite the bad joke, he was feeling better. "It's just... I'm worried now that I've got this expectation riding on me. Before... well, I was just Izuku Midoriya. No one might've expected me to do much or to win many fights. People probably wouldn't have tried to challenge me to further their reputation... but now here I am, having beaten Kacchan and... I dunno. I don't want to disappoint anyone by not living up to the idea that I'm the kind of person who 'could' beat him."_

 _"... Well if you ask me, you being 'just Izuku Midoriya' came with its own expectations." Izuku looked up as Yang gave him a gigantic grin, stretching her arms out to the side. "You're the little Slugger that could and friggin' can Izuku. You've been improving week by week, changing yourself and improving as best you can. I never know what you're going to bring to a new week with all the work you do... I mean heck, you lost to Owari, sure, but the week after that you came in with your Second Awakening and beat Mitsu. Then you came in against Bakugo and blew one of his explosions out of the air with that Glenn Smash thing! Heck, I'm looking forward to whatever crazy crap you're going to bring to this week's fight." Yang's enthusiasm washed over him and, after a moment, he couldn't help but grin himself._

 _"So relax. Maybe you can't live up to the rep you've earned by beating Bakugo. Who the Hell cares. I, for one, know that one way or another, you'll make yourself strong enough to live up to that rep sooner or later." With that, Yang got up and punched him in the shoulder. "So enough of this worrying crap and let's get back to working out! This time, you better put all you got into it, Slugger!"_

 _"... Thanks Yang..."_

Izuku couldn't help but think back on that conversation as he and Yang stared at each other from across the Arena Floor, Emerald Gust heavy on his arms as Yang brought her fists forward so that Ember Celica could spring forth.

"S-So... you were looking forward to whatever crazy crap I could bring this week, huh?" Izuku asked, somewhat nervously, as Yang just gave a wide and toothy grin.

"Eh, I wasn't expecting to actually be able to fight you myself, but this just makes it even better." Yang rolled out her wrists as she said that, Izuku himself chuckling as he brought his hands up. When the announcement had come up that he was open for challenges it barely even took a split second before Yang shot up and declared that she wanted a shot at him. He had just swallowed nervously at the time and, after a light amount of ribbing from Yang as they both got changed in the locker room, thankfully in actually separate rooms as his heart wouldn't have been able to handle the alternative, they both arrived in the arena, his friends all cheering them both on.

"Slugger, I'm gonna tell you this right now... I really want a good fight." Izuku nodded as Yang's grin managed to stretch even further. "This isn't going to be like our spars. This isn't to teach you or to help you get better... this is going to be me giving it everything I've got in order to win. I want the same from you Slugger. I want you to throw everything you got at me and try to beat me... key word being try." Yang chuckled as she stuck her tongue out at him for a moment, before winking. "Sound good there, Izuku?"

"Izuku Midoriya vs. Yang Xiao Long! Ready?! GO!"

"Yang... I'm honored you want to fight me this much. Even before we took up training with each other... I could tell that you were really strong. One of the strongest people here. You were so much more confident than I was... it was easy to see all that." Yang grinned as she recoiled back, ready for his first charge. "You're one of the people I want to beat... that I want to surpass. That I want to live up to the example of! Everything I've seen of what you can do since then has only heightened that idea in my mind!" With that Izuku surprised pretty much 'everyone' by immediately turning on his spot and running away from Yang, finishing off his sprint with a very long jump. Yang, after recovering from her own surprise, gave a wild smile as she immediately set about chasing him.

"If that's the case then why are you running off Izuku! Let's give these people a show of two bad asses throwing down and kicking each other's asses!" Yang yelled with a wide smile, Izuku just gritting his teeth as he hid his right hand behind his body. Yang was pretty fast on her feet when she wanted to be... he had no doubt that she could duck out of the way of his Glenn Smash if she saw it coming. So he needed space to get away from her and get it ready with her seeing... then he could start the fight off right.

Thankfully, it seemed as though all his running and exercising had paid off; he was faster than Yang right then and could jump farther. The chase went on for seconds though he eventually stopped as he felt himself ready, gritting his teeth as he turned to face Yang. The blonde's lilac eyes were shimmering as she approached him, fists clenched and reared back in preparation for a fight.

When Izuku turned to face her, presenting an unprotected right hand with a finger pulled back and glowing, those same lilac eyes went wide with surprise.

"GLENN... SMAAAAAAAAAAASH!"

With a roar of wind that accompanied that shout Izuku fired off the attack at Yang who could've only been a scant couple yards from him. The element of surprise worked perfectly to his advantage and Yang was hit dead on by the Smash, her body's stance practically crumpling under the sudden force of the shock wave as she gasped in surprise. A second later and Yang was sent 'flying' at rapid speeds. However Yang immediately dug one hand into the ground, pushing herself up and toward Izuku in an attempt to slow the momentum. A series of flips, twists and motions to slow herself down in the air and, eventually, Yang dug her boots into the floor and managed to arrest herself, taking deep breaths as she brought a hand up to her head in order to arrest the bit of dizziness that struck her.

"Did I... did I just go flying?" She seemingly asked no one as she shook her head before turning her eyes on Izuku... only to go in some surprise as she took him in. He couldn't imagine how he was looking but he continued on with his answer to her.

"That's why... that's why I promise I'm not going to hold anything back! I can't beat you hand to hand... I just can't... so... so I have to focus on what I CAN do!" Izuku clenched his fist despite the pain as he looked Yang right in the eyes. "I'm going to give it everything I can so that I can surpass you! So that I can take the next step to my Dream! Besides... if you're going to give it everything then... ugh, I guess I can't leave you yanging, right?" Doing his best to get the bad taste of horrible pun out of his mouth, he brought his fist forward, broken finger and all. "SO LET'S GIVE IT EVERYTHING WE'VE GOT AND MAKE THIS A GOOD FIGHT!"

There was a moment of silence over the arena as Yang just looked straight on at him, a silence that the audience shared in. After but a moment, he saw a smile crosses Yang's face.

"You're really serious about winning huh. You want it bad... you really want it."

Before Izuku could even response Yang just leaped forward as she had before, landing right in front of his face as she grinned at him.

"Well Slugger, looks like I'll have to step up my game and MAKE YOU WORK FOR IT!"

His first instinct immediately drove Izuku into action as he leapt away from Yang and pulled up his right hand, moving on from his broken middle finger and onto his index finger. Pushing One For All into his digit, he ground his teeth together...

"GLENN SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!"

Another flick, another forceful Smash... but this time his eyes went wide as Yang managed to duck underneath his Smash, a wide grin on her face as she charged toward him. Izuku dug in his heels and gritted his teeth as best he could, knowing that pain is coming and boy oh boy... does it come alright. Yang drilled her fist into his torso and, moments later, her shotgun immediately followed up by blowing its rounds into his gut. He couldn't help but flinch as he felt the full force... 'holy woah, is this really what it feels like. Really smarts…'

Still, Izuku managed to pull himself together and his body held itself together despite the fact that, in a minor way, he felt his Aura fail. Not in the exact same way as Bakugo's had, thankfully, so he was still able to push back against the potentially harmful injury coming his way. Still that left Yang right in front of Izuku... and with nowhere to run. She'd just keep throwing herself at Izuku and he realized that he was not going to get her off from on top of him with his current tactic. He needed to disable her with a throw, like he did with Bakugo. It was a somewhat clumsy first attempt as, even as he got a grip on Yang's arms, Yang flipped that grip around and forced him to let go, a wide grin on her face and a spark of recognition in her eyes. Soon enough Yang reared back her fists... and Izuku couldn't help but swallow nervously as he brought his own hands up, breathing deeply.

The first punch rocketed towards him and as he brought his hands up... no, ne wouldn't make it in time. Izuku couldn't make it in time. So he did what he did best... Izuku clenched his fist.

He clenched his fist and took a deep, deep breath. Yang's eyes were on Izuku and her fist... but they glanced over in surprise as a glow emanated from his right hand.

'Keep your focus, keep your focus... don't let it break... don't let go of your control.'

His fist, empowered by 5% of One For All, slammed into Yang's and, in that exchange, it was Yang's that gave first as her fist was sent flying off in a poor direction. Her eyes did not remain wide in surprise for long as the look of excitement sprang back onto her face, bringing her other fist to strike him right in the chest. Izuku ducked back and away, managing to avoid the potential blow, only to see another one immediately follow it up. He again knew that he couldn't bring his hands up to block it in time so, once again, he called upon that power inside of him, One For All. In addition he pulled at his Aura and, with the first of energy that comes from that, Izuku managed to push his body even further and, once again, Izuku slammed his fist directly into Yang's and hers gave way. Yang gave a bit of a laugh as she swung at Izuku again and, once more, Izuku dodged.

Yang made a misstep in that moment, the force of her swing having knocked her off her feet. Izuku saw her grimace as she did so and, in a moment of immediate action, Izuku reached forward and grabbed Yang's arm. Taking a step into her space, pressing his back to her front, Izuku bodily threw her over Izuku and slammed her onto her back, One For All coursing through him again as he did so. Izuku could see her own Aura flicker up to try to reinforce her body and he grimaced; it wouldn't be enough to keep her down. Still, Izuku bought himself just enough space to prepare a third Smash, Izuku thought, and he backed off. At first, Yang was slow to stand up but, soon enough, did so and immediately ran toward Izuku, making up the distance quite well.

Still, it wasn't enough and as he brought up his right hand again and focus One For All into his ring finger, Izuku pointed right at her and prepare to Smash, fully expecting her to try and duck out of the way...

She didn't though.

"GLENN... SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!"

Yang was hit bodily by the blow from his Smash and was immediately flung back. Her body folded again, her stance dropped from the sheer force of the blow, and... and blood spurted from Yang's mouth. Izuku eyes went wide as he saw this and, though Yang immediately flipped through the air to land safely a bit away from him, Izuku eyes immediately darted over to Glynda Goodwitch, ready for her to call the match.

...

"Miss Xiao Long... that is your agreed to limit. If Mr. Midoriya looks to hurt you worse than this, then I shall call the bout. Is that clear?"

...

What?

Izuku watched in confusion as Yang spat off to the side, a wide grin on her face.

"Crystal teach." Glynda clucked her tongue at Yang's, though it seemed she was keen to let it go. He imagined that it was the adrenaline pumping through Yang that allowed her to both speak so casually and to stand up despite the blow he had just delivered to her. Izuku saw Yang spat again as she gave him a grin, only a very small amount of blood left around her mouth. "Izuku... I'm really sorry. I said I was going to give this my best and make you earn your win... but I underestimated just what kind of drive you had. How much 'you' wanted to be the best, how much your dream rides on it. I need to remember that you act like a sparrow most of the time... but Gods be damned if you don't have the heart of a lion." Izuku was taken aback by how casual Yang was being as he watched her bring her fists up in an... odd posture.

"You deserve my best Izuku."

And with that, Yang slammed her fists together.

"So just sit back, Slugger... and watch me **burn**."

Izuku had to shield his eyes, feeling like he was suddenly staring into the Sun itself. A bright flash of golden light surrounded Yang for a moment and, just as it died down, he turned his Emerald eyes to look at her... and he couldn't help but feel her jaw drop slightly. Yang's hair, already very voluminous, was now 'literally' glowing and swaying in the air, despite the lack of wind. Her eyes, a lilac hue before, had turned a deep red and her skin was practically glowing. Despite all this Yang was just looking straight at him, that same confident grin on her face as she separated her fists, only to bring her hands back together to fold her fingers together and crack her knuckles.

"You'd better have more of that glowing shit wherever you dug it up from Izuku... cause you're going to need it."

Izuku ground his teeth at Yang's taunt, his body tensed as he clenched his hand into a fist, broken fingers and all. He brought up his pinkie finger and began charging One For All into it, the glow of power enveloping it as he stared at Yang head on.

"Well then come and get it Yang!"

"That's what I like to hear!"

Without taking so much as a pause Yang immediately broke off into a sprint, from his vantage he was able to tell she was a lot faster now. She'd be able to keep up with his running pace even as her movements to be far more graceful now... not exactly a great sign if he said so himself. Still he stood his ground as Yang charged forward and he finished charging One For All into his digit.

"GLENN SMAAAAAAAAAAAASH!"

A shower of blood erupted from his pinkie as he Smashed it into the air, sending the shock wave to Yang. Izuku gasped, four fingers down and his entire hand almost entirely shot for it. All for naught that time as he watched as Yang charged a bit of Aura into her body to dodge out of the way of the attack. He grit his teeth and quickly withdrew, just barely avoiding coming face to face with Yang as she stumbled onto the ground and got herself some solid footing.

"Aw come on Slugger, don't tell me that's how you're going to play this game. You're not gonna win just continually sending those little love taps my way!" Izuku's teeth ground together as Yang stood up, rolling out her shoulders as she brought her fists up. "Still, I do like the idea of that attack... here, let me see if I can take it for a spin!"

HIs eyes went wide as dinner plates as he watched the next few seconds unfold. In a flurry of motion he was barely able to keep up with, Yang just kept throwing out punch after punch. Even without striking a solid surface he heard the cocking of Emerald Celica as Yang's shotgun bracers go off with nearly every punch. Izuku's heart leapt into his throat as he watched the punches fly and, soon enough, the bullets followed behind. Izuku swore that more would follow up if it wasn't for the fact that... well, to put it simply, in the middle of one of the punches Yang's left bracer ended up 'slipping off her hand entirely' and flying off into the arena.

"DAMMIT!" Yang called out, the force of the blow that was strong enough to send her bracer flying off of her having also been enough to send her stumbling, Yang having barely caught herself in time to keep from falling flat on her face. Still, it wasn't a frustrated look that twisted up to greet Izuku as Yang just smiles away; it was a look of cocksure determination and excitement.

A practical wall of bullets, backed up by Gravity Dust, was being sent flying his way. He could practically 'feel' the force of gravity behind them as they soar at Izuku.

For a moment, he was not sure what to do. His mind went blank... after all, his right hand... it hurt so bad. He couldn't even really make a fist anymore. He'd always been limited with Glenn Smash so far, a finger or maybe two in training. He'd never broken all four of his fingers in one go... and it hurt so much. Izuku's eyes glanced over and he could see Glynda raising her riding crop…

'She's…'

'she's getting ready to call the match…'

'She's already counting me out. So is Yang…'

...

'So am I…'

...

It was with shocked expressions that Yang and Glynda watched as Izuku charged One For All into his thumb. Izuku gritted his teeth, ready for the unbelievable pain that's sure to follow as he brought his thumb up to his mouth. Opening it he slid it in his cheek... and then **pulled**.

"SSSHHHHMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!" Izuku's shout was muddled by the fact that he had his thumb pushing against the wall of his cheek but, nonetheless, his last minute plan worked. With a flick One For All slammed into the air and sent a shock wave flying. It hit the wall of bullets being sent his way and he heard five of them scatter. It slowed down the others too but with the Gravity Dust behind them, they'd still hurt if Izuku let them hit him.

'If I let them.'

'IF I LET THEM!'

'THIS IS IN MY HANDS!'

Izuku pulled at what of One For All he could control and he could feel it, from the tips of his toes all the way up to his face, as he pushed it throughout his body. The glowing red scars erupted across his skin and, he was pretty sure, across his nose, as he did his best to push One For All anywhere and everywhere it could go all at once. He immediately jumped, diving as fast as he could to avoid the volley. He couldn't see them... but he could practically 'feel' them. Pulling at his soul, pushing it into his body, his Aura pushed him through the rest of the way. Despite everything... he did it.

'I dodged them all.'

Izuku hit the ground with a roll, barely forcing himself back up to his feet at he did so. The pain erupted almost as soon as he was back on his feet. Izuku cried out as his hand reached up for his cheek, feeling blood pooling up in his mouth from where the Smash gathered and was released there. He was almost certain that he had a huge bruise there now... but... but he couldn't concern himself with them. He turned his gaze back to face Yang and locked eyes with her, her deep red eyes wide with surprise and she met his gaze.

Without even breaking eye contact he reached down to his other gauntlet's safety with his teeth. With all five of his fingers broken on his right hand, there was no way he was going to undo it with his hand. So he gritted his teeth against the switch and forced it to give, sliding the protective guard up over his fist and exposing his left hand as well.

There was an audible gasp that went over the crowd as he brought up his left hand and channeled One For All into his middle finger.

"GLENN SMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!"

Another spray of blood, another shattered finger and another cry of pain were his world for the briefest of moments as another shock wave was sent Yang's way, the red eyed fighter barely catching herself as she managed to dodge out of the way of it. Her gaze was back on him even as he was stumbling away, trying to make up distance again as he started charging One For All into his left index finger. Now, the cocksure look of confidence was no longer on Yang's face. There's a strict look of determination as she took a deep breath and sprinted forward, taking a great leap and winding up little more than a yard away from Izuku. Both his eyes met and it seemed like Yang had thought she'd have more time to maneuver than she did.

Izuku took full advantage of that.

"GLENN SMMAAAAAAAAAAAASH!" It was shorter this time as more and more energy departs his own body, the pain from his broken fingers wearing him down as he once again unleash One For All through them. Yang brought her arms up across her face, realizing she didn't have enough time to maneuver around the blow and just took it. She dug her heels into the ground to keep from being pushed back and, to his surprise, she was indeed standing right where she was when the winds died down and she lowered her arms to look at Izuku... worse for wear. Blood was seeping slightly out of her mouth and her arms were very much bruised. Izuku suspected that her ability to tank the hit head on came from her Semblance, as Glynda hadn't called the fight yet, but that mattered little to him as he, once again, scampered back and away from Yang, trying to put some distance between them. It wasn't enough that time however; with a half start and a leap, Yang was able to cross the distance between the two of them, her fist reared back as she seemed about ready to slam it right into his gut. He grimaced as he bent his knees and hopped slightly to the side, barely avoiding Yang's blow as it dug itself into the very floor itself, the blonde having to wrench her fist free as her red eyes meet his again.

Izuku saw the trickle of the blood speed up as her skin turns red. She was reaching her limit... and to be fair, so was he. A Smash would break her... and he couldn't get away from her anymore.

'There's no point to backing up now. Backing up and Smashing her might kill her... and I'm not going to risk a friend over a spar.'

...

'But I want to win.'

'I want to win so bad.'

'I NEED to prove I belong here.'

'That I can be a Hero…'

'No.'

'Not just a Hero, but a Great Hero.'

'The greatest who ever lived.'

'That's the only way I can make up for everything Toshinori and everyone else has done for me!'

Izuku tried to summon One For All again into his body but that time... he lost his grip on it. He'd either have to tighten it and threaten to send 100% charging through him or lose it all together. So he choose the latter, his body's glow dimming as he tightened his left fist and tried to smack Yang about. Two swings later and... well... Yang knocked them both to the side, her own movements slightly sluggish as she did so.

Yang's breathing was deep and labored as she reared her own fists back. The first swing was easy enough, he parried it away... but he saw that second swing coming. An uppercut aimed right at his gut. He tried to bring forth 5% again but... but he just couldn't. He was exhausted. He could barely move and his hands and arms hurt from having channeled so much of One For All through himself this entire fight. Not even his Aura was enough in this case. So he gritted his teeth, ready for the inevitable hit

... a hit that, coincidentally, never came.

A telltale yellow glow surrounded Yang, stopping her in place as Glynda's riding crop was raised. Seconds later the glow left Yang's hair, her red eyes turn back to lilac and her body practically slumped over... and Izuku heard the bell above ring, signaling she had dropped into the red.

"Izuku Midoriya would have faced serious harm if he took that punch... as I had to step in, the match was called. Yang Xiao Long is victorious."

With that, something left Izuku. Adrenaline maybe or just the sheer, stubborn determination that was keeping him up despite the number of fingers he'd broken and the pain he had put himself through. Whatever the case, he felt his legs give as he gave a small yelp as he went heading toward the ground... only for the same yellow glow to envelop him as it had Yang. He looked up and saw Glynda looking at both them and Yang, readjusting her glasses as she took a deep, long breath.

"The both of you are going to the nurses. 'Now'." There was a finality in her tone, an insistence that, 'yes' that was what was going to happen and that 'no' there was no getting around it.

"C-Come on Professor Goodwitch... we'll be fine... I'm just a little-"

"Probably bleeding internally with only what little Aura you have leftover to heal yourself from the attacks you've taken, Miss Xiao Long." Yang's mouth snapped shut as Glynda spoke, before she turned her sharp glare down at Izuku. What, he didn't even say anything! "Mr. Midoriya here, meanwhile, will need 'hours' for his Aura to dip in to heal his body and the stress he's put it through... hours he'll need to stay bandaged up to make sure he heals correctly in the meantime."

"B-But-"

"Nurse. **Now**." To make sure neither of them kept trying to argue she floated both over her head and began walking out of the arena. "I'll be back in fifteen minutes, if any of you leave I'll know. We'll proceed with the rest of the fights when I return." The rest of the audience just sat there in stunned silence and numbly nodded their heads, still blown away by the fight they just witnessed.

It's only when they were a ways down the hall that they heard the explosion of raucous applause that finally happened.

* * *

"..."

The silence is kind of horrible as Peach stared at both Izuku and Yang... there was something about the look on her face that he couldn't quite place, but it clearly said she was 'pissed'. Yang's full on laid up in one of the beds in the nurse's office, though he wouldn't know she wasn't just a guest taking advantage of it from how she looked; Peach hadn't bandaged her as his connecting Smash didn't actually do horrific, serious and deep damage... just a lot of surface damage that, combined with Yang's utterly exhausted Aura, totaled up to 'a lot'. She had been treated with some balms and Dust from behind a screen and from there was just told to 'lay there' until Peach gave her, in the Professor's words, 'permission to get back up' and that if she tried, she'd regret it...

And Peach was pretty serious. Meanwhile his fingers were thoroughly bandaged as well as a small little bandage for his cheek, some balm and Dust handed off to help ease the bruising and the help his bones sit back into place while his Aura did its work... work that was leaving him more and more exhausted by the second.

"... Agh..." Peach rubbed her temples slightly as she stared at the both of them, the woman clearly feeling a headache come on. "Just... just sit here and don't move. Seriously, if you two try anything, I'll break your legs and then wait for the rest of your injuries to patch themselves up before I fix your legs. Friggin' kids... I wasn't this stupid or reckless when I was your age, no sir..." Izuku watched as the woman muttered to herself before she started to wander of... only to look back over her shoulder at the two of them. "I mean it too. I have to some documents back to Glynda on your two states... if I catch either one of you two out of your respective beds, or if I catch 'any' sign that you moved... please believe that I'm not lying."

Izuku really didn't doubt her and, judging by Yang's slow nod, she didn't doubt her either.

With that Peach departed, leaving him, Yang and the silence of the nurse's office. The both of them hadn't said much of anything on the way here or while Peach was treating the both of them; Glynda and Peach made for some heavy company and... well... the fight had been so intense and, while Izuku couldn't speak for Yang, he expected she was just as exhausted as he was.

'How do I start off a conversation with someone after how thoroughly us two had gone after each other?'

* * *

Yang flinched in pain as she experimented moving her hands around. 'Oh wow, that hurt a lot more than I thought it would.'

While this wasn't the first time that Yang had taken damage to activate her semblance, she had never used something like Izuku's Glenn Smash to charge up her semblance.

" _Look, Yang, I know that you have a really powerful semblance, but you must not depend on it to get you out of situations because I know that one day_ _ **there**_ _will be something that you face that you can't rely on your semblance for."_

Yang remembered her father's lectures and how at the time she dismissed his worries. Sure there were huntsmen or huntresses who could do that but by the time she would graduate Beacon she'd be ready for them. Now, she wasn't so confident about that.

She couldn't beat Izuku Midoriya's full power. Sure she beat him in that fight but that was because he was being careful not to accidentally kill her. After all, Izuku never risked shooting that "Smash" when she was right in front of him. He always kept his distance so that she would only be hit by the shockwave, he never once risked her life by flicking his smash right into her... and he was right to do so. Because if she's that beat up by only being hit by his shockwaves, then Izuku would be more than capable of killing her if he wanted to.

Not that he would though, he wouldn't risk his friend's life just to win a spar even though if he had tried a Glenn Smash at the end he could've won the match. But still...

" _Trust me, kiddo you might think that you're some sort of hotshot but out there is a whole 'nother story."_

Yang sighed when thinking back to her father and her uncle Qrow's advice and warnings. While she would never admit it to them, she's starting to realize why they had warned her and Ruby about the difficulties of being a huntsmen and to not overestimate themselves. If Izuku who only had Aura for about a month now, was able to fight on par with her, then there would be plenty of others out there, who are stronger and much more dangerous then she is... and that when the time comes she may still be outmatched by them.

Maybe it's time for her to really challenge herself? For the most part she's been fighting either weaklings or close-range fighters like herself. Maybe it's time for her to branch out or for her to start challenging those who might be above her? Plus while it may take a long time before she would adjust, maybe she could ask Tenya for advice on something to help her out. As Yang began to think deeply on ways she could improve, Izuku spoke up.

"So... uh..." She swiveled her head curiously to Izuku as he spoke up, sheepishly scratching the back of his head as he tried to think of a good way of breaking the ice. "Was it good for you too?" Izuku finally managed to ask... only to watch, in confusion, as Yang's jaw dropped slightly, her lilac eyes going wide for a moment.

"Wait, what?" She asked, seemingly stunned, as Izuku immediately backpedal.

'Did I say something wrong?'

"I-I just mean... you know, you said that you wanted a good fight out of me and you were excited! That you wanted to see what I could do... so I thought I'd ask... you know, if it was a good fight for you? Cause it was good for me." Izuku watched Yang just continue to stare at him in disbelief for a moment, as if trying to parse out if he was for real.

And then, well, she laughed. She laughed and laughed, wincing and moaning in pain in between laughs as she held onto her gut, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes as she reached a hand up to quickly sweep them away.

"Oh my... HAHAHAHHA... oh... oh... never change Izuku. I swear, never change." Izuku tilted his head to the side, now both confused and worried, as Yang eventually stopped wincing and leaned back into her bed. "Yeah, it was super good for me Slugger. You got me all hot under the collar with that performance. Probably the best I've ever had... gosh, maybe the best I'll ever have. Gotta wonder if you ruined me for other people in the future. Such a bad boy underneath that sparrow-like exterior, aren't you slugger?" Izuku missed the sly look on her face, the blonde twirling a hand through her luxurious hair as she spoke.

"O-OH! I'm sorry!" Tears threaten to peek out of the corners of his eyes as he leaned forward, him trying to forge a determined look as him gave her a firm nod. "I promise I'll take responsibility!"

"AAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA!" And she was at it again, a blush on her face even as she laughed her ass off. "Oh God, HAHAHAHA, it hurts but I can't stop laughing! Izuku, you're such a-hahahahaha... ah... aaaaahhh..." Finally, Yang calmed down and leaned back, the medication Peach having given them both likely finally hitting her. "Ah... you're a real card Izuku." She said with a grin as she casually placed her hands up behind her head, relaxing in her bed while he remained as confused as ever. "I was kidding anyway... not about being satisfied, but about the rest. That was a fantastic fight Slugger... you gave me everything I could've wanted and way more... heck, way more than I was expecting."

"Same here... I didn't think you had a Semblance like that. It's a really powerful one too! I mean, there's the obvious drawback of needing to be harmed in order to activate it but being able to turn your opponents own strength against themselves has got to be some way of evening the playing field if I've ever seen, it might even it against opponents who might be leagues stronger than you all you'd have to do would be take enough of their punishment to survive and then you'd be squared away to just power up and keep on fighting because not only do you get stronger and faster but you start being able to tank hits which, Yang, I have to askifyoucanactivateyourSemblanceoffofthedamageyoutaketothat-"

"Slugger, you're doing the thing." Izuku immediately slapped his hands over his mouth as Yang spoke up, an amused smile on her face as she turned back to look up at the ceiling. "Yeah, it's a strong Semblance... but jeez, it gets blown out of the water by yours by a mile if you ask me." Izuku blushed slightly, shaking his head as he scratched the back of it.

"I-I mean, I wouldn't say that. They're pretty similar Semblances if you think about it and just because yours ends up draining you doesn't mean mine is better, because after all, I have such a hard time-"

"Using it because you're not used to it." Yang said with a grin as she looked back over at him. "Izuku, you're about a month or so into using your Aura if you're right... and yeah, you don't have control over this thing but, jeez Izuku, for not having much control over it that Semblance is 'busted'." Izuku again blushed at the compliment as Yang threw her hands up into the air. "You can flick a finger with it and cause a 'shock wave'... ONE FINGER! And you can't even control it super well! Can you imagine what you're going to be like when you do manage to control it as well as I can control my Semblance? Dear Gods Slugger, you'll be a beast."

"Come on..."

"It's true! You're going to friggin' stomp some mud holes into a whole bunch of Grimm Izuku. If I had any doubt about it before, there's no doubt now." Izuku couldn't help but smile at Yang's declaration, the young woman bringing her arms back down to fold over her stomach. "It's kind of crazy. I was the best kid in my Combat School. Strongest, fastest-" Yang watched as she saw him nod in agreement, after all, it was easy to imagine that Yang was a pretty impressive specimen in her year, "-, most attractive." Izuku nodded again... and then immediately went red as he brought his hands up, Yang just chuckling again as she waved him off. "It's too easy to get you but your reactions make it work it." Izuku pouted a bit, eliciting chuckles from her, before she continued. "Anyway, I've been so used to being on top... Beacon's been kind of an eye opener. You wouldn't know it but when Tenya gets in that armor of his, he 'really' hurts. Blake and Tsu are really evasive as well. I haven't fought too many of our friends in spars... actually, just my team in private sessions and you at this point, but I know they'd all be tough nuggets to crack. Even my baby sis."

"And you nearly beat me... heck, if you flicked your finger right in my face, it'd probably be a one-hit KO."

"W-Well I think it's pointless to think about the fight on terms like that because if we both went for stuff like... that then it's hard to say who'd win... I think at least." Izuku saw Yang smile softly, before she shrugged.

"Nope."

"Nope?"

"Yeah, nope." Yang brought her hands back behind her head as she turned to look up at the ceiling. "Izuku, if it was a fight to the death, I think you'd kill me at this point. I might be a better fighter over all, but that Semblance of yours is one Hell of an equalizer." Izuku frowned slightly as he looked down to the side.

"Yang... I'm sorry about that, I know I'm just lucky to-"

"Up up up up, none of that Slugger." Yang shook her head. "I'm not going to sit here and listen to the guy who thought he was Broken for who knows how many years talk about how he's sorry that he had the 'good fortune' to have a powerful Semblance revealed to him only 'a month' ago. You aren't 'lucky', you worked hard to be able to use that when you've been without it for so long. I'm not about that kind of pettiness anyway." Yang grinned. "As far as I'm concerned, your Semblance is your Semblance, it's as much a part of you as me kicking butt is me. If you didn't use it I'd feel insulted."

"Still, if I only fought with my own fighting skills-"

"Then I'd clean your clock, yeah." Izuku chuckled at how frank Yang's words were as she shrugged. "But like I said, that doesn't matter. Cause we're both not just our butt-kicking abilities, we're also our Souls... and you know what, you've got a strong Semblance and I asked you to throw it at me. It kind of stinks that I still nearly lost but... well, that just means I have to start doing better." Izuku saw Yang look up to the ceiling, a thoughtful expression slowly replacing her more coy and playful one as she shrugged.

"I've been coasting off the fact that I have a strong Semblance and that I'm a good fighter... but people like you are proof that there are bigger fish out there Slugger. Eventually you're going to improve that Semblance of yours and be the big damn Hero that you're dreaming of being After everything that went down in that fight... that look on your face... I don't have any doubt of that now. If... if I stay the way I am now, I'm not even going to be in the remote ballpark of how powerful you're going to end up. If I don't get my rear in gear... well, then eventually you and all our other friends who're putting in so much effort are just gonna leave me behind in the dust."

"Then you'll get stronger." Izuku was not sure which of the two of he was more surprised by the certainty that lines his voice, he or Yang. Still, he barreled through that surprise as he gave a firm nod, a determined look on his face eased by a slightly nervous smile. "I mean... you said it yourself Yang. 'You burn'. I really can't think of any fire that's ever content with what it's got. So I think... no, I _know_ you'll keep burning brighter and brighter and that you'll do so from now until... who knows how far into the future." Admittedly at that point his nerves started to catch up to him, both from talking to someone like that and from the fact that he was about to seal it little bit of reassurance with a pun of all thing... but he suspected that Yang, of all people, would be the person to appreciate that gesture.

So with a slightly wry grin he raised his right hand, all five fingers broken and bandaged, and gave a nod. "Plus you never know. Your big _break_ might just be right around the corner."

...

'Oh God that was terrible, it's dead silent, what were you thinking, trying to give an inspirational speech at all and then ending it with a 'pun' of all things, this was such a bad idea, quick, just, just say something, anything to-'

His train of thought was interrupted as Yang barks out a melodious little laugh, the blonde bringing a hand up to try to hold it back as her cheeks puffed up behind it.

"Man Slugger, I appreciate the effort, but you got a long way to go before you can strong crackin' out puns like me... a 'Xiao Long' way to go, you might say." Izuku groaned a little as he shook his head, Yang continuing to laugh and smile. Eventually the girl's mirth slowly died down and what replaced it was something you didn't see a lot out of Yang. More used to coy grins or thoroughly pleased smiles after delivering what she thought was the perfect pun, to see her instead offering him a rather warm grin was a bit of a surprise. "But other than that weakness... thanks Izuku. That's something I needed to hear."

He couldn't help but smile at that.

"I'm glad."

With that the expression was gone almost as soon as it had appeared as Yang immediately fell back onto the back and relaxed a little. "You know, I really hope Glynda remembered to get my bracer off the ground before starting the next match." Izuku blinked in confusion at Yang's change in topic, the girl turning her lilac eyes as that damned pleased look was back on her face. "After all, I'd hate for Ember Celica to get all busted up after I threw down the gauntlet during out fight. Eh, eh?" Yang allowed herself a few chuckles and Izuku just groaned again. Seemed like now that she could reasonably be sure that Tsuyu wasn't around to punish her puns, that Yang was going to try to get in as many as she could...

*THWWWWAAAAAAAP!*

Or at least that seemed like the plan up until Yang was blind-sided by said Frog Faunus.

"AGH! WHAT THE HECK, SHE'S NOT EVEN HERE, HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE!?"

"Actually, we're all here, ribbit ribbit." Indeed, stood by the doorway was the rest of their peer group, a sea of grins of varying levels of excitement plastered across their faces... well, except for Kacchan's of course, and Ren and Shoto were, well, themselves... you know what, Izuku was sure that they were enthusiastic in their owns ways. At any rate, their friends all funneled in and immediately bombarded both Izuku and Yang. Half of the attention was the two of them being chewed out for being so irresponsible during that fight, Weiss made 'especially' sure that he was getting sprayed with the spray bottle for having broken so many fingers... the other half was them excitedly asking about the various stunts the two of them had pulled off.

Izuku couldn't help but smile, especially as Izuku saw Yang fully recover from the previous dour mood she had been in before their pep talk as she talked with her... their friends. Maybe they both should've been resting instead of entertaining the more excitable members of the group like Ruby or Nora but...

Well, Izuku'd much rather be surrounded by all their friends right now.

"By the way Izuku..."

"Yeah Tsu?"

*THWWWAAAAAAAP!*

"OW, HOLY WOAH THAT REALLY HURTS!"

"SEE, WHAT DID I TELL YOU, SHE'S MERCILESS!"

Even if they could hurt just as much every now and then.

* * *

 **E/N: Here we get Yang's perspective from "Yang's Aftermath Thoughts" by Supa. readers from SB might notice a certain reaction missing, It just got moved in with the next phase. I hope Gorilla will have explained phases to you by now cause I'm not gonna.**

 **-Shovern**

 **...I really hate that "Was it good for you" thing. Just sounds too much like something young Goku or Luffy or Naruto would say. Izuku was never that innocent.**

 **Eh...it's what the thread wanted.**

 **-Wind-Waker**


	33. Snow and Ice

"Not quite as fast paced as your fight with Yang, I'd imagine."

"Well it's not really supposed to be Weiss. I am just trying to teach you the very basics of brawling and right now if I really went all in on this... well, you wouldn't learn much except for maybe how to take a punch."

"Thankfully it seems that I'm... mostly avoiding that this time."

Once again Izuku and Weiss had settled in for a quick spar between the two of them as the week drew to a close. Weiss in some more appropriate workout gear and Izuku in his fresher workout clothes himself, it was mostly a matter of the two of them dueling back and forth with each other, throwing out a punch here and there and then trying to dodge or block the other's moves. Straight up brawling was a pretty simple style and it seemed like Weiss was picking it up quite quickly, unsurprisingly, and her natural grace and dexterity made it pretty easy for her to be at least passable at it even with how little experience she'd had so far. Still, that hadn't meant she'd been quite able to land a solid hit on Izuku, nor did it keep her from getting struck by Izuku every now and then. It was certainly less than their first spar, to be sure, but the fact was that Weiss' strength didn't, necessarily, lay in a straight up fist fight; she wasn't quite physically strong for that. She was graceful, precise and athletic; her rapier was the perfect conduit for that and her Dust made her twelve different kinds of deadly.

Still, it was good to know for those 'just in case' moments. And hey, Izuku got to practice his footwork at the same time, so it wasn't as if he was slacking off either.

"Still, your bout with Yang was quite fearsome. I'll be glad to neither face you or her without Myrtenaster or my Dust should we spar in the future, thank you very much." Izuku smiled and nodded at her sentiment; it probably would be pretty bad if Weiss ever tried to meet either Izuku or Yang... but Yang 'especially' in a spar without her own weapons of choice. That probably wouldn't go so well for the Heiress, if his own reckoning was right.

"Thanks but... well, I had a leg up thanks to my Semblance." Weiss rolled her eyes as he stated that, as if he'd said just about the most obvious thing in the world.

"Well of course Izuku. If I tried to fight Yang with just my own natural grit and ability than even with my weapon in hand I'd have considerable trouble, perhaps even bordering on a sure defeat. However, my Semblance evens that playing field and does so greatly. It matters not whether or not it would sully a... 'duel' if you want to call it that. We're Hunters and Semblances are tools in our arsenal. To deny them because of what others might deem to be more 'honorable' grounds would be foolhardy... and you knock yourself down for leaning on yours when it is a part of you is equally foolish." Izuku nodded his head, having heard that quite a few times before.

"That being said I will have the spray bottle on hand next time you feel like breaking so many fingers at once. That won't do either."

Izuku'd also heard a fair amount of that too. He chuckled nervously as he nodded in agreement with Weiss who just smiled. "Now then, let's get to the rest of this spar. I'm here to learn after all, not just for idle chatter."

Izuku cocked Emerald Gust, and for an instant, remembered just how much easier it had been to reload the thing after the...trip the team had taken a few days earlier.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

 _"M-Miss Schnee, please, you have to understand, this is rather... irregular for a lady such as yourself to be handling. A person of such importance in the Schnee Dust Company, surely you'd rather have a representative handle such base negotiations rather than lower yourself to them? After all, you must be so busy with your schooling over in Beacon Academy, and-"_

 _"-And I'm perfectly capable of handling these negotiations myself... more so in fact because I'm probably more informed about the current swing of the Dust markets than a simple representative might be concerned."_

 _Weiss' flair for stabbing right at the core of her verbal opponents without actually giving the game away or directly insulting them was, as ever, a sight to behold as Izuku, Pyrrha and Nora each sat off to the side and watched as Weiss verbally sparred with the shop owner of From Dust Till Dawn. At first when they all had gotten together to discuss just how to manage getting a slightly cheaper supply of Dust for the Team, the idea of going to one of the Schnee Company Associated shops that had already been robbed seemed absolutely ludicrous. After all, it seemed like if there was any store that wouldn't have excess Dust that could be easily bargained for by Weiss, then it would've been From Dust Till Dawn._

 _Yet here they were, watching as Weiss kept her chin lifted ever so slightly in order to keep a regal air about herself as she looked down at the man running the store._

 _"B-Be that as it may Miss Schnee, as informed as you might be of the Dust markets generally your knowledge of which shops have been robbed locally must be... er, I mean, you must not have been properly informed!" The shop owner quickly changed his tone as Weiss' icy blue eyes immediately narrowed, the man just chuckling nervously as he held up his hands defensively. "From Dust Till Dawn was robbed not even five weeks ago as part of this sudden crime spree that's been happenin' all across Vale. You see, we just-"_

 _"Will have received a rather nice lump sum of money from the Schnee Dust Company as part of the insurance agreement between the SDC and your store's branch as part of partnering up with the SDC." The old man blanched a little as Weiss placed her hands on her hips. "As part of the exclusive dealing rights you've taken with the SDC, considering recent trouble with the White Fang, the insurance policy was put into place such that if you encounter and crime or terrorist activities that might be linked to the SDC and its reputation that your store would receive a large lump sum to make up for not only the damages but also the lost Dust..."_

 _"R-Right Madame, but as you know, the reports haven't... officially..." The look in Weiss' eyes immediately got the shop owner to close his mouth as he scratched the back of his head. "Aye, I suppose it'd only make sense that the Heiress would know how the company's coming down on this before the actual official investigation."_

 _"Of course it'd be natural. Most stores in Vale are looking at a connection to the SDC as a potential weight around their ankles with this targeted crime spree. If my father's company wasn't willing to move in quickly to reassure you that we're as good as our word, well, we'd lose a lot of business in Vale. Now, thanks to that insurance's reimbursement you have the stores and money to drop your prices... you're just not doing so because you want to use the front of the 'official' investigation to keep the broader public from realizing that lower prices are coming... ESPECIALLY with the Vale Rail getting ready to directly connect to Patch, allowing for transport of local Dust sources form the island directly into Vale's markets rather than needing to be transported across the sea and overland. You're using the recent crime spree as a smokescreen to keep your Dust prices up"_

 _"C-Come on miss, you gotta appreciate a good sense for business, right?" And at that Izuku finally saw that Weiss allowed for a small smile to cross her lips... though if it was meant to put the man at ease, it 'didn't'. In fact, it was positively predatory._

 _"Oh I do. It's quite smart, in a decidedly... illegal way, yes?" The man's face paled as Weiss tapped her chin. "Playing against what the public officially knows while using what inside information you have thanks to your direct connection to the SDC... I do believe that there 'might' be a law somewhere being violated."_

 _"... You wouldn't?" The way it was phrased was far more of a question than a bold statement as Weiss once again placed her hands on her hips. "... Right... I give your team a discount on their Dust, you don't tell anyone that prices at my shops should be dropping rather than going up. Deal?"_

 _"You're a cold businessman sir... but deal." With that the pair shakes hands, the man immediately heading into the back of his shop, muttering something about 'damn kids' while Weiss walked back up to the rest of the team._

 _"Wow Weiss, that was amazing! It was like you said you were going to break his legs without 'even telling him you were going to break his legs'." Weiss sighed slightly as she shook her head._

 _"It's not something to be overly impressed with Nora. The man's a scoundrel and I was only able to secure this deal for our team thanks to my own connections and insider information. In all honesty, the man should have his shop taken and his license revoked." Izuku and Pyrrha nodded in agreement as Pyrrha crossed her arms._

 _"Then why aren't we telling someone?" With that, Weiss snorted as she shook her head._

 _"Trust me, the Vale Police will sooner have Adam Taurus wrapped up in chains than they'd get this man's license with the SDC's lawyers at his back. Whatever else you can say about my father, he has a sense for keeping his client's loyal by making sure he 'takes care' of them. They wouldn't stay with him through all this nonsense with the White Fang if he didn't ensure that they had Remnant's most influential company at their back... if we're being honest, most of that there was more me threatening to go over his own head... a bluff, more or less." Weiss whispered that last part as they all exited the shop, each nodding in understanding as they started to walk back to Beacon. Izuku couldn't help but frown and Weiss, taking this in, offered him a sympathetic look. "Look at it this way; at least this way we'll be able to do some good with the Dust we'll be able to acquire."_

 _"Yeah... still, it doesn't seem right that this kind of stuff can still go on..." Weiss nodded in agreement but shrugged._

 _"There's some things even Toshinori Yagi isn't able to change here and now Izuku. We just have to do our best with what we've got." Izuku supposed that was true enough... still, that didn't mean that they all couldn't make these changes in the future. When they'd be able to_.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

Izuku's smile widened, "Okay, Let's GO!"

And the two teammates threw themselves forward, ready to keep improving.

* * *

Mmmm... a walk. That was something Izuku needed. After spending so much of the week breaking bones and pushing his limits and, after having gone through with exercising your Aura with Pyrrha earlier that day, he really felt like you needed some time to stretch his legs and to just get some sun on his face. Beacon was a beautiful campus, after all, a fact he'd noticed after having walked around with Toshinori earlier that week. It wouldn't hurt to take some time to just go out and enjoy the weather before late Fall and Winter really started to seep in and bring a cold chill to the air. No, there was still enough of that early autumn warmth left in the air that he could feel it all seep into his muscles, the chilly breeze here and there more a comfort than a teeth chattering, ice cold blast to his face. As he walked around campus and eventually came upon the statue of Toshinori and Enji that he had passed by on his first day here at Beacon, he had to admit to some small amount of surprise when he saw Shoto, of all people, here.

It wasn't just that Shoto was there though; it was that Team RSBR 'wasn't' anywhere to be seen. While it was hard to say with how silent the pair were, it had seemed to Izuku that Shoto and Ren had really hit it off quite well and, despite her definitively younger age, it really didn't seem like Shoto and Ruby were at odds at all either.

Bakugo... well, Izuku really couldn't expect anyone to get along amazingly well with Bakugo, though Shoto seemed utterly nonplussed by his old friend's/bully's attitude, which definitely spoke to his patience. It was rare for Izuku to see Shoto away from Team RSBR at all, having mostly taking the time to idly chat with him at lunch while they were all around.

'Hmmm... I've never really spoken to him by himself at this point, even after I introduced myself and gotten to know him a little bit during Initiation. Maybe now is a good time to fix that'

"Hey, Shoto!" The young man's attention is momentarily turned away from the statue of his father and Toshinori as his gaze turned to face Izuku, grey and turquoise eyes taking in his presence before his fellow student nodded his head.

"Ah, Izuku Midoriya. Hello." Izuku chuckled somewhat nervously as Shoto spoke to him, his tone and tenor as even as his expression as he just 'looked' at our hero. Something Izuku'd taken away from him was that the guy always had a bit of a tendency to come off as... intense, even when he wasn't trying to be. Not Bakugo intense either where his energy was just up to ten all the time. No, it was the more understated, cool intense, the kind that made Izuku wonder just what was going through his mind.

It was probably why he and Ren got along so well, if Izuku had to make his best guess... if they got along? Confusing.

"Yeah, that's me. Surprised to see you out and about without the others around." Izuku offered a little lamely as he walked up to the taller boy, the half and half young man just nodding in agreement as he watched Izuku approach.

"What brings you out here Izuku?" He asked calmly while Izuku just shrugged his shoulders.

"Just felt like I could use a walk for some fresh air and sunshine. It isn't going to stay this warm for long so I'd like to get in as much as I can before we end up having to huddle inside for warmth, you know?" It was a rather simple conversation started. 'How about that weather' was pretty much the most basic go to Izuku could think of.

"Not really. I'm not all that discomforted by the weather one way or another. The advantage of my Semblance is that it leaves me largely comfortable no matter what environment I may find myself in or what time of the year it might be."

"... Really?"

"Really."

'... That is actually really useful.' Izuku knew his mom would've loved to have a Semblance like that during the winter.

"That's actually really cool. Perks from having your father's-"

"Not from my father's Semblance." Izuku flinched slightly as... it's almost imperceptible, but there was a definitive 'change' in Shoto's tone as he spoke up, a slight narrowing of his eyes followed that statement and that gave Izuku and honest to goodness 'chill' running down his spine as he immediately nodded his head in understanding. Eventually Shoto sighed as he shook his head. "Apologies. But no, my ease at handing the cold and the heat comes from my mother's Semblance. I can keep myself cold in the Summer and... well, when you're as used to ice and the freezing cold as I am having managed her Semblance for so long... you get the picture." Shoto didn't seem to do the whole 'talking at length' thing too much. Again, another thing he had in common with Ren if Nora's stories were any indication.

"Right, yeah, I understand!" Izuku commented quickly as Shoto nodded, turning his gaze back to the statues.

"... But I also understand your reasoning behind your walk... broadly speaking. As well as my team gets on these days... for the most part, they can still be a bit exhausting to be around. Especially Bakugo and Ruby." Izuku could only imagine that, for someone like Shoto, that both would be a little exhausting. "As much as Ren and I are able to get along as partners as well, as he says it, he does enjoy spending time with Nora here and there... and I enjoy some time to myself to gather my thoughts." Izuku perked up at that, tilting his head to the side.

"Oh? What thoughts are you trying to gather, Shoto?" Izuku flinched again as Shoto's eyes turned to focus in on the shorter student. It took a moment for the blatant mental activity behind them to cease, before Shoto eventually turned to look at the statues.

"... Tell me Izuku. What is it that makes men like Toshinori Yagi and Enji Todoroki so different?" Izuku had to admit, he was a little thrown by the way Shoto referred to his father so distantly, but before he could really think on it the half-and-half boy continued. "They both went the same Academy. They had the same teachers. They grew up in the same generation of Hunters... Hell, they had the same teammates and were part of the same team as each other. Both are powerful, so strong that they're recognized as the two greatest Hunters, not just of their generation but of all time. They'd have grown up together in that world that say Huntsman as merely those who quietly go from place to place, killing Grimm and little else.. and yet they couldn't be more different as men. Toshinori Yagi became a Symbol of Peace and Hope... and Enji Todoroki stuck to the old ways as stubbornly as any of the governing Councils…"

"Why do you think that is, Izuku? What can make men who have so much in common as far as their growth turn out to be so different..." The way that Shoto's eyes narrowed as his gaze moved from Toshinori's statue over to Enji's definitely did not go unnoticed by Izuku.

Izuku taped his chin as he looked up at the statues himself. There were a lot of answers that ran through his mind, of course. The first was that... well, some people were just born different. Look no further than he or Bakugo as an example. It was an unfortunate truth that not everyone was born equal and the moment he realized he was Broken, that was abundantly clear to him... but... that answer rang hollow. After all, his birth didn't end up defining the way his life went. If it did then he wouldn't have bothered to join a Combat School at all; he was born Broken and, if that's all there was to it, he would've languished in some job he didn't care for... who knows, maybe he'd be some kind of salary man.

That... was weird to think about for some reason. Best leave that possibility alone.

So if it wasn't birth or the circumstances he was brought up in that made a person, after all if it was the latter then, as Shoto thought, Toshinori and Enji should've ended up similar men, then what was it? What was it that made people like him different from his birth or Toshinori different from Enji.

...

"I suppose... it comes down to their choices, when you really think about it." Shoto turned his two colored eyes Izuku's way as he continued to tap his chin. "People aren't defined by their births, but the fact remains that no two people are alike. Even if they're raised side by side, people will naturally develop different perspectives or ideals and will end up seeing the world in different ways. It's their choices formed out of that fact that makes people different. Toshinori didn't just become the Symbol of Peace and Hope because he was born for it or because there were some kind of circumstances surrounding him that guided him that way... there were choices that he made, and that were made around him that he reacted to, that 'made' him the Symbol of Peace. That guided him to that place... and, in much the same way, that's true for Enji as well, I suppose. However much of the world Enji and Toshinori saw through similar perspectives... the way they viewed that world, the way their lenses effected what they thought, ended up guiding their choices based on their own wills."

Shoto just took a moment to look at him with that even expression of his as Izuku's words sunk in, causing him to cough into his fist as he sheepishly scratched at the back of his head.

"Or at least, that's what I think anyway." Izuku saw Shoto nod as he looked back up to the statues.

"I see. So you think it's our choices that guide that make us different from one and other." It was more a statement than a question though Izuku nodded his ascent anyway. Before he could worry too much about whether Shoto agreed or disagreed with him the half-and-half teen just raised his hand and shook his head. "Relax, I happen to agree with you. I've had those sorts of thoughts for a while... that our choices can define what makes us different from one and other..." Izuku saw Shoto stare long and hard at Enji's statue for a moment before turning his head down to Izuku. "It's simply good to know that I'm not the only one who has that perspective. I was curious to know your stance was all, Izuku Midoriya."

"Ah, yeah, totally! Glad to hear it."

Izuku had hoped that Shoto might've followed up on that, that he might've helped to carry the conversation after Izuku's own awkwardness floundered it a bit... well, turned out his understanding of him as a mostly quiet person was still pretty much right, despite the question he offered Izuku. Instead of picking up with another topic or curiosity, Shoto simply went back to relaxing by the statues, his eyes somewhat distant as he seemed to delve back into his thoughts.

"Well... I mean, I can leave now if that's what you'd like?" A brief look of... surprise..Crossed Shoto's face as he turned to look at Izuku.

"I'm quite fine with you remaining if that's your own desire Izuku Midoriya. Your own company is not quite so... loud or abrasive as most of my Team." Izuku nodded as he chuckled nervously.

"Oh, okay! Well you know it's just, well, I thought that with you going back to the whole staring thing and all that you were kind of... not wanting me to stick around?"

"... What would give you that impression?"

...

'How do Ren and Shoto carry out conversations when they're both like this?' Not that Izuku was much better with his own lack of social grace, but still! So Shoto shrugged as he returns his gaze forward. Izuku suppose that was the only thing he was interested in asking Izuku at the moment...

"Hey Shoto... do you mind if I ask you some questions?" Shoto turned his gaze back over to Izuku, his expression even as his eyes lock in on Izuku.

"I don't see why not. I've asked you a question so it should only be fair that I return the favor. What are you interested in knowing?" Having been given the green light by Shoto to speak his mind he found that his curiosity or, as Toshinori might refer to it, Izuku abundantly nerdy side ended up taking over as he leaned forward.

Well I'm going to be honest, I'm actually really curious about your Semblance and your general fighting style Shoto." The scarred young man arched his brow as he put that out there, Izuku himself bringing a hand up to his lips. "I mean, I know your inherited Semblance is pretty strong from what you described but, on Initiation day, you really didn't go into too much detail about how much of it made up your entire style. So I was wondering if you only used your Semblance or if you had other weapons on hand that you were proficient with." Izuku watched as Shoto took it all in and, after a moment, the half-and-half young man nodded.

"I see. A fair question." Shoto looked out across the horizon before he continued. "Stories go that we're all made of Dust, right? Well to a certain degree my Semblance plays into that; I guess you could say I can transmute my Aura into effects similar to Ice Dust through concentration and sheer force of will. Almost like I'm pulling the stuff right out of my body. Still, you can imagine that it isn't efficient in the least... no, what makes my Semblance shine is when larger quantities of the stuff is introduced." With that, Shoto slipped his right hand into his pants pocket and, to Izuku's surprise, he pulled out a very, very, 'very' small chunk of crystalline Dust.

"Holy woah, that's... that's unprocessed crystal Dust." Shoto nodded his head as Izuku waited to see what he did with it. After a moment the small crystal began to glow with a certain amount of energy, presumably Shoto's Semblance, before it... disappeared. Shoto let out a small breath, a haze of frost and chilled water vapor following that breath, as Shoto tapped his foot on the ground. In an instant, a layer of sheet ice begins to creep forward so fast that Izuku barely had time to move out of the way.

"My Aura is very reactive to Dust, much like my mother's. I'm not sure how much you know about Dust but most people use its ground down form for charges in ammunition or, in the Schnee's case, for their own Semblance. They need it because, in its crystal form, Dust can be too stable for Aura to interact with... it still makes for the best explosive material available, far more so than ground down Dust put into grenades, but the average person's Aura can't manipulate it while it's crystallized." Izuku watched as Shoto raised his hand, a shimmer coming across his right eye as he looked out at the sheet ice.

"I have no such problems."

With a motion of his hand a spike of ice formed from out of the ground, causing Izuku to yelp in surprise at its sudden appearance. "Because of that fact, I can generally get a much stronger kick than what most people are capable of getting by directly interacting with it. More... bang for my buck, I think the saying goes. So yes, the primary focus of my fighting style is my Semblance, simply because it offers me to widest range of options for offense, defense and support." Shoto released another breath and, before long, the ice began to melt in the early Autumn heat.

"That's not to say that I've only put work into that aspect of my fighting. I'm no fool; if my Aura draws too low or I run out of Dust, I'd be in trouble if I only relied on that... I had some... martial arts lessons when I was young that I kept up with. I'm fairly good at it though I suspect Yang Xiao Long would be able to quite easily beat me in a straight fist fight. In addition, I do keep a pistol on my person. I'm no marksman but if a fight ever does break out that lasts too long for either my Aura or my Dust to last throughout, it's there as an option." Izuku nodded in understanding, his eyes slightly wide.

"That all sounds really cool Shoto! Is there any kind of drawback to all this?" Izuku saw Shoto pause for a moment as he thought.

"... My Aura is highly specialized compared to other peoples when it comes to Dust. I can only really manipulate two kinds... no matter how good I'll get, my Aura won't seem to be able to tap into other kinds of Dust." Izuku watched as Shoto brought his left hand over to his right arm, rubbing it slightly. "Other than that... no, no weaknesses..." Izuku was slightly confused by Shoto's posture. Ordinarily he'd take such a gesture as being a sheepish or shy one but... looking at Shoto's expression and the way he'd moved, it was more like he was trying to warm up his right arm.

Weird.

As Izuku kind of took a moment to marvel at the melting ice that Shoto made appear from, pretty much, nowhere Izuku took his time to consider another question. After a moment he smiled a bit as he turned toward the ice wielding young man.

"So, Shoto. I've talked about it with some of the others and... well, I think I've said enough about my reasons. What about you; why do you want to be a Hunter?" Izuku watched as Shoto paused for a moment before he turned to our hero...

'Holy woah, that's one heck of a chill going up my spine.'

Izuku could practically feel the shiver running through his bones as Shoto Todoroki looked him dead in the eyes, his gaze slightly narrow as he sighed.

"Do you have **a different** question?"

While not a direct shot at Izuku's question... it was pretty clear that this wasn't exactly something he'd like to talk about. Izuku swallowed a small lump in his throat as he considered his options.

Izuku immediately raised his hands in a defensive manner, a deeply nervous and sheepish expression on his face as he immediately began rattling off an apology to Shoto. "O-Oh! I'm sorry Shoto, I didn't realize I was crossing any personal lines or something like that! I didn't mean anything by it!" Izuku's response was genuine enough, he did technically mean to ask him about his reasons for being a Hunter, but he didn't mean to force this kind of response out of him. After a moment of continuing to look at Izuku with that same hard state Shoto Todoroki just sighed at the shorter boy as he glanced back off to the statues the two of them had taken up your conversation in front of.

"... It's fine. You couldn't have known and it was an innocent enough question on its own..." Shoto responded somewhat quietly before waving Izuku on to continue. Feeling immensely better as it seemed, for now, that he'd managed to avoid drawing Shoto's ire he instead decide to went for a different question.

"Well... how's life with your team been? Having fun here at Beacon?" Shoto was quiet as he took some time to think Izuku's question over but, eventually, the half-and-half young man just nodded.

"It's been... better than I expected, to be honest." Shoto crossed his arms slightly as he spoke. "I had been expecting that my father's fame would have preceded him when I attended Beacon and that I'd, therefore, be stuck with a team that'd seek to take advantage of that fame or otherwise use it. In that regard... I've actually been quite fortunate to have been placed with a team that really couldn't care less about him." Izuku saw there's a faint ghost of a smile that quirked at the corners of Shoto's lips, a deeply self-satisfied smile, but then it was gone as quickly as it appeared. "Out of all of them, only Ruby Rose really seems to register him as something 'cool' or 'amazing'... but even then she places him even lower on her list of the most amazing Hunters than most people. It's not something he'd particularly take kindly." Izuku nodded, remembering that Ruby had even referred to Toshinori at one point as the 'second' greatest Hunter ever.

"As far as her being a leader goes, she's been very active in trying us all to get along and try new things... it's been... fun. I haven't done much stuff like... hanging out before coming to Beacon. She's also been improving by leaps and bounds as it concerns getting us organized and trying to get us to work more fluidly as a team. I had my own misgivings at first but now I can say I'm rather glad I decided to wait to see how things would pan out; Ruby's been doing quite well."

"Bakugo... hmmm..." Shoto furrowed his brow. "It's difficult to say with him. To the degree that I do understand him, I can say that he's a strong Huntsman that doesn't care one way or the other who my father is, so long as I myself am strong."

"Yeah, he can be like that..." Izuku said, almost apologetically, as Shoto shook his head.

"I wasn't necessarily referring to such a fact as a bad thing." Izuku blinked somewhat before Shoto continued. "On the other hand... if there's one bad thing I had to say about both Ruby and Bakugo, it's that they're both entirely too loud too often for my tastes." Shoto gave a small sigh. "Ruby's constantly full of energy and doesn't seem like she's much for being quiet once she's comfortable around people and... well, you probably know Bakugo even better than I do." Izuku nodded sympathetically as Shoto looked at their surroundings. "It's why I'm out here right now; to get some peace and quiet away from those two. I suspect Ren goes off and meditates on his own for much the same reason... though I don't understand how he can manage to do so when your teammate, Nora, ends up coming around."

"As far as Ren goes... it has been quite satisfactory to have met him and I'm glad that he became my partner."

...

"That's it?"

"That's it."

...

'Why do I get the feeling that if Ren was here he would've taken that as far more significant than I can? Those two, I swear…'

"What about you?" Izuku blinked slightly as he turned to face Shoto, not having quite absorbed what he had asked. "If it isn't a personal question, what about your team? I mean, I'm just kind of wondering how it's turned out considering that Weiss was on it along with Pyrrha. Plus... I figure turnabout is fair play, or however that phrase is supposed to go." What?...

Oh, right! The first day when Weiss was talking to Tenya, Pyrrha and Shoto about joining some kind of super team together... huh, maybe it was for the best that Weiss and Shoto didn't end up on the same team, now that Izuku thought about it...

It barely took any thought at all as he considered Shoto's point. Really, he couldn't have felt more lucky to be on the team he was. They all had varied personalities, sure, and Nora and Weiss especially could be overwhelming, in their own ways, at times. However, that didn't change the fact that Izuku felt so glad to have them all be members of his team, to be his friends.

"Honestly? I don't think I could ask for a better team." Izuku put his hands in his pockets as he took a seat on the fountain portion of the statues, Shoto watching him with keen interest as he went on. "Pyrrha has been nothing but supportive for me as a partner. She can be worried about hurting people's feelings and that causes her to apologize a lot, but to me it just shows she has a great big heart and she's always striving to improve. She's strong, smart, and I don't think I'd be as far along as I am in my training without her taking time to help. Besides, I'm probably not the person to be talking about excessively apologizing to people or worrying about their feelings..." Izuku admitted rather sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head and, though Shoto nodded, it wasn't in an accusatory manner.

"Weiss...I don't think she liked the fact I was in charge at first. Maybe it's because I was kind of an unknown to her, but I like to think our relationship has thawed out since then. In a way it was kind of like with you and Ruby; she just ended up giving me a chance and... well, I've been doing my best to prove that I'm worthy of that chance. I think it's been working out." Izuku said with a smile as he leaned forward. "She's really insightful to and really proper with people... to the point where I don't think she's really used to being casual around people. It doesn't stop her from caring and trying to help when she thinks she can. She cares about people but, well, she just has her own way of showing it.

"And Nora? Hmm... she's like lightning. Big, flashy, and full of energy. She's got a problem with personal space, and pancakes, and really likes physical violence... though I can't imagine her any other way, it'd be really weird at this point if she just suddenly mellowed out. She's loud, but she's also really insightful when she wants to be. It really is just one surprise after another when it comes to her, I know."

"It seems rather odd that she gets along so well with Ren... though if what you say is true, perhaps there's something more to it that I've failed to notice." Shoto remarked calmly, the young man looking up.

"Well... you probably haven't seen as much of her as Ren or I have. Trust me, she's a lot different when you're exposed to more than just a few minutes of her at a time." The half and half young man just nodded at that.

"I suppose that's reasonable enough." With that Shoto sighed as he kicked off against the fountain, standing up on his own two feet. "Well thank you Izuku Midoriya. This was... pleasant. I wouldn't be against speaking with you like this again in the future." Izuku chuckled a bit nervously at Shoto's phrasing. It honestly didn't sound like he was that impressed... but Izuku got the feeling that he was actually being pretty sincere.

"O-Oh, well, no problem Shoto, I enjoyed this too! I'll... talk to you later then?" Shoto just nodded as he places his hands in his pockets.

"I think you shall. Have a good day Izuku... it's around time I returned to my own team." With that the young Todoroki walked off back towards Beacon Academy, leaving Izuku to his own devices as he smiled gently and looked back out to his surroundings.


	34. Tales of Beacon IV

He knew one thing for sure as he prepared himself for this fight with Deku.

Well, he had always known a lot of things, don't ever let anyone let you think he was stupid, and if they told you that, tell him so he could blow their fucking face off.

But anyway, he knew one thing for sure...

Bakugo Katsuki had always known he was a patient man.

If someone said otherwise, well then, they`d better shut the hell up, because clearly Bakugo had to be a frickin patient saint to not constantly explode with rage with all those idiots surrounding him in that school and all of the bullshit he had to put up with.

All right, maybe all things considered, Beacon wasn't all that bad.

True, he had ended up not being a team leader for reasons entirely beyond him.

Probably because he would have just ordered himself to get a job done by himself and the rest of the team to not stand in his way. All that teamwork was nice to learn for all the weaklings needing it, but which professional Huntsman didn't fight on his own? You sure didn't see All Might getting weighed down by a team that couldn't keep up with him, did ya? Since guys like that were his goal, teamwork was only a necessary evil he'd leave behind after he was done with Beacon.

And if until then, him not being team leader would let him concentrate on important things, all the better.

Things like training and actually winning in spars at more than a meager 50% ratio even someone like Deku managed. And if someone like Cardin was considered team leader material, who bullied Faunus girls because even as an entire team he couldn't down someone like him? Well, that was Beacon's loss, not his.

Ok, it could have been worse. His team wasn't all that bad, for one thing they weren't that weak. The runt at least had spunk, even if in a real fight he would have gotten her down. And she knew it or she would have rubbed that win into his face way more. Because that lucky shot surely wouldn't have a repeat.

Actually facing him head-on still showed way more balls than guys like that wannabe sniper that had 1-hit KO-ed Deku. Wanna see him try that in the field facing a Grimm pack. What's a Huntsman worth who needs an entire team to babysit him in order for him to get one decent attack off? Laughable.

So the runt wasn`t worthless like that. Hell, he could tolerate Lie Ren and Todoroki, at least those guys knew how to shut up and not be annoying. And Lie Ren prepared decent food and great pancakes, so that was one good decision Ruby had made to push all the cooking duties on him entirely. Though why a team needed two frail speedsters was beyond him.

But for some reason Bakugo couldn't really get that angry around Lie Ren, guy had something soothing about him. Maybe because he always seemed so sleepy. At least when his whack-job of a girlfriend wasn't around. But apparently Deku did a decent job at keeping her occupied. Deku doing something right. Hell froze over apparently.

Todoroki? He'd have to fight him at some point, the guy was the real deal judging from their training and one of those he'd have to step on to rise. Especially because he had the annoying feeling the guy held back for some reason. Frankly he'd have preferred him on some other team to deal with him sooner, but as the fight with Ruby had shown team mates were fair game. At least something that Glynda did right, despite all those unrealistic pansy-ruled spars she insisted on.

But yes, it could have been worse. He could have ended up on Deku's team. Because book smarts plus a meager barely-trained aura and backfiring Semblance were clearly team leader material. How the stuttering wuss ended up getting anything done while surrounded by girls was beyond him. The mere presence of girls usually paralyzed him, now half of the school envied him for the luck of the draw he had in that regard. Heck, beyond their looks, that team was actually decent enough to carry Deku on their back enough to let him train non-stop for his second awakening. Which really hadn't taken him long to achieve, but considering he was years behind that was still awful.

Deku even muttered less, so he was clearly getting conceited. And getting a reputation after his second spar and those trial exercises. Time to show him that maybe he could squeeze through Beacon's programs, but clearly just belonged to the riffraff.

And for all the brains he had, he was still too stupid to just train his Semblance over other things, when that Semblance clearly was the only thing with real potential, considering what it did to that Giant Nevermore.

Time to teach him again. Having gone so long without roughing Deku up kinda made Bakugo look forward to it. Just because they came from the same combat school didn't mean anything like being on a similar level. If anything he'd show him the gap would never lessen.

He stood up, having completed his third set of hundred push-ups by using his Semblance only. Fine control was something he still needed to work on, doing these small explosions to push himself up was still a pain in the ass to control. Still didn't mean he couldn't get into a better physical shape while he was at it.

Katsuki Bakugo would show all of them that he was the full package and not just hype.

Maybe that redhead would be next. A four-times tournament champion was more like what he wanted to face than the likes of Deku. But until then he'd have some plain ol' fun for old time's sake.

* * *

Izuku had always been pretty laid-back at heart. While his nervousness often covered it to the point it was hard to recognize or even to believe, most people would agree there were few instances when Izuku would get angry or sad. He was the type who kept going, who stood up for another attempt, who'd try over and over instead of getting discouraged or throwing a fit.

He'd rarely pity himself, while easily feeling the pain of others and putting it over his own.

And most of the times he got really serious, he wouldn't just get angry for his own sake, but for the sake of others that were mistreated or victimized.

No, when Izuku got angry it was usually if someone innocent was in danger and cried out for help, help from _anyone_. Like Bakugo that one time, even if it was only his eyes that called out to him or anyone, in blatant panic and desperation. And those were the times when Izuku lost all restraint and took things up to eleven if it meant possibly saving someone.

Izuku was also a rather meticulous person, as anyone would readily attest for. Be it his note taking, his training schedule, his punctuality...

Izuku was keen on doing things perfectly, if he was at all capable of doing them. No matter how often he had to try it, he wouldn't settle for mediocrity and would keep improving his work. He liked things complete and structured. He liked things orderly. He liked being able to find whatever his mind demanded him to have around when he got inspired, within the small time frame before inspiration would possibly elude him again.

He knew he wasn't exactly a genius or a creative person. So when inspiration struck, when a chance revealed itself, he was the type who would act, making use of his analytical mindset and preparedness that allowed him to act thoughtfully even when the time to think was so limited others would be forced to rely on instinct. The number of journals he had written on all kinds of topics spoke, literally, volumes.

When he had been a forsaken _child of the moon_ , there really weren't many people that he could go to when having problems or feeling sad. His parents, well, sometimes in life you don't want to be helped by your parents or are too embarrassed to ask. Other times his father, as much as he loved him, would simply not be there when he might have needed a man-to-man talk and some things you just couldn't talk through by scroll. His mother Inko did the best she could to always be there for him, bless her soul, but she couldn't fill _every_ gap at once, that the lack of friends or a reachable father-figure had left.

So Izuku had to look somewhere else. When it came to persons he could look up to, hunters were it. Sure, he wished to be a huntsman too, but it had also been him looking for an admirable figure he could strive to reach, that he could shape himself after, for all of his far-off dreams for the future.

So that he could look at himself in the mirror and not be disappointed. To not see all those flaws anymore.

The news wasn't enough though. The coverage, never enough! So many gaps, so little facts!

So he dug.

Deeper and deeper.

Archives. Newsgroups. Message boards like "remnantbattles" with all its VS-threads on Huntsmen of all kinds. It was at that place he had found the courage to speak up when someone was _wrong_ on the web, because Izuku would always be prepared enough to back-up his arguments with facts and sources. It was here he had found the first semblances of acknowledgement. There no-one knew he was a child of the moon and his mind amounted to something.

It had been a bit of a hope spot for him that kept him going when a day had started getting called out and tossed around by Bakugo and his underlings or after having failed a physical test again, despite giving triple the effort others did.

But still, all that he could find out there were just dry facts. While that allowed for educated guesses, it really didn't tell anything about the persons behind those heroic acts.

What were their thoughts, their feelings? Their motivations, what kept them going, what were their hopes and dreams? What would they tell someone who aimed to be like them?

It had been at that point Izuku had gotten into huntsmen comics.

Sure, at first look that seemed weird, even to himself. Well, naturally to himself was more like it, because he didn't really have anyone to share all those thoughts with.

First he aimed to find facts, then he went after fictional stories that may barely share any relation to the real events? Kind of... stupid?

Izuku had been thinking that way too, at first. But the comics had gripped him.

They actually answered all his earlier questions. A huntsman's dreams, their goals, their fears.

Maybe it weren't all facts, but it were possibilities at least? Or maybe just ideals? And seriously, if someone was searching for something to shape themselves after, would anything but an ideal suffice?

And Toshinori Yagi, in his eyes being the most simple, yet somehow also the most complex of those ideals, had of course been his number one.

Even if it hadn't been Toshinori Yagi who saved Mountain Glenn, the sheer scope of his kind of heroism, the way he reached out to the common men. It was just... perfect. Izuku's ideal.

Izuku adored his collection of Toshinori comics more than most of his other worldly possessions.

So when he had found Nora just clutching one of them without any thought, a limited edition to boot!

Izuku had gotten a little angry. Maybe even a little loud.

He had seen a bit of hurt in Nora's eyes and the surprise on Pyrrha's and Weiss' faces. With a little regret, he had still asked:

"Nora, how would you feel if I just took that small wooden hammer you cherish so much, mishandled it and chipped it by accident? Wouldn't you get angry too?"

For a moment Nora looked shocked at that thought, before giving him an understanding look and an embarrassed smile.

"I'm sorry, Izuku, I should have asked first. Can I still read them if I promise to handle them more carefully?"

Izuku nodded. "Sure, actually it would be fun to have someone around to discuss them."

Pyrrha smiled. "You might want to get them autographed. All Might has become one of our teachers after all, but who knows if he will be able to stay around for a longer time?"

Weiss shook her head.

"Still, I don't really understand what the big deal is, they may be collector's items, but they're still just comics."

Izuku turned around and gave Weiss a saddened look, the kind you'd give an uneducated child who just said something exceedingly dumb.

* * *

'Fucking hell, why am I stuck here with this loser?'

'Todoroki's gone to who the fuck knows where, and Rose has gone off to her little play date with the other team leaders. With **Him**.'

'And now I'm sitting here, trying to focus on my homework, when that other quiet asshole is doing the same except for when he looks over at me. Arrogant little shit. Is he pitying me because I lost that fight with Deku? Really? Look at me one more time, you weak shit, and I'll blow your goddamn head off! Who the hell uses some weak ass .45 caliber guns anyway? A useless bitch, that's who!'

'And there it is! '

"What is it, asshole?!"

"You're smoking."

"Huh?"

'I look up at my shirt and see that, yeah, there are a few burn holes on the back. And a little smoke too.'

"So what?"

"Does that hurt?"

Bakugo couldn't help but roll his eyes at that.

"Of course not, dumbass. Semblances don't hurt their owners."

The quirked eyebrow says all he needed to. ' _Deku's hurt him when he beat your ass.'_ I snarl to shut him and his smug eyebrow up.

"Deku's a loser, and his semblance is one too."

The eyebrow kept mocking him.

"And he got fucking lucky anyway. It's not like your semblance is useful in a fight."

'This moron needs to be reminded his place in our group. He was a skirmisher/harrier at best, chew toy at worst. I haven't even seen him use his power, so that pretty much says he either doesn't have one like Iida or it's so useless it'd be funny if it wasn't pathetic.'

Ren shrugged.

"It is against the Grimm, and I simply don't like using it on people."

"Well isn't that lovely. Enjoy that moral high ground when everyone beats you into paste."

Bakugo fully turns around so he could properly sneer at him.' "So don't you dare look down at me for one fuckup, or I'll put your head so far up your own ass you'll be pissing tears. Get it?"

He held up his hands in surrender, 'like a proper loser should do. They should submit to who's stronger. They shouldn't fight back.'

"Good. Like some bumpkin from some Podunk backwater knows about fighting, Grimm, or anything else."

Just as He began to turn around, he saw it. A flash of anger in those pink prissy eyes.

'A challenge.'

In a split second he was on his feet, making his way across the room and glaring down at Ren. He didn't shrink away that time. Bakugo leaned in.

"Oh? So what I said finally got under your skin huh?"

"What was it? That you're a shit fighter?"

'C'mon'

"That you know shit about anything?"

'C'mon!'

'C'mon, you quiet fuck! Do something! Show me what you've got'

"That you know shit about the Grimm?"

Finally the young man let out a reaction, a hiss reminiscent of a King Taijitu.

"I know more about Grimm then you ever will."

'His response is simple but filled with venom. It shows me he's got some spine, but it isn't enough.'

'I want him to lash out.'

'I want him to take that swing I know he wants to take.'

'I want him to fight.'

'I need to win!'

"Oh? Did they smash up a few walls? Scare some yokels and flips some skirts?"

Bakugo didn't even realize Ren had grabbed his tie until he leaned out of the way and yanked, sending the blondes body toppling forward and his jaw into a desk. Before he could muster his aura and blow Ren's ass away, he suddenly grabbed him by the hair and he was calm. The anger was quickly bled out of him, even as he suddenly had a jet black knife pointed straight at his eye. 'Huh. Didn't even see him pull the damn thing. Maybe he's a fucking ninja or something.'

Ren was panting a little, but quickly pulled himself together before he talked.

"You are right. I am from a backwater. It's name was Kuroyuri."

"Was?"

He murmured out, 'My brain feels a little like someone is pushing cotton wool into it. I can push through the sluggishness if I focus, but I wanna piece together how his semblance works first.'

"It was destroyed by a Grimm."

"One Grimm?"

He managed a snort. 'So it doesn't take away emotions. Suppresses obviously. But all of them?'

The knife trembled.

"No. It was many."

Rend looked down at Bakugo.

"Lead by a Nuckelavee."

The sheer hate in his tone made him actually blink, and the tremble he felt in the power being forced into his head gave him a clue.

"So you know about those kind then?"

His tone was still angered, but it was cooling now to an icy gloss. The way his eyes glossed over grey for a moment sent another spark through Bakugo's artificially calm mind.

"Hard to fuckin' forget. They can even wipe out vets if they aren't careful."

'Maybe just works on negative emotions. Fuck that'd be effective in fighting the Grimm. Seems he can spread it too. So maybe he's not entirely useless.'

'But who uses .45's? Seriously.'

"And my village had no Huntsmen."

He let the bomber go and drew back the knife, not stopping Bakugo as he got up and forced his sissy semblance out through sheer irritation.

"Mistral was planning to make it a grand trading hub like Mountain Glenn, so they sent engineers to build more, and guards to guard them and the merchants."

Ren leaned back in his chair, his focus now just going elsewhere. For a second Bakugo considered blasting the fuck out of him, but he waited.'

"They lasted long enough to sound the alarm. But by then they were everywhere."

There's a second he shuddered before he looking back to his audience.

"Have you ever seen your father gutted like a fish? Have you ever crawled over corpses and bloody streets to try and get away from the monsters eating your friends? Have you ever lost everything in your world but one solitary person?"

He wanted to sneer and spit at him, but couldn't that time. Not because he was 'getting soft', or 'moved by the almost aching tone in his voice.' He just got a good hit on Bakugo, so he figured that at least earned his attention. So he just shook his head.

"Then some arrogant ass from some Podunk, known only because one Hunter came around, doesn't know as much about Grimm as I do."

That damn near broke the boys restraint, his hands smoldered as he considered blowing his face off. 'He may have done decently for one second, but he sure as fuck hasn't got the right to talk to me like that!'

"Do you know what I learned that day?"

"What's that, fucker?"

"You're alive."

...

"If you're still alive, you can get better and win. So I would greatly appreciate it if you stop pouting about your loss and get over it."

This time he forgoed blasting him and just grabbed him by the shirt, pulling him up so they were eye to eye.

"You don't know shit! It wasn't just a fight! It was a fight with that fucking Deku!"

'Dammit. Now I can't stop.'

"He's weak! He's always been weak! The weak should get out of the way of the strong, and let them do the fucking fighting!"

"Or they'll hurt themselves."

"Finally! Someone gets it!"

He shoved him back into his chair and burnt off some energy by pacing around.

"Hunters are the winners! They're the strongest! They take care of the shit everyone else is too weak to do! People who aren't strong should just get out of the damn way!"

He was so wound up he almost don't hear it.

A chuckle.

A little 'heh'.

'Was he...mocking me?'

...

'WAS HE MOCKING ME?'

He was in Ren's face all over again.

"What's so fucking funny, you pink-eye shitstain?"

"You sound just like Nora."

And just like that, confusion replaced anger.

"Huh?"

This time he smiled a little, just plain not worried about Bakugo in the least.

"She said something like that when we trained together. I wasn't as strong as her, so she should be the one to fight. I shouldn't put myself at risk or get in the way."

He let out a sigh.

"She was right though. I'm not as strong as her. Or Ruby. Or Shoto. Or even you. But I have my own strength, don't I?"

'That damn quirked up eyebrow is back.'

"Don't I have a right to decide if I can fight, if I prove it?"

"You're different obviously!"

"But isn't Izuku different from before?"

"A scrub is always a scrub! If that idiot isn't gonna keep his head down like he should, something will take it off! He's always run into things too big for him! And guess what happens every time?"

Bakugo spit on the carpet.

"He gets his shit kicked in. Just once, once, he should fucking listen!"

Ren was silent for a few seconds, then nodded his head.

"I think I understand things a little better."

'Something tells me he came to his own fucking weird conclusions,' but Bakugo just snorted and went back to his desk. 'The green idiot,' on the other hand, just got up and went out the door. 'Couldn't even close it all the way, the stupid fuck.' But that's what helped him hear him again.

"-id you hear?"

"A lot of it, honestly. I'm sorry if I was eavesdropping. He's very loud."

"I noticed."

'And of goddamn course that prick Todoroki was listening in. I'll give him a piece of my mind.'

"How was the call? Is your sister doing alright?"

Bakugo reached for the door to throw it open, but a sigh stopped him.

"She's...alright. Mother just got out of the ward, and is living with her now."

"I see."

"...I know what you're going to say. Don't. I...Can I even talk to her? Should I even try?"

"I d-"

"Of course I know she was sick. It doesn't justify what she did."

"No it doesn't."

"..."

"...Shoto."

"..."

"I can't even imagine how much she hurt you. I won't lie. But if you just cut her out of your life, you will never get closure. You won't be able to move past it, or him."

"I don't want her to see me as **His** son."

"I suppose I could adopt you."

"Huh" "Huh."

"Well, according to some of the old charters in Mistral, I technically am the head of the Ren family. If you wanted, I could make you part of my family instead."

"Oh? And where would I stand?"

"As my brother, obviously."

"Anyone else?"

"Hmm.."

Ren almost chuckled.

"I suppose I have always wanted a nosy little brother too."

Bakugo took that as his cue to open the door and roll his eyes. I

"I'm surprised you didn't offer that to Nora."

"I did, actually. I don't think she liked the idea."

"What did she say?"

Shoto quirked the only eyebrow he's got...the asshole.

"Well, I explained the idea, then asked if she wanted to have my last name."

Ren shook his head.

"She stared off into space and started humming this odd tune. Then she had this odd smile on her face before looking at me, turned bright red, and then ran off to her room. She laughed it off later."

He looked at Shoto, then to Bakugo.

"Do either of you have any idea what that meant?"

The two looked at each other. An understanding was reached.'

"No clue."

* * *

"Come on...come on," Ruby could feel her arms shiver as she pushed the bar up, "...si-s-six," she finished as her arms became fully extended. She then, slowly, began to bend her elbows, bringing the bar back down towards her chest, breathing out as she guided the weight back into the lower position. A second later, she sucked in as much air as she could into her lungs, and then began to push back upwards, "sev-se-seve-seven."

She breathed in, and then looked back up at the bar. She nodded to herself, and then prepared to bring the bar back down, only for her eyes to widen. She locked her elbows, but the bar was headed down towards her chest, and she could not control the descent. It was going to land on her, and crush her chest. She desperately tried to catch the bar again, but she couldn't. She closed her eyes, trying to force every last bit of energy out of the rest of her body and into her failing arms.

"Ruby!"

And suddenly, the weight stopped coming down. With all her strength, she began to push up, and then backwards, until she heard the distinct sound of metal clinking together. She stopped, and then breathed in once again. Her vision was very blurry, and it took a second for her to see clearly. However, soon she could see that the extra weight had been lifted up by a long pink muscle. It took nearly ten seconds for to actually realize what had happened, though in fairness to her, she had only seen the tongue when it had been moving at the speed of pun.

"H-he,"she tried to keep catching her breath, "Hey Tsuyu."

"What were you thinking?"

It was monotone. But there was clear accusation at the center of it. Her eyes were still as round as ever, but there was a hint of displeasure in them. Before Ruby could actually respond, the older girl continued.

"It's 11 at night," Ruby winced, or maybe heaved from the exhaustion of the exertion, "it's 11 o'clock and you are weight lifting," she then looked at the bar, "a hundred fifty, at least twenty-five pounds heavier than you," she then looked back at Ruby, "alone, without a spotter."

"Yeah...bu-"

"Ruby," the Frog Faunus just shook her head, "I may not have been chosen to be a leader, but I know that this is grossly irresponsible of you. You could have been seriously hurt."

"Bu-"

"What would happen if I hadn't been walking outside?"

"Well...I would have used my aura."

"...oh yeah."

"I just sort of forgot in the heat of the moment, I'm sure when it hit my chest I would have activated it and threw the whole bar off pretty easy."

"Sorry," Tsuyu almost seemed to look down in embarrassment, "But still, that would have hurt a lot. You really should have a spotter, or at least do it at a time when there are more people around to actually watch out for you."

"...yeah, I guess," Ruby nodded, finally having pushed herself up to a sitting position, "I...I just wanted some privacy is all."

"..." Tsuyu looked at Ruby, and then looked at a nearby bench, and sat down on it. Ruby looked at her companion for a few seconds, and tried to figure out what it all meant. She had never been particularly good at the whole "social interaction" thing before.

"Um. Wha-"

"You want privacy. That's not your normal character," Tsuyu didn't seemed to miss a beat, and Ruby began to blush at the accusation, "You need to talk through it with someone."

"Hey, I can be a very private person!"

"Oh really...when?"

"...well, I don't tell people when I go to use the bathroom."

"Ribbit."

THWIP-CRACK!

"Ow!" Ruby rubbed a red spot on her forehead after the assault, and, as tears welled up on the sides of her eyes, she looked at Tsuyu, "Why does Yang even try to make her stupid puns anymore. That stings!"

"Stubborn pride and a bad humor," Tsuyu offered, before nodding, "But, it's is out of character to hide what you are doing," she then leaned forward, "Tell me what's going on."

"...," Ruby looked at the ground, before turning her head back at the Frog Faunus, "Do you promise to not tell Yang?"

"I'd need to make sure you aren't doing something that could really hurt you before I could promise that."

"...well," Ruby sighed, before steeling herself, "I need to get stronger."

"Ribbit, Okay."

"I saw that I wasn't as physically strong as you all, and so I decided to start training," Ruby continued, waiting for Tsuyu to cut in. Luckily she did not, "So, I decided to start working out."

"At 11? On your own?"

"Well," Ruby rubbed the back of her head, "Neither Run or Shoto are really the weight lifting type," she blushed slightly, "And you know Kaacha-"

"I wouldn't lift with him if you paid me," Tsuyu nodded, and then both chuckled for a second. Tsuyu stopped, and stared at Tsuyu for a second, "And I suppose you didn't want to work with Yang either?"

"...no," Ruby became quiet, and Tsuyu just stared at her.

"I...I suppose I just want to move on and become stronger my own way. I mean, I love Yang, she's my best friend and the best sister I could ever ask for, but..."

"If you told her, she would either insist that you are 'Too young to worry about that stuff' or just try and make sure you did exactly what she did, rather than let you push yourself the way you want to be pushed?"

"...your good at this."

"I'm an older sister too," Tsuyu coughed, two small pink circles under her eyes, "I just thought what I might do to make my little siblings want to push away from me."

"...you won't tell Yang will you?"

"No, I won't. On one condition though. Ribbit."

"What."

"You agree to work out and train with me, and let me help you plan it out so it maximizes your growth."

"...I don't want to force you to do anything you don't want to," Ruby rubbed the back of her head, looking slightly flustered at the whole offer.

"Nonsense," Tsuyu continued, "I'm just helping my partner's sister become as strong as she needs to. And besides," Tsuyu winked at Ruby, "What Yang doesn't know, won't hurt her."

Suddenly, Tsuyu placed her hand on Ruby's shoulder, "So, I hate to say it Ruby, but I don't think a bench will be the best for you. We need to work on your core, and the best weight lifting exercise for that is dips."

 **xXxXxXxXx**

"My muscles are plotting my murder."

Thirty minutes later, Ruby was laying down on the floor in a pool of her own sweat. Tsuyu had run her through a gauntlet of four different exercises three times, and by the end of it her poor tummy had been pulled and squashed so many times that she wondered if she would ever be able to eat again. Tsuyu was also clearly tired, though she was still able to stand up, and had managed to grab two bottles of water, and then kneel down and hand one to her pupil.

"They do that for the first few weeks," she admitted. She then popped the bottle remaining in her hands, and downed what looked like a third of its contents, before turning back to Ruby.

"So...you and Yang are really close aren't you?"

"Oh yeah," Ruby smiled and laughed, "She's the best. I don't think I could have gotten a better sister if I sat down and designed her like Crescent Rose."

Tsuyu nodded, and then took another sip, as Ruby opened the bottle, and then proceeded to gulp the water down. Tsuyu waited for another second, and just as the water finished entering her gullet, Tsuyu just shook her head.

"I just find it kind of strange. I mean me and my siblings are very close, but you and Yang are just beyond what I usually see."

Ruby stopped for a second and looked at Tsuyu, who was clearly thinking through her next words.

"In some ways you guys seem to be more mother and daughter than anything else."

Instead of the spluttering that Tsuyu expected, Ruby looked at the ground, and then nodded.

"My Mom...she's been gone for a long time. Since I was really little," Ruby began to speak, "And, well, Dad was great. Really caring, really supportive, but...well, when it came to things that were more...girly, Yang helped. She did a lot of the cooking and cleaning. She told me things about the birds and bees way before Dad ever thought to. I wouldn't be who I am without her."

"But it also makes things awkward in some ways, huh?"

"Yeah," Ruby blushed, "When I got my first...womanly sacrifice... it threw my aura off. Yang nearly had a heart attack, and tried everything to fix it. While it is impressive that I got in early, I don't really like how much she brings it up. It is kind of embarrassing. She keeps checking on me to make sure that I am doing okay, she keeps trying to intimidate Kacchan. And if she figured out how I am trying to get stronger than her, well she would really get overprotective and try to tell me not to do it. I love her...but I kind of wish she could give me a bit more space."

"That's why you don't want to work out with her," Tsuyu nodded. She then stood up, confidently.

"Okay, here's the deal," she pointed down at Ruby, who fell back slightly, "You want to get stronger, and I need to get back to actually working out. How about, each night at 10:30, we meet here for weight training, and for some cardio. I will help you get stronger, and I will make sure that my partner doesn't here about what you are doing."

"That's so cool," Ruby laughed, clenching her fists in victory.

"I want only one thing in return," Tsuyu smiled, and stretched out her hand, "Please, call me Tsu."

Ruby smiled broadly, before taking the older girl's hand in her own, and shaking it, "Sounds great. Tsu."

* * *

 **E/N: Contra Productive and A Boy And His... by Vandalgyon, In The Heat of The Moment by Preventer Squall, and finally Building Up by Wind Waker.**

 **-Shovern**

 **Tsuyu has always had a bit of a hard time sticking out from the other characters. I actually wrote the first omake about her confronting Blake, but that didn't really fit into the story.**

 **Instead, I thought it would be better to give her something to work with by working with Ruby, and I thought her taking the role of Ruby's personal coach would work well. We already know from canon that she's a big sister, so her caring for her partner's little sister made sense. It's just nice to give Ruby something different to work off of in comparison to Weiss's exasperation or Yang's...smothering.**

 **-Wind-waker**


	35. Ribbiting' Conversation

"Wow Izuku, your notes really do cover just about everything. Even your notes on recent Huntsmen and Huntresses from other Kingdoms are pretty precise. You even have stuff on Shinji Nishiya here!" Pyrrha marveled at Izuku's collection of notes on the various Huntsmen and Huntresses from the Kingdom of Mistral as the two of them got down to tutoring. While he'd been fine with using slightly older examples to start off with, even Izuku could admit that as much as there was to learn from the older generations of Hunters that the profession had changed a good deal and so understanding their immediate predecessors, or heck even their contemporaries, would be a boon to their understanding of the profession as a whole.

Thus he had decided that he'd focus on tutoring Pyrrha as it concerned more modern Mistrali Hunters and had handed off the notebook with the majority of that information in question. Izuku smiled and nodded as his own mind recalled how he'd used his memory of his notes on Shinji Nishiya to try to save Kacchan all those months ago now. It had only been a momentary distraction for the Grimm but... well, it turned out that a momentary distraction was all that was needed in that moment.

He still didn't do much but it gave enough time for Toshinori to make it to the scene and do his thing, so he could be proud of that at least.

"Well I really do try my best to keep up with what new Hunters are coming into the profession so that I can see what I can learn from them. After all, almost every Huntsman and Huntress is different both from each other and their predecessors, even if they might have similar Semblances to another Hunter. It's all in how you use it and... well, new people bring new ways of thinking to even old Semblances or common ones." Heck, wasn't that the logic behind One For All, in a sense? That each new user brought not only raw power to the Semblance but a new way of thinking about it and using it? Izuku knew he was looking forward to whatever Toshinori might have to teach him and he could tell that Toshinori thought that coming up with the Glenn Smash was some new, out of the box way of utilizing what little control he had over it.

Pyrrha, on the other hand, just smiled as she nodded her head. "I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised. Of course you'd be this dedicated, you've never shown anything less than your best when it's come to being a Hunter." He went red in the face at Pyrrha's praise, waving his hand off as he sheepishly smiled. "... Though that can get a bit rough sometimes, like with your fight with Yang." That sheepish pride turned into a slight wince as he nodded in agreement with his partner. Still, Pyrrha went right back to smiling as she turned to the book and flipped the page to the next section.

"... Oh." Izuku reflexively turn to take a gander over at what Pyrrha's flipped the page to... let's see, if she was on Shinji, then by his memory that would mean that the next page was... ah, of course. Yu Takeyama's notes.

What were some words he'd used to describe her back when he wrote that again... riiiiight...

"Y-Yeah, Shinji's partner, Yu Takeyama. The two of them have been a pretty effective Hunter duo so far from what I've heard. Something about being able to traverse Mistral pretty easily?" Pyrrha's somewhat tense body language immediately melted away as she turned back to look at him, an easy smile on her face as she nodded her head.

"Yes, and I've actually seen a little bit about them so I know what you're talking about." Pyrrha raised a finger up. "Because Mistral's construction is so focused on the more vertical side of things as it concerns the city's layout, it can make it harder for Hunters with more traditional sets of powers to get around when chasing people, especially because a lot of the criminals they encounter will have deep seeded connections in the city." Pyrrha tapped her finger down on the page. "Shinji and Yu effectively negate that difficulty in traveling vertically along with runaway criminals through a combination of their Semblances; Shinji's able to call upon the abundant plant life that Mistral's built around in order to construct their own shortcuts and, in the most extreme examples, Yu's just able to hurdle them across or up long distances when trying to make it to the scene of a crime." Izuku actually smiled nice and wide as Pyrrha laid all it out.

"Wow Pyrrha, I didn't think you'd be so well informed. You said you didn't know too much about Hunters." Pyrrha nodded sheepishly as he spoke, her face momentarily turning as red as her hair.

"Oh, I still very much am Izuku, but I had the good graces of having an interview of mine schedule right behind one of theirs. I got to sit in and listen to them discuss the nature of being a Hunter in Mistral and the difficulties they had to overcome after graduating from Haven Academy. I was still... technically in the Hunter Program myself, though you wouldn't know it from how much of the program they allowed me to skate through thanks to my tournament performances, so I listened in to hear about the profession I was ostensibly a part of." A slight frown that had formed on Pyrrha's face gave way to a smile as she looked back to him. "It really was fascinating to listen to the two of them discuss how they worked together in order to overcome some of the unique challenges even Mistral's geography presents to them." Izuku nodded his head in ready agreement.

"Yeah, it really is. You wouldn't think that a pair of Semblances like that could have that sort of synergy but I guess you never know until you start actually applying your training in a live situation."

"Indeed... I suppose that it's not like every partner pair has obvious synergies right from the get go." Izuku blinked somewhat as Pyrrha looked over to the other beds in the dorm room. "Weiss and Nora... well, after this week's exercise, I think it's safe to say that they're going to end up being a 'very' successful partner pair. The synergy they have between Weiss' capabilities with Dust and the nature of Nora's Semblance... once those two get going, you have to wonder if there'd be any single Grimm on Remnant that'd be able to stop them."

Izuku couldn't help but shiver; Pyrrha's assessment wasn't far off, as far as he knew. The capabilities Nora and Weiss have for working together were truly terrifying if Nora's little performance was anything to go by. Put them into single combat with any large Grimm and the two of them would probably be able to tear it apart by combining their talents.

"But then there's others that have kinks to work out or who might not have an obvious synergy. Tenya and Blake come to mind most obviously though I have to imagine with how much Tenya thinks about things like this that they'll come up with something." Izuku nodded in agreement.

"You worried that we don't have a strong synergy?" It was fairly easy to see where Pyrrha was going once the conversation started down that track and, no surprise, his partner nodded a bit, though with a slight chuckle.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not panicking over it. We're barely into our first semester of our first year, it's not like we're facing life or death challenges in the immediate future. It's just... I'm not used to thinking of how to use my Semblance to assist others." Pyrrha commented idly as she brought a hand up to stroke a strand of her hair. "For Weiss the idea of applying her Dust and Glyphs to Nora have to come fairly naturally; it makes up the very foundation of her family's Semblance. Your Semblance greatly empowers you on its own, even if it does hurt you for now... but you can use it to help keep others safe. Polarity is a strong Semblance, don't mistake my thoughts for thinking it weak... but I've only ever needed to... or perhaps been able to conceptualize it as a way of helping myself and hurting my foes. Tripping them up, sending a swing the wrong way, forcing them off their footing, putting me on a solid footing. It's all fairly focused on my nature as a Tournament Fighter..."

"It makes me wonder... how much experience and thought have I lost out on my having the focus of my Semblance be so solely on my previous career rather than having actually gone to attend the Combat School. Perhaps actually having my education have been geared towards being a Hunter, like you or Ruby or Tenya, would... I dunno, maybe I wouldn't be so stuck for ideas on how to help you all with my Semblance." Pyrrha smiled wryly as she continued. "After all, when we're up against large Grimm like the Ursa Major from before, I can't exactly be stuck like I was there, taking pot shots that miss, in the future."

"Well... then by the same standard, I'm pretty much in the same boat as you are Pyrrha. In fact, I might even be worse off." Pyrrha turned to meet Izuku's gaze as his eyes drifted down to his fists, clenching them slightly. "Huntsman don't just operate in the wilderness killing Grimm out in the wild Pyrrha. Grimm can often times infiltrate settlements in order to try to kill innocent people and, in this day and age, a Hunters are also expected to operate in urban areas as well, protecting people from natural distastes and criminals. My Semblance as it is now... it'd be unacceptable for me to use it in almost any situation where innocent people's lives would be at stake. It'd almost be a sure thing that I'd hurt them while trying to save them." Pyrrha frowned as Izuku spoke so plainly but she didn't move to disagree with him.

"You on the other hand have a lot more room to work with because your control over your Semblance is more precise. Your Semblance is 'Polarity', the fundamental force of magnetism is in your control! You could do a lot with it. I mean, let's just start with equipment; Polarity gives you so many options that not a lot of Hunters have. You have the ability to work with tools that are more unwieldy or just outright impossible for people to normally wield either because of their size and power or the fact that you basically have an entire field of hands to work with. Shields and blades that you could extend out from your body in order to protect people or to damage Grimm outside of your immediate range for example or, heck, if you wanted something whose power could easily equal or, let's be honest, surpass my Smash, you could even use Polarity to help you wield a huge rifle that, ordinarily, would knock most people on their butts trying to use it! I'm sure Ruby or Mei would love to talk to you about it!

"Then there's the ways you could contribute to our team's mobility, awareness and defense. You helped me a lot during Initiation by helping me cover areas and dodge out of the way of moves that I'd have no chance of avoiding on my own! If everyone wore some kind of metal that you could manipulate on their arms and legs you'd, essentially, be able to make snap decisions about things that might be outside of their immediate range of vision for them to make calls on... we'd need to introduce some squad lead training into your schedule of course because those would be the kinds of skills you'd need to make those kinds of snap judgment... but only if you're okay with it of course!

"And then there's the fact that it's 'Magnetism' which also effects electricity and substances like plasma! If you worked with Weiss on how to integrate some differing Dust types into your Semblance then Pyrrha, you'd be swinging around some considerable force that not even a Grimm would be able to ignore!" Pyrrha seemed slightly blown away by the amount of thought and passion Izuku'd put into these considerations as he himself felt how excited he was thinking about these possibilities. Izuku supposed he'd always be a nerd when it came to Hunters, no matter who they were.

"Pyrrha... I understand your misgivings. Honestly, I've been thinking about how lucky I am to have my own Semblance, drawbacks and all... but I've been being reminded that my Semblance isn't all there is to being a Huntsman, that it's just one tool in the trade." Izuku looked up to her and gave her a smile. "So maybe you spent more time learning about direct combat than how to use your Semblance... that's okay! Because they're tools just like anything else... and if someone like me can figure out how to make something work out of his Semblance, then I know you can do it too! Don't worry about what could've been or what choices you made or were made for you... just... look to the future." He did his best to give her a winning smile... and admittedly, his own nerves and shyness still prevented it from being something on Toshinori's level. Still, he wanted his partner to feel more sure about herself, to not have these doubts hanging over her head.

So when he saw a smile form slowly across Pyrrha's lips, one that reached all the way up to her eyes, he felt accomplished.

"Izuku... hahaha... it's like you've put more thought into what I can do than I have... I suppose that says a lot about what I've been putting my thoughts toward instead of improving, huh?" Pyrrha hummed to herself for a moment as she closed her green eyes in thought, before opening them back up. "I suppose that you're right; wallowing in what I've been doing rather than focusing on what I can do... it's not going to make that situation any better. You're right; there's a world of possibility for me to improve at with my Semblance and everything about my abilities as a Huntress. I hope you don't mind if I start by taking your advice, Izuku."

"Of course not Pyrrha. I'm your partner and team leader after all. Any advice I give I'd be glad for you to take." The two of them took a moment to discuss the matter a little bit more before Pyrrha turned her attention back to what the two were actually supposed to be doing at the moment; studying. He got back to his own books as he prepared to continue his tutoring, only for Pyrrha to speak up again.

"Also, Izuku, I have to admit to being a little bit surprised."

"By what?" Izuku asked, blinking curiously as Pyrrha kept her eyes forward on the book.

"That you referred to Yu Takeyama as 'sexy'." Izuku resisted the urge to slap himself on the forehead as Pyrrha brought this up. Oh right, there it was...

"Er, yeah, surprised you say? Nothing wrong with that, is there?" Izuku's chuckle nervously as his cheeks remained thoroughly pink.

"Oh no, nothing at all it's just that, well, I mean, I've been told by some people that boys are really intimidated by girls who are taller than them..."

"Well... that doesn't make any sense to me at all." Izuku said bluntly, watching as Pyrrha blinked in some surprise at the frankness. "I mean... if you think a girl's attractive, you shouldn't really be worrying about stuff like their height, right?" At that Izuku rubbed his chin in curiosity as he pondered the mystery. "Besides, I always thought being tall was really cool... kind of wished that I was taller myself, you know. So I really don't see how that could be considered a bad thing. If a person's really intimidated by that kind of stuff then... well, to me, that just says that they can't appreciate the person for who they are."

When he saw the slight shade of pink that formed on Pyrrha's cheeks Izuku realized that he might've said something that sounded really dorky or forward, so he just chuckled as he scratched the back of his head. "Besides, I already get a little jumpy around girls to begin with... in a manner of speaking. So a girl's height is really the 'last' thing I end up noticing anyway." Izuku saw Pyrrha grin a little bit at that, an amused twinkle to her eye.

"Oh, it's the last thing you notice? What would be the first then, Izuku?" At that Izuku went beet red but before he could devolve into some embarrassed ramblings about how he didn't mean it like that, Pyrrha just chuckled good naturedly and nodded his way. "Thank you Izuku."

"Uh... thanks for what? I-I really didn't say much of anything there..." Izuku looked down to the side, still slightly sheepish at the particular topic, as Pyrrha just shrugged her shoulders.

"I just appreciate hearing that is all." With that Pyrrha turned back toward his notes and continued to take copies of her own, his face still scrunched up in confusion as he shrugged his shoulders and turned back to his own book, the tutoring continuing.

'I still don't get girls at all.'

* * *

Izuku took a deep, relaxing breath as he walked along Beacon's hallways. At the moment, he was actually on his way to the library to turn in some books and to get some new ones for his studies in the week ahead. He really didn't have much specific on his mind; he knew that there were still a lot of areas he had to cover, on top of being able to get everything necessary for the upcoming classes, but even beyond that he wasn't quite sure as to what he wanted to read. Thankfully, it seemed that the hallways was relatively empty and quiet, allowing him to ponder these possibilities without too much of an interruption. Not that he'd mind some company of course, but considering how big Beacon was and all the different kinds of people who could be around... well, who was to say he'd run into his friends instead of someone like Cardin Winchester. So while the silence could be a bit heavy, it was definitely preferable to bad company-

"Oh, hello there Izuku."

"Ah!"

Of course, what was even more preferable was familiar company... just not familiar company that felt like it came right out of nowhere. Izuku ended up back on his feet, only stumbling slightly, as he turned to face the person he'd, ostensibly, just passed on her way down a nearby hall; Tsuyu Asui, Yang's partner. As he took a moment to get his bearings, by God could she be quiet on her feet, Tsuyu brought one of her fingers up to her mouth in that curious gesture of hers.

"Sorry about that, didn't mean to spook you, ribbit ribbit."

"O-Oh, don't worry about it! I guess I just wasn't paying attention was all. It's good to see you, Tsuyu." Izuku offered with a polite nod as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head, the frog Faunus' even gaze just looking straight on at him.

"Please, call me Tsu." Izuku nodded, distantly remembering that little tidbit coming up anytime any of his friends tried to call the girl by her full name. It was appreciated, at any rate, while the frog girl just continued on. "What brings you around here then Izuku. Going off to train?"

"Er, no, why would you assume that?" Tsuyu just shrugged.

"I usually end up saying the first thing that comes to mind and that's what popped into my head when I thought of what you'd be doing, ribbit." Izuku deflated a little bit but chuckled as he shook his head.

"No, afraid not. I was actually going to head off to the library to exchange out some books for class next week. Thought I'd get a jump on that while I could. What about you?" Tsuyu just shrugged her shoulder slightly as she took a moment to look around.

"My own team's busy doing a bunch of their own stuff at the moment. Tenya's been busy setting up for your next Leadership Council meeting-"

'Already.'

"-yes, already."

'Holy woah, how'd she do that?'

"Yang's taking it easy after your spar in Glynda's class and she's doing a bit of maintenance work on Bumblebee to get it ready for some upgrades she and Tenya have in mind and... well, Blake's actually in the library doing some reading herself. I've already called home earlier today so I thought I'd look around for Ruby, see if she'd be interested in just hanging out for once." Ruby had been talking about how much she and Tsuyu were working out together.

"Oh, that's pretty neat!" Izuku offered with a slight nod which the frog girl returned.

"Anyway, I won't keep ya if that's what you got planned Izuku so I guess I'll see you later. Tell Blake I said hi." With that Tsuyu turned to walk off in the direction of Team RSBR's dorm room. Izuku paused in thought for a moment... honestly, out of all his friends he pretty much hadn't talked to Tsuyu much, if at all. Sure he and Ren hadn't really hung out but, well, given how close he and Nora were it was almost like he was doing it by proxy; Nora sharing stories about his team with Ren and her bringing back stories from Team RSBR. He hadn't spoken to Kacchan either but... that was probably for the best, all things considered.

Tsuyu was the one friend of his he hadn't spent much time at all with...

"Hey, Tsu!" The frog girl paused as she turned to face Izuku while he suddenly felt a bit sheepish for having called out so loudly to someone who wasn't even a full hall away from him. "We haven't really had much of a chat ever since we came here. I didn't even really get the chance to introduce myself on our first day during Initiation, except after the whole thing. So, how about we hang out for a bit, actually get to know each other."

There was a moment where Tsuyu just stared off at him with that stare of hers and he had to stop himself from getting worked up. After all, that was Tsuyu's expression toward 'everything'. It's not like it meant she was annoyed or was averse to his proposal. In fact, lo and behold, Tsuyu cracked a slight smile as she nodded.

"Sure thing Izuku, I'd like that. There's been something I've been interested in talking about you with too." Izuku blinked, slightly surprised that Tsuyu already had something in mind, before she waved him on. "Come on, I don't want to keep ya so we can talk on the way to the library." Izuku quickly nodded as he waited for Tsuyu to make her way back towards him and, with a quick turn, the both of them head on back towards the library.

"So, you wanted to talk to me about something?"

"Yeah actually. It's been something I've been pretty curious about ever since our first day when you talked about your ideas about being a hero." Izuku quirked his eyebrow real quick as he gave an amused chuckle.

"Tsu, I think I've pretty well said what you'd be interested to hear when it comes to that, I think. I've kind of been going on about it too..." He sheepishly scratched the back of his head as Tsu nodded.

"Yeah, you do tend to go for the big speeches if Yang or Blake is any indication." Izuku very nearly tripped over his own feet at Tsuyu's rather blunt assessment as the frog girl brought her finger back up to her mouth, looking up to the ceiling in thought. "That's not really what I'm interested in myself though. I can understand what your ideals are perfectly fine. They're good ideals and Toshinori's a good guy to look up to as far as being a Hunter. No, what I'm more curious about is the 'why'." Izuku blinked in confusion before he tilted his head to the side.

"Why? I mean, I'm from Mountain Glenn, so-"

"Well a lot of people are from Mountain Glenn Izuku and you don't see most of them running off to be Hunters... heck, those who live there that thought they were Broken were probably even less inclined." Again he couldn't help but feel a bit tripped up by how 'bluntly' Tsuyu put all of that, especially calling out his previously Broken nature... or to her what she 'thought' was his Broken nature,

"I guess you've got a point..." Izuku admitted as the frog Faunus just looked back over to him with that expression of hers.

"If I'm coming off as a bit harsh, well, sorry. I have a tendency to just say what's on my mind without thinking, ribbit. A lot of people tell me that it makes me come off as abrasive, ribbit." Izuku just waved it off, not wanting her to think he'd been insulted, before she continued. "But yeah, just because you're from some town doesn't give a good reason why you chose your reasons for becoming a Hunter. I mean, look at Bakugo; he comes from the same town that was saved by Toshinori, but he's 'definitely' not turning out like you are. Kind of always seems like an angry person if you ask me."

"Well you aren't wrong." Izuku admitted cautiously, as if doing so would summon Kacchan right to him.

"His beliefs and why he has them are different from yours, if Ruby's right about him." Tsuyu continued as he nodded along. "This is just kind of a topic of interest for me because of my own family and its history. Talks about what's heroic and what's right... well, these past few generations they've been a bit more complicated, ribbit ribbit." Izuku quirked a rather curious brow but it seemed like Tsu was not going to get too much into it. "So when I meet someone who has such... well, heroic ideals and who really believes in them with all their heart, it makes me wonder 'why'. What makes a person like this in specific when they could've turned out just like any other average Joe on the street."

"So, would you be willing to entertain my curiosity, Izuku? Why be a hero anyway, especially when it would've seemed impossible? I mean, that alone is worth asking if you ask me, ribbit."

...

"... Because people need hope." Izuku stopped for a moment as he looked out a nearby window, out in the general direction he knew Mountain Glenn to lay. "When I was a kid, my mom would often tell me about the day when everyone in Mountain Glenn was saved. She looked so happy when she talked about it, so relieved that, in the end, that day hadn't been the end. Around then... I guess that's when I started to think that I wanted to be able to make people feel like that. When the doctors pronounced me as Broken... well, that didn't change my ideals at the time. Don't get me wrong, it hurt at the time and... well, there were times that I really did nearly give up hope." He clenched his fists as he gave a firm nod. "But in the end, someone fought for my hope... and that's the entire point. Hope 'needs' to be fought for and I was lucky enough that I found out I could pursue my dream. I want to show everyone that anything is possible! I want to protect people and inspire them to hope and make the world a better place."

Tsuyu just kept looking at him with that expression of hers and, as he came down from his determined facade, he ended up scratching the back of his head. "Well... that's more what I think and feel about the 'why' of it, I guess. If I were to try and look at the root of where it comes from though..."

 _"There's stories about how every Great Huntsman became what they are... and most of them start the exact same way. That when they found people in danger, they'd rush in to save them; their body would move without them even thinking about it._

 _"And today, that's what happened to you."_

"... My body always kind of moves on its own whenever I see someone suffering or in need of help. It's been that way ever since I was a little kid even... and it still is like that. I just feel compelled to do so, without even giving it a second thought... even when common sense of fear might tell me to do otherwise."

Izuku saw Tsuyu nod her head as he finished and, again, a slight smile formed on her lips. "So you're kind of a natural born hero then, huh?" Izuku went a bit red as he sheepishly scratched at the back of his head.

"Well, I wouldn't say that..."

"Except you kind of did Izuku, ribbit ribbit." Well... okay, she had him there, but still, he wouldn't really claim to be much of a natural born 'anything' considering how much work he'd had to put in to just catch up to his peers or to master even a small fraction of One For All. "I don't even really doubt your sincerity; with how Blake and Tenya described your actions against the Giant Nevermore, I'd honestly believe that you were exactly the kind of person you described." Izuku smiled a bit, glad to know that he made such an impact on Tenya and Blake even for so little as he actually did. It was his plan that had failed in the first place, after all.

"So what about you? What's your 'why' for becoming a Huntress?" Tsuyu nodded, perhaps having anticipated his question, as she placed a finger just below her mouth.

"Honestly, it's kind of tradition at this point. My family didn't always live in Vale; for a long time we actually lived in a neighboring village that was settled in a bog. Most of our family usually ended up picking up Faunus traits that made it pretty easy to live there so it was a natural spot. Of course, being outside of Vale's wall, it meant that it was open to all kinds of Grimm invasions... and this was before the whole Academy system was set up for making Huntsmen and Huntresses 'official'. So if anyone in my family was born with Faunus traits that wouldn't hinder them in a fight, they'd usually sign up to help protect the place. It was mostly a Faunus community, after all why live in a bog if you didn't 'have' to, but for the humans who lived there... well, you can't exactly irrationally hate someone who's busy protecting you from the Grimm."

"So we stayed there up until the Faunus Rights Revolution and then, after that, our family ended up packing up and moving to Vale when my dad was still a tadpole. Now that we lived in the city that meant that if we wanted to continue the old family tradition, we'd need to be certified to become Huntsmen..."

"... Which wasn't a right won until Ghira formed The White Fang." Tsuyu nodded.

"I've said before that The White Fang started off good and my dad definitely agreed. Heck, he joined up as a member of The White Fang in its early days. He really admired Ghira and his message. The fact that Faunus were allowed to join the official Academies was one of the biggest wins of the early Fang... but it was also one of the 'only' wins." Tsuyu stuck her tongue out for a moment in thought.

"So then Ghira just up and quit on everything he said he believed in. 'Wasn't making enough progress' and he wanted to leave to 'let other people act in his place for the Faunus to get results'. Guess that meant leaving it to someone like Sienna Khan." Izuku saw Tsuyu shake her head. "My dad was pretty devastated... and I can definitely see your point about needing to fight for hope because when Ghira quit, my dad kind of gave up hope in the ideas. Not that he joined the radicals or anything, no... but he gave up on the idea that there could be a lasting peace between humans and Faunus thanks to the SDC and Sienna Khan's White Fang. It was the same way for a lot of people, which I guess is why so many people stuck around to fight. They had to do something, right? It's just that, instead of joining with Sienna, he decided to just quit all together."

"Oh... I'm sorry to hear that..." Tsuyu shrugged as she looked at him with that blank expression of hers.

"Oh, don't be. I didn't exactly follow in my dad's footsteps if the fact that I'm here at all is any indication. Heck, I have lots of friends who're humans like Yang, Blake, Tenya, you, Ruby, Nora, Pyrrha, Weiss... which is the really weird one now that I think about it, ribbit ribbit. Still, even that proves that peace is possible... even with folks like Adam Taurus on one side and guys like Jacques Schnee on the other. But fighting humans hasn't gotten us closer to that peace. It's gotten us rights which I'm not going to complain about having, but we're no closer to peace now than we were at the end of the Faunus Rights Revolution. Humans and Faunus need to be able to trust each other if we're all going to survive... otherwise we'll just end up bleeding each other dry for the Grimm to come in and scoop us up. That's the lesson my family picked up living in that bog for so many generations."

"So that's why I'm following in my grandmother's and my other ancestors steps and becoming a Huntress. You know, put up and actually work for what I believe in or shut up, ribbit ribbit."

Izuku couldn't help but smile as he heard Tsuyu give him her own reasons for becoming a Huntress. Honestly, as far as he was concerned, it was a pretty great story and a fantastic reason for wanting to become a Hunter. He gave her a short nod as he continued to smile, a slight shine in his eyes.

"I'm really glad to hear that. With things the way they are now, with the White Fang drawing the kind of ire it is, it's important that people are reminded that we're really all in this together and that it's important we work with one another. It's also one thing to believe in it... but I'm really glad that you told me about your reasons and about how hard you're willing to fight for it. It makes me feel certain... I just know that you and your dream will be able to go far Tsu!"

Tsuyu's neutral expression, or perhaps her 'normal' expression now that Izuku thought about it, once more cracked into a smile as he spoke, the frog girl just nodding firmly as she looked over to him.

"Thank you Izuku, I appreciate the confidence, ribbit ribbit." She scratched her cheek as she thought. "For the record, I think you'll do well with your dream too. Your Semblance is pretty powerful and it's clear that you really believe in your dream. Heck, Yang's pretty much convinced that you're going to be a great Hunter one day, and I don't really have much reason to disagree, ribbit ribbit." Izuku really couldn't help himself as his smile grew even wider, stretching the limits of his face as he offered Tsuyu another nod. The two of them continued to walk along in some silence as he let these thoughts settle in, before Tsuyu's face broke out in that smile again. "Speaking of your dream, I really can't imagine how excited you've been."

"Huh?" Izuku blinked somewhat as Tsuyu smiled.

"I mean, I can understand it somewhat; being able to get into Beacon Academy wasn't a sure thing for me but I still managed it, even with all this tension rising up between humans and Faunus over the White Fang, so I was excited. You, on the other hand, thought you were Broken... and now here you are. A Huntsman-in-training at Beacon Academy... heck, at Beacon Academy while Toshinori's teaching here at the same time, your big hero." Izuku couldn't help but grin as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head. Yep, it really was kind of a dream come true when he thought about it. A once in a lifetime opportunity, a stroke of luck, that let him-

"And to top it all off, your Semblance ended up being a lot like Toshinori's, eh Izuku?"

...

'Huh?'

Izuku immediately snapped his head over to Tsuyu, doing his best to reign in his nervousness as the frog girl scratched her chin a bit and looked up.

"Yeah, I mean, it'd be one thing if it was just a pretty powerful and flashy Semblance, that'd be cool enough for someone who started off thinking they were broken on its own... but then you add onto that the fact that it's a lot like your big hero's. You're able to hit the air so hard that you can create shock waves even with just your finger. Plus you even call your attacks 'Smashes'. That's pretty... 'cool', Izuku." Izuku was guessing that she was probably thinking of another word instead of cool, but he was a little too scatterbrained to think about what Tsuyu could've possibly thought at this moment.

'Crap, crap, crap, crap, okay, gotta think of something, gotta think of a way around this…'

'OKAY DON'T PANIC, THERE'S NO NEED TO PANIC! I MEAN, WHY PANIC? JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE USED BASIC OBSERVATION TO KEY INTO THE FACT THAT YOUR 'SEMBLANCE' IS SIMILAR TO TOSHINORI'S?! I MEAN, WHY WOULD YOU PANIC? IT'S NOT AS IF EVERYONE HAS BASIC SKILLS OF OBSERVATION AND LOGIC, RIGHT?!'

...

'OH GODS, HOW MANY OTHER PEOPLE FIGURED THIS OUT JUST BY LOOKING! OKAY, DON'T PANIC! JUST DIVERT HER ATTENTION! POINT OUT SOMETHING RANDOM?! MAYBE A FLY? SHE IS A FROG FA-OH GODS, WAS THAT RACIST TO THINK? I MEAN, YOU'D HEARD FAUNUS LIKE THE SORTS OF FOODS THEIR BASE ANIMALS LIKE TO EAT SO YOU JUST ASSUMED-STOP THINKING ABOUT THIS AND START THINKING ABOUT HOW YOU'RE GOING TO LIE YOUR ASS OFF!'

...

'No... no wait. This was okay. You could do this... just... just play it cool.'

Izuku chuckled nervously as he scratched the back of his head, a sheepish expression on his face. "O-O-Oh? That's... that's a pretty neat way of thinking about it. I mean, I haven't really thought of it that way before..."

'Yes. Use that nervous energy.'

After he nervously chuckled while Tsuyu fixed him with that neutral look of hers, he just snapped his fingers. "Ah, okay, you caught me. I admit it, I've noticed how similar they are too. Sure it's just... well, I guess it's not 'just' a basic enhancement Semblance when you consider the results, but it seems to work like Toshinori's. So... I've been kind of training it up to make it look as much like Toshinori's as I can. You know, follow the example of a great Hero?" That was easier than outright lying... because it wasn't a lie, not really. He was basically telling the truth... just with a small, but hugely significant, chunk cut out.

"And yeah... I call them Smashes because that's what Toshinori calls all his moves... though, I don't think any of my moves are anywhere near as strong or as good as his... mostly because I keep breaking my body whenever I try to use my Semblance to any significant degree. I can't even really risk using it to a large degree without making sure I won't break someone or something else important... so it's... not that great. Still though, that just means I have to work hard to get better control of it, right?"

"Yeah. I mean, not everyone is going to get control over their Semblance within just a couple months of even unlocking their Aura. Heck, the fact that you've come this far says a lot, ribbit ribbit." Tsuyu admitted as she scratched her cheek slightly. "Certainly farther than what I've come up with concerning my own Semblance." Izuku perked up noticeably as Tsuyu mentioned hers and the frog girl noticed immediately. With two round blushes on her cheeks the frog girl demurred for a second before speaking up again. "Have you ever heard of a literary device called hammer space?" Izuku blinked for a moment in clear confusion as Tsuyu just sighed. "Well... to put it simply, I can basically store items in my stomach in excess of what it should be able to hold without their weight affecting me. It takes a small amount of Aura to maintain but so long as I keep the space small enough then I can usually break even every hour when it comes to how much Aura my body naturally recovers and how much Aura it takes to maintain the space."

'Oh. Oh! Oooooh!'

"That's... no way, are you for real?" Izuku asked, genuinely surprised, as Tsuyu stopped for a moment. He watched as her mouth contorted a bit before he heard her swallow multiple times. It took a moment for him to realize that Tsuyu just swallowed her own tongue... and a moment later he watched as Tsuyu leaned back a bit and, from out of her mouth came her tongue holding onto her folded up Machete.

"Yep, completely and totally for real. It's not flashy but at this point I can hold about ten cubic feet of stuff in my stomach all at once... provided I end up exhausting my Aura maintaining a space that huge, ribbit ribbit." With a swish and flick of her tongue Tsuyu's machete disappeared back down her gullet. Her face strained for a moment as she shook her head. "I can't fit anything down there that I can't actually swallow of course, but still, it can be handy."

"That's... REALLY COOL!" Izuku couldn't help but have little stars in his eyes. "A Semblance like that could be used to transfer all kinds of things around for a survival group! Your team could pack who knows how many extra supplies around without even having to worry about being encumbered by your material plus there's not even covering the possibilities of what you can carry on your own person I mean you'll never get taken off guardeverbyanyopponentyou'llalwalysbeabletohavesomekindofweapononhandpluswhoknowshowmanyextrasand-" By that point he'd long since pulled his notebook out and began taking quite liberal notes on Tsuyu's page in his Hunter Analysis For The Future Notebook #13, muttering to himself as he considered all the various potential uses a practical Semblance like that might have.

"Izuku." Tsuyu's flat voice snapped him out of his trance and he looked over at her, seeing those round blushes still on her face before he snapped his gaze back over to his own notebook. Soon enough he put two and two together and realized what he'd just done. He was not even a few seconds into his rushed and humiliated apology before Tsuyu waved him off. "It's cool, I just didn't want you to pass out from a lack of oxygen or something." Izuku laughed nervously as he sheepishly scratched at the back of his head. "Plus it's pretty cool that someone with a flashy Semblance thinks my Semblance has a lot of uses. Most people usually just comment that it makes me seem more like a frog... and they're not wrong. Semblances are weird like that, ribbit ribbit." Before he could comment back, they were both in front of the library.

"Oh hey, this would be my stop." Tsuyu nodded as her long fingered hand gave him a quick wave.

"Well, talk to you later Izuku. Good to finally be able to discuss this with ya, ribbit ribbit." Izuku nodded in agreement as he offered Tsuyu a small wave as well.

"Yeah, I'll see you around Tsu." With that the two of them parted ways.


	36. Meet The Spy

After talking with Tsuyu Izuku finally made it to the library. The wide open space and the sheer number of books, while once dizzying to him not so long ago, had become a more familiar sight as time had gone on. Dropping off his current load of books and getting ready to pick up some new ones, he ended up spotting a familiar face at a rather familiar table. Sure enough, as Tsuyu said, Blake was in the library sitting simply and quietly at a nearby table with a book in hand. It was the same table that, not a few weeks prior, the two of them had sat down to have his discussion about how she'd first seen him immediately following Initiation. He smiled and shook his head as the memory played out... hey, who knows, maybe the two of them could have a slightly better conversation here and now rather than having that heavy stuff hang over her head.

Breaking off from the rest of the library he approached Blake and, before he got up close to her, he actually managed to make out the title of her book. His emerald eyes blinked in surprise and recognition; oh hey, The Man With Two Souls? He'd actually read that way back during Combat School. As part of the more general parts of the curriculum meant to teach them stuff like Math, History, Basic Literacy and all that, the lit. teacher at the time had actually used The Man With Two Souls as one of the class' reading materials. While he was approaching, Blake eyes glance up and she seemed genuinely surprised.

"Izuku! Uh, hi. Fancy meeting you here." Her surprise at seeing him was evident as she placed the book down on the table. With a friendly grin he offered a quick wave.

"Hi there Blake. I hope I'm not interrupting or anything." He commented offhandedly as he stood beside the table. If he was intruding on Blake's personal time then he wouldn't want to make the presumption of taking a seat without her permission. Blake seemed to get over her initial surprise and, eventually, her own calm expression returned as she shook her head.

"No, don't worry Izuku. You weren't interrupting anything. I was just finishing reading my book here... or, re-reading it. I've been taking some time to really look this over recently. Just... caught my eye, you could say." Seeing Izuku standing Blake rolled her eyes slightly and soon offered him a seat. He gave her a quick nod he sat down and took a reaffirming look at the book in Blake's hand.

"Oh, The Man With Two Souls? Holy woah, I haven't read that in years." Blake arched an eyebrow at that, her interest piqued.

"You've read this Izuku?" Izuku offered a quick nod as Blake sheepishly looked down to the side. "I mean, not to sound surprised that you've read something like this, it's just... I didn't figure that old books like this were your type. You came off as more the comic book collector kind of guy, what with your interest in Hunters and Heroes." Izuku smiled a bit sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head.

"Well you aren't wrong..." A slight chuckle escaped Blake's lips as he owned up to it. "But I have read this before as part of a literature class way back at Birch Academy. Admittedly it was a while ago but I still really remember this book. It was pretty... striking." Izuku said with a slight grimace as Blake nodded her head slowly.

"Yeah, that's certainly one way of describing it..." Blake muttered as she looked down at the book. "The story of someone who got so involved with his own desires and vices, to the consideration of nothing else, that his own darker nature ended up taking control of his life and ruining him right up until the moment where it just had to end... not exactly the uplifting story of the century." Izuku nodded his head in agreement but... frowned slightly. While it was true that the story of The Man With Two Souls wasn't exactly uplifting, he never exactly viewed the book as so dark himself. Yes, it was dark and definitely less uplifting than what he normally read, but...

"While I think that's somewhat true for most of the book, I actually kind of sympathize with the Doctor... at least once we get towards the end of the book." Blake looked up at him and there was a somewhat soft smile on her face.

"Not for nothing Izuku but I'm not surprised you'd be sympathetic toward someone in a desperate situation like that." Again he nodded but there was a slight smile on his face as well.

"I mean, sure, there's that but... I mean that I think Doctor Jekyll actually did the right thing in the end." Blake seemed honestly surprised by this and she actually closed the book for a moment to set it to the side. There was something deeply interested in her gaze as she leaned forward.

"I don't think I follow Izuku... Doctor Jekyll causes all this trouble and mayhem and, even if he didn't kill people directly, it's his actions that lay the responsibility of those deaths at his feet. He doesn't 'do the right thing'. He can't stop Hyde, he can't help the people he's hurt and he can't even stop his own desires from forcing him to continue to hurt more people so he just... well, kills himself. It's as good as running or hiding, even if more permanent." Izuku saw her tilt her head to the side. "How is giving up the right thing, Izuku?"

"Well... I don't think he is giving up, Blake." Izuku commented as he brought a hand up to his chin, rubbing it slightly. "It's true, Jekyll's pretty abhorrent when he's just letting these things go on, he only really becomes sympathetic when he realizes how much his own selfish self-indulgence has hurt everyone around him and how much trouble it's causing everyone. You're right that the ending is sad and that it seems bleak but... to me, it always seemed like there was a silver lining. Because Jekyll didn't just give up... he did act Blake. He took responsibility for his actions and was willing to make amends. Sure, it's not in a way I'd ever want anyone to 'actually' make amends, I'd never want anyone to do... that. But it's like you said... Jekyll couldn't destroy Hyde, he couldn't stop him and he couldn't help the people's he's hurt... except for in one way. I think... I think it would've been giving up if Jekyll decided to just let Hyde win. If he decided that despite everything that he didn't owe it to people to try to make amends 'somehow' and to stop Hyde form hurting them."

"So... in the end, while it's sad, I do view Jekyll's final action as sympathetic and positive. He does what he can to make amends and to fix this situation the only way he can." Blake took a short breath as he finished, the black haired girl bringing a hand up to her hair as she nervously fidgeted around with it.

"I mean... it's a nice way to think about it Izuku, that much I can agree with. The idea that it's more a last sacrifice for the greater good... but I mean, with the wider themes of the novel being about duality and the darker actions that can hide behind even seemingly good people... I dunno. Jekyll was trying to do good with his potion and, in the end, just gave in to things that were good for him or that were easy to do. It doesn't really seem like the book's angling for the kind of positive spin on the end that you got out of it." Blake said cautiously as he just let his head drop for a moment, thinking for a second before he met her amber eyes again.

"But I think it's because of what the book seems to build itself around that I think that ending holds merit. Because honestly, I do see it as about duality... the duality in all of us. It's easy for anyone to give in to that kind of indulgence, especially when you think there aren't any real consequences. However, that attitude can make you blind to the harm you do to others, even unintentionally. It takes conscious effort to be good and to do good... and I think that's all supported by the text, right?" Blake nodded a bit cautiously.

"Right... I mean, in the end it's only exposure to the potion that started all this that leave his able to be conscious against Hyde in the end..." Blake said as he gave a firm nod.

"Jekyll does what he can to fix his mistakes... and while he can't fix everything, the ending shows that he is making a conscious effort. That he's trying to make amends and to do good despite his past actions... and he succeeds. Hyde dies with Jekyll and he can't hurt anyone ever again. It shows that doing good is hard... but that no matter what mistakes we make, we can fix them if we give it our best."

Blake's hair somewhat obscured a bit of her face though Izuku could pretty easily make out a melancholy smile that crossed her lips.

"Izuku... I think that's a good way of looking at the book. Still... I mean, it might be a little easier said than done." She looked over at him with a normal, though perhaps somewhat strained, expression as she sighed. "You're the kind of guy who rushes in at the drop of a hat to save 'anyone'. Heck, you'd probably run in to rescue a kitten from a tree... actually, no, no probably about that." She chuckled though he failed to see the joke. "What I mean is... everything I've seen- in the Emerald Forest and what I've heard from our teammates says that you're just... a good person Izuku. I find it hard to believe you've made the kinds of mistakes that someone like Jekyll would have to make up for."

Izuku scratched the back of his head as he considered Blake's point. It was true; on the scale of someone like Doctor Jekyll, he really hadn't done anything quite that bad. He hadn't killed anyone or seriously hurt them physically, he hadn't abused people in his life... in fact, most of the time he was the one taking the abuse. Still... as he thought more and more about his life and the events that transpired, he couldn't help but frown as he recalled his home life. It wasn't bad by any stretched and it was clear he loved his mother and she loved him... but... well...

"You're not wrong. I haven't ever really made any mistakes on the gravity of someone like Doctor Jekyll. I can't claim to understand how being in a position like that feels or how easy or hard it'd be to do the right thing about it." Blake nodded at his admittance, though seemed slightly perplexed when he lift his face to look at her in the eye. "Still though, that doesn't mean that I don't have my regrets or that I'm 'just' a good person. I'm only human, after all." He folded his hands together as he gave it some deep thought, trying to put all his whirring thoughts and emotions into some kind of order. "I talked about how I lost hope at some point... how I felt like I'd lost my dream and how it'd been saved, and I wasn't lying. As determined as I have been... well, it wasn't like I didn't understand the full weight of what was going on. My dream started as one of a wide-eyed child but I did grow up eventually and, well, eventually reality did set in. That I was a Child of The Moon and that following my dream would take a serious toll on me... and my family."

Izuku leaned forward slightly, his elbows resting on his knees as he continued speaking. "My father works from afar to support us. Honestly, I see him so rarely that sometimes I'm convinced that, if it weren't for the family pictures we have around the house, that I'd never see him. So basically that left the responsibility of raising me entirely on my mother... she was the one who had to make sure I was brought up right... and when we figured out I was a Moon Child, she was the one who had to help me deal with that. You can probably imagine that I didn't take the fact that I was Broken too well-" Blake nodded slowly, it being easy to imagine as he frowned slightly, "-my mother ended up taking it just as bad... not that she was angry at me but, I dunno, more like she blamed herself because I was born with a random birth defect. She took me to every doctor around, no matter the cost and... and when I insisted that I wasn't going to give up, that I was still going to try... she let me attend a Combat School."

"Looking back on it-"

 _"I'm sorry Izuku! I wish things were different..."_

 _"... When we were told about your condition, I had honestly given up any hope that you'd ever accomplish your dream. I did my best to smile and to support you in your decisions of course, even letting you go to combat school but... there was always a part of me, deep down inside, that felt like it knew nothing good would come of it. That you'd eventually have to stop... that you'd have to give up on your dreams. I didn't... I didn't believe in you. I didn't have faith in you Izuku-"_

"-my mom probably felt guilty and wanted to try to ease my pain by letting me at least 'try'. I think she figured that I'd give up on it eventually, like any sane person would. But... well, as you can see, I never did. Regardless of the costs involved to myself, I kept going, trying with everything I had to achieve my dream... even if it meant costing my mom as well." HIs frown deepened as he shook his head. "'Especially' if the costs were hers to pay and not mine."

"Izuku..."

"It was crushing... every time I failed something that everyone else could do so easily even while I was working three times as hard as anyone else, every time I ended up injured and having to heal naturally for weeks... it was another reminder that my dream was impossible, and that I was crazy for pursuing it. But I wasn't the only one who was being hurt by it; I saw it in my mom's eyes too. Every time I got hurt, every time I failed, it pained her to see me that way, to see me broken down and just dragging myself along for an impossible dream. She never said it out loud... but I could tell. She was silently begging me to stop. To stop putting myself through so much, so stop causing myself so much pain. She couldn't stand to see her son do something like that to himself. However, because my mother never said it out loud, because she never once wanted to tell me to give up on my dream and to stop... I didn't. Even when I could see she was being burdened by the cost of my dream as well, even when I knew she hated to see me scraping for something that, more and more, looked like an impossible dream... I didn't stop. I couldn't."

"I might have paid for my dream in blood, sweat, my time, my future and... I think you can imagine a lot of tears-" The attempt at humor seemed to fall flat as Blake just stared at him with those amber eyes of hers, her breath caught in her chest, "-my mom paid a heavy cost too. Whether it be in money or health or in suffering under the stress of raising me while I put myself through all this, it all wore down on her... it even cost her some of her happiness, I think. To see me putting myself through that day after day, knowing that... that she wouldn't stop me. I wouldn't stop me either... despite what I was putting us through, I just kept going and willingly let this go on."

"And... and even if my mother 'begged' me to stop... I don't think I would have. I would have continued to push as hard as I could... until I would have either been forced to give up by someone with the power to make me quit or until I died..."

 _"Most Grimm can't be beat unless you have Aura. So no, I honestly don't think you can become a Huntsman without it."_

 _"Deku!? What are you doing here?!"_

 _"Kacchan, I couldn't just stand there and watch you die!"_

"Izuku... it turned out they were wrong though. It was pure negligence... you could've been a Huntsman all that time."

Izuku held back tears as Blake spoke. Gods, what a lie. What a horrible lie when he put it into the context of everything he put himself and his mother through. To condense all that suffering on his part and on hers to 'it was just a mistake'.

"Even so Blake... I... I was just lucky. I was lucky that someone came along and found out that I 'could' be a Huntsman, that I could be a Hero... but that doesn't change the fact that 'I' did all that. That knowing what I did at the time, even if... even if it was wrong, I still thought I was Broken. I was still putting my mother through watching me almost destroy myself to chase an impossible dream. In a way... I guess I do understand Jekyll's feelings somewhat. No matter what I do as a Huntsman, regardless of how many people I save... I don't think I'll ever really be able to make it up to my mother. Everything I did, I did myself. It wasn't anyone else's fault but my own. Even if I live out my dream, even if I become a Symbol of Peace... I'll have to live with that..."

There's a heavy silence that sat between the pair of them as Izuku finished. He'd long since clenched his hands together so tightly that his knuckles have practically gone white. He wasn't sure at the time how Blake was responding to all that, honestly he hadn't the guts to really look her in the fact right after admitting all that. Gods, she'd just asked about a character from a book and what he'd done and here he was, talking about the worst thing he'd probably done and to his mother no less. His friends, they were good people. He didn't want to think about what must've been going through her mind at the moment, what she must've thought about what he did.

"... It's hard, having a big dream like that, a dream that everyone thinks isn't possible. Especially when pursuing it hurts the people you care about..." He paused for a second as Blake spoke, the black haired young woman nervously fiddling with her hair as she seemed to try to speak. "I'm no expert on parents but... it really does sound like your mother cares about you a lot. That she made a choice that she was going to support your dream... even if it was impossible. I mean... it is a choice, right? Between telling your child that their dreams aren't... aren't feasible, that they're making a mistake and between supporting them, even when it might be impossible. The latter... it sounds like it was really painful... but she chose to put herself and you through it too, right?"

"What am I even trying to say..." He heard Blake mutter to herself. He got the feeling she didn't do this often. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that... this was a choice you and your mother made together. You made it because you wanted to save people and... she made it because she... loves you?" It seemed more like a question and he almost chuckled at her uncertainty. "And that... you're right, you didn't make a mistake like Jekyll made. You hurt her... but she was willing to go through with it for you. That it might not be as hard to get her to forgive you as you imagine..."

"I mean... that's just what I think it sounds like, anyway..."

 _"-and I'm so sorry for that."_

" _I'm your mother... if I'm not going to have faith in my son and his dreams them who will... how could I have expected you to live up to any potential you had if I didn't have faith in you. From now on... I'm going to be behind you 100% Izuku. I'll support you no matter what you decide to do or where your life goes."_

He was not entirely sure when she did it but, somewhere along the line, Blake surreptitiously slipped him a bit of cloth. As he dabbed it around his eyes he finally looked back up to face Blake and handed the cloth back. She looked uncomfortable with being the person in the position of trying to comfort someone for once and it seemed like being seated with him while he was crying his eyes out in the middle of the library with everyone around to see and whisper about was causing her no small amount of embarrassment.

Even still, she was trying to offer up a look of sympathy and he can't say that it came off any more awkwardly than his own attempts.

"Blake... thanks..." After he finished crying his little heart out, Blake flinched back a bit as she scratched her cheek.

"It's... fine. I really didn't say that much and, well, what I did say was pretty mangled. You don't need to thank me."

"Still, I'm going to. You... gave me a lot to think about and some time to really put it out there. I didn't realize that all of this was weighing on me like it was... maybe because I was avoiding thinking about it at all." His expression firmed up into a determined one, a turn that surprised the amber eyed girl across from him, as he did his best to smile. "I think I'm going to call my mom again soon. Just so that she doesn't worry... besides, it's as much the result of her hard work that I'm here as it is mind, so it seems right. So... thanks again for helping me realize it Blake." Blake just smiled as best she could at the end of that and, despite some hesitation on her part, she nodded.

"Well... if you're going to insist on thanking me, then I suppose I have no choice by to say that you're welcome." The two of them chuckled for a moment and, before long, Izuku stopped crying, people stopped whispering around he and Blake and the two of them... well, surprisingly, actually got back to discussing the book itself. Izuku don't feel liberated or any cheesy thing like that but... talking about all that and having Blake, in her own awkward way, tried to reassure him... it did make him feel at least a little bit better, for now. Soon enough an hour, and then two, passed along and he and Blake took notice.

"Oh man, I meant to pick up some books myself. It's gotten pretty late." Izuku mentioned as Blake nodded.

"Yeah, I was going to turn this in after finishing it so that I could get another book. Didn't think I'd be sitting down for an in-depth discussion of it." Izuku couldn't help but smile at that.

"Still, I think it was... fun." He chuckled nervously, the beginning part of discussing the book with Blake probably wasn't exactly 'fun' but it did get there eventually. Blake nodded in agreement.

"Yeah... I had considered joining up with the Literature Club a little while back but... well, it was a bit of a bigger group than I might've liked. Plus between all of Tenya's team activities and... other stuff, I didn't have much time for it." Blake looked down at her copy of the book, a curious look coming over her face. "But... I think I could enjoy doing something like this more often. And... you seem like a pretty good person to read with Izuku... if you'd be interested, I wouldn't mind picking up similar books for us to discuss." Izuku blinked in some surprise at Blake's suggestion and gave it some thought… he looked over the books, and said the first one that caught his eye.

"Frankenstein: The Modern Sage."

"The Modern Sage huh? Another classic and one I was looking forward to reading but I didn't think you'd be up on reading that, Izuku." Blake's surprise caused him to smile, as if he'd won some minor battle by going with that one. When he'd agreed to Blake's request she seemed rather genuinely pleased.

"Well, the way you described it made it sound like a good and interesting book so, hey, why not." Izuku said with a bit of a laugh as Blake's visage broke into a small grin for a moment.

"It's as good a reason to read a book as any, really." With that Blake took one of the copies of Frankenstein into her own personal bag while he took his own copy into his hands. "Alright so we'll read this and... well, I'm a pretty fast reader. Just tell me whenever you're done and then we can get together to discuss it." He nodded somewhat enthusiastically himself as he stood up.

"Yeah, sounds great Blake. Now, I've got a few books to find myself for classes this week so... I think I should get on that." Blake just nodded as she began packing up her own things and he took that as his own signal to head off. As he did so however-

"Hey, listen, Izuku." He turned to face her and he saw a slight frown on Blake's face. "You... haven't heard any stupid rumors about... you or me going around, have you?" Izuku blinked in some confusion as Blake asked this, before shaking his head no. Blake sighed in visible relief as she looked around at the crowd of people sitting around the library. It's quick but he noticed a few of them glancing his way and then whispering here and there. "Just... do me a favor and if you hear any ridiculous rumors, just try to ignore them, okay?"

"Uh... sure Blake, no problem." With that, and one last curious look to the side that he couldn't quite read, Blake wandered on off, leaving him to his business in the library.

* * *

He would never admit this aloud to another soul, but Tenya Iida found a slight spring to his step as he finished gathering his books, deftly pivoting on the ball of his foot and heading for one of the nearby tables in the library. Ruby and Izuku had liked his cooking attempts the other day, and it had inspired him to try several more recipes. Or at least take some ideas and see if his more culinary-acclimated teammates could help him do it properly. As much as he wanted to crow about what he's accomplished already, it wouldn't have been possible without the teaching of his teammates, and reminded him he still had far to go before reaching their level.

It wasn't something he would dedicate his life to, but he found it a rather pleasing hobby. Him, of all people, with a hobby.

"Is that a good book?"

Tenya blinked as he was snapped back to reality, quickly looking around to find the source of the voice when he noticed Blake was actually sitting down at the table with one of her tiny smiles of bemusement. "I didn't know you enjoyed cooking that much."

"Ah! I apologize for not greeting you, Miss Belladonna! I was in thought." Idly he noted the several books that she had set onto the table. Only two of them seemed to have any correlation to their learning curriculum, while a thinner book was sandwiched in the middle. But he had rudely ignored her inquiry, and straightened his back before explaining. "I was actually pondering the similarities between cooking and engineering." Her eyebrow piqued elegantly, and he took that as a request to explain. "You see, no meal or device is simply made complete. They require specialized parts and ingredients, put together in a particular fashion and dutifully overseen so as to create a final product that everyone can enjoy, and one can make personal adjustments and nuances would improve the product even more so. I find it rather fascinating, and I am enjoying the act of learning how to make things more than I expected I would."

Rather than respond, she leaned an elbow atop her book pile and let out a soft 'hmm' in her own musings on the matter. "That's actually a really good point. I never really thought about the hard work people put into either of them, to be honest." There was something wistful in her tone, but he couldn't comprehend its origin.

"Neither did I! It really makes me appreciate all the hard work my mother put into her meals. I am genuinely humbled." He nodded firmly, when he noticed her wince ever so slightly. His smile curled into a thoughtful frown, about to open his mouth and make an inquiry before Blake beat him to the punch.

"Tenya...what's your family like?" Her tone was hesitant, and her gaze drifted to the table. "I don't mean to pry, but I guess I forget people have families and lives outside of when I see them. You've been asking about us, but I don't think any of us have really asked much about you." She looked back at him, a surprising firmness in her stare. "I want to fix that."

Once again, he found himself taken aback by his teammates and their thoughtfulness. They've all gone out of their way to include him in their own interests, and it brought a flare of pride to know they thought so highly of him as to ask about his own life.

And before you ask, No, he wasn't crying!

After several quick breaths he wiped at the sudden and totally unrelated expression of moisture in his eyes, and was thoroughly ignoring Blake's smirk as he finally spoke up. "Well, my family has always been very active. My grandfather is the head of the family, as well as our company, while my father takes care of many operations and deals. Mother has always been incredibly supportive of us, while father has been insistent on Tensei and I becoming Hunters."

"Sounds like a lot of pressure."

"It was, but only because we were expected to live up to our family name."

"But what about your dad? Was he a hunter too?"

"No. His aura is not as strong as ours, so grandfather felt he would only risk himself."

"I see."

Something in her tone was speculative, but he pushed it aside. "What about yours, Blake?" She blinked. "Well, when I asked about parents before, you didn't seem to say anything. I don't wish to be rude, but I admit there I feel some curiosity." He quickly brought his hands up. "Though if you wish to keep such to yourself, I will by no means judge. You are allowed your privacy, so please don't take my inquiry as some form of order!" His voice was steadily growing louder as he spoke, worried he'd managed to insult his partner. Maybe she didn't know! Maybe she lost her family to the Grimm! And he, in his arrogance, had ignorantly stamped all over such raw feelings and emotions! His rudeness knew no bounds! He would apologize right awa-

"I was just embarrassed, actually."

And there went that idea!

"The fact is, well, can you promise to keep it between us." He nodded vigorously. "The truth is, my parents are in charge of..an entire village." The last part was squeaked out, and he found himself leaning in the table intently. Thankfully she continued. "The village isn't all that big, so I doubt you could find it on a map or anything. And I'm not embarrassed by them, honestly, but I know Yang would make jokes about me being some kind of princess." As much as Tenya wanted to defend their teammate, it was hard to do so against facts. "But I haven't really talked to them in awhile. I love my parents with all my heart, but the last time I did we got into a fight, and I kinda sorta ran away from home." Now her face had a growing flush of crimson, idly dragging a nail over the cover of a book.

He wanted to yell at her for doing something so reckless, but they were in a library, and the librarian had already given him a few hard glares. And, more importantly, he wouldn't dare cast such aspersions on his partner. "I see." He managed, ignoring how she seemed to tense up. "Well, have you talked to them since then?" She shook her head, and he sighed before moving his chair closer to hers. "Miss Belladonna..Blake..I am sure you had your reasons, and I will not inquire about them. But I do insist that you at least contact your parents, to inform them of your safety if nothing else."

Her response was a snort. "I just can't. I acted like such a brat, and I-I don't want to see how angry they are at me for it."

"Which do you think they are doing more of; angry that you left home without saying anything, or worried that you haven't talked to them and they are unaware of your health?"

The answer should have been obvious, but she found herself turning even redder even as her neck began to tense and then loosen in a quick cycle. He was sure he'd overstepped some bounds, and would vocally apologize for his behavior later. But he recalled the behavior Ruby had spoken about when her own teammate was unruly, and how Izuku told her some things simply needed to be confronted instead of being left to fester. It was obviously something that Blake thought about, and hopefully it would help some of her unease. "If nothing else, Blake, I would ask you to consider it at your own pace. I will leave you to do so." He slowly got to his feet, only to stop and look down at her. "And one last thing, if I may be so bold."

Eventually she looked up.

He smiled and gave her a firm thumbs up. "I support your affections for Izuku."

Naturally surprised at this bluntness, she blushed, sputtered, and sprang to her feet. "How-I mean," She coughed and calmed herself down from yelling. "What makes you think I have a crush on Izuku." Her words came out in a hissed whisper.

"I was told by Ruby, who was told by Mister Ren, who was told by Miss Valkyrie, who was told by Professor Aizawa, who was told by Professor Yagi."

"Of course." She muttered and started to sink into her chair again.

"Indeed. And while I'm quite certain Miss Xiao Long has feelings for him as well, I will remain impartial and support both of your romantic endeavors." He nodded and offered what he hoped was a encouraging smile. "I wish you both the best of luck." With his blessings given, he turned to head out of the library with books in tow, all in all feeling very positive about the whole endeavor.

From the way Blake was rolling her face on the table, at least her mood was better than it was before. Very positive indeed!

* * *

 **E/N: Meet The Spy by Preventer Squall at the end.**

 **-Shovern**

 **Thus we come to how we finally got to bring Blake more into Izuku's circle of friends. Like Tokoyami, you kind of have to force her out of her comfort zone in order to get her in a story properly.**

 **However, Blake has some...problems in this story that come from the simple fact that the posters on Spacebattles already know most of her issues. It becomes more obvious later in the story, but it starts here by bringing up Izuku's failure to work out his issues with his mother, and how that works into Blake's own guilt with her parents.**

 **-Wind-waker**

 **A/N: Due to a mistake I made in calculating the dates in my head, this one ended up coming out a day late. Rest assured, the next chapter will come out on the 7th still like it would have under the old schedule.**

 **Apologies for the inconvenience.**

 **-gorilla_fingers**


	37. Racing Ahead

"I regret to inform you that for the next few weeks the boys' toilets will be out of order. Until those are repaired, the girls` toilets will be considered mixed and available for everyone to use. Thank you for your co-operation.", Shota Aizawa explained in a bored tone while applying some eye drops.

The girls weren't happy with that. At all.

"Seriously? No way! Why?", they moaned irritatedly, looking at their teacher.

"I regret to inform you Beacon currently has no janitor to deal with it. The last one just quit last week."

"What? Then just hire new ones! Why do we all have to suffer from it?"

Shota Aizawa, unkempt and unshaven as always, just smirked.

"Well, _maybe_ , just maybe, some of you students should occasionally try to cut back a bit on the collateral damage on school grounds. Because the janitor had pretty much told us well before that incident in no uncertain terms that he didn't come here to work as an engineer, plumber and gardener in personal union to repair all the wanton destruction you people regularly cause. And after that incident he called us a bunch of crazies and that, and I quote, "I'm not getting frickin paid enough for all the shit those psychotic teenagers always pull and they can all drown in their own excrements as far as I'm concerned!", end of quote."

Some of the students had the decency to blush at that, while others just tried their best to look like innocence incarnated.

"And let me remind you, once you've graduated, you'll be paying all your bills on your own. So maybe try to get into the habit of _not_ driving yourself into debt through collateral damage.", Aizawa continued mercilessly.

"Couldn't Professor Goodwitch repair it easily with her Semblance?", Izuku Midoriya asked. Considering he had experienced firsthand the way Glynda Goodwitch usually repaired most of the damage his One-For-All training left the teacher training grounds with, the boy couldn't help but wonder about that.

"For one thing, she's currently not around due to school business necessitating a short trip for her. Also, if you want to tell Glynda Goodwitch that she should act as a plumber for the sake of some idiots who considered it funny to blow up the toilets with a Dust-fueled prank, be my guest. Especially when the student unlucky enough to sit on that specific toilet is still being treated for mild burns."

Izuku's eyes went wide for a moment, both out of sympathy for that student and due to his firsthand knowledge about Goodwitch's strict character. No way he'd walk into _that_ minefield willingly.

"Sucker deserved it if their aura can't even tank some mild Dust explosion without getting hospitalized. Bunch of weaklings around here.", Katsuki Bakugo grumbled, bored by the whole topic. As far as he was concerned he'd take a piss wherever he frickin wanted, thank you very much. Using the girls' toilets might be a little weird at first, but well, it's not like he was _Deku_ and had to be ashamed of anything.

"Honestly, you're all future Huntsmen who are cohabitating which includes sharing a bathroom. You should be used to a bit of embarrassment by now.", Aizawa added, entirely ignoring Bakugo's lack of empathy.

"That's not the same, boys will at least behave themselves somewhat when they're aware their team would know who is at fault. But mixed public toilets tend to be terrible pits of filth due to everyone acting like they own them and doing whatever they want there!", a second year student complained.

"Pfft, don't make such a big deal out of it, in the future you'll be crapping into bushes during missions most of the times, so shake it off already.", Bakugo sneered at her.

All the girls' eyes turned to him in unison. Luckily none of them had a Semblance to weaponize their annoyed glances. _'The girl that could do_ that _graduated last year.'_ , Aizawa thought.

"Listen up, boys!", Yang Xiao Long declared, while walking up to Aizawa. Then she unceremoniously smacked her hands on the teacher's desk for emphasis until all eyes were on her. Aizawa smirked, content to just watch the show for now.

"Nothing that can be done about it. But this is the rules, better listen while I lay them down for y'all! First, flush when you're done. Or we'll find you, push your face in it like you were an unruly cat and teach you to flush as a live experience that will stick with you due to your head sticking right in it.", the blonde boomed, while Blake did her best to hide herself being offended at that cat part.

"Second, no peeping or using scrolls for any perverted things. Or I'll rip something off so you will be able to keep using the girls' toilets even after yours are repaired. Though no peeping from the girls' front either."

"Like _abs-fetish girl_ should talk!", a few of the boys and girls grumbled under their breath, but were quickly shut up when the blonde bombshell glanced at them with the eyes of a predator at large.

"Third, _absolutely_ no taking a piss while standing or..."

"Or we'll break your legs!", Nora chimed in helpfully, while looking around and grinning maniacally.

"I was about to say we'll kick your ass, but I actually like Nora's plan better. If you won't take a seat by yourself, might as well take away your ability to do anything _but_ sit. And from what I've heard, my girl Nora's an absolute _expert_ on that front, so who am _I_ to object to the assessment of a professional?"

All the girls were hollering, while most of the boys looked suitably embarrassed, intimidated or both.

Thus Yang considered her mission successfully accomplished.

Tenya Iida, all suited up in his armor, was running through the hallways until he was stopped by a third year student. The girl was the acting hall monitor.

"Absolutely no running in the halls! Slow down immediately and state your name and year!"

"Te- Tenya Iida, first year! Bu-, but I, I'm sorry, this really is an emergency! I need to get to the next building in a hurry! So if I could humbly ask of you to step aside.", Tenya gestured in shame, blushing at the mere thought of having violated school rules.

"Surely you can still do so in a manner actually following allowed procedures and code of conduct?", the girl argued, slightly placated by his manners, but still peaking a brow in disapproval.

"It, it's... IT'S A MATTER OF PERSONAL RELIEF AND HYGIENE!", the young boy finally spat out, cramping his legs together in shame.

"If that is supposed to mean you... have to use the bathroom urgently, I assure you the girls toilets are in working condition and you're allowed to use them as a temporal exception, as you should have already been told by one of your teachers."

The girl looked at him commiserating.

"I could lead you there, if you want me to? Maybe you need some help in taking that heavy armor off? Upper classmen are supposed to help out the first years after all. I assure you, it wouldn't be a bother."

By now Tenya Iida was red like a tomato and his eyes widened in utter horror, especially at her last suggestion.

"NO, FOR A YOUNG GENTLEMAN LIKE ME THAT WOULD JUST BE IMPROPER BEHAVIOUR! I'LL JUST USE THE TOILET IN MY TEAM'S ROOM INSTEAD!"

The girl smirked slightly.

"Oh, there's nothing to be embarrassed about! But be that as it may, absolutely no exceptions, there will be no running in the halls under my watchful eye!"

"BUT I, I...", Tenya began, before deciding to swallow the rest of that sentence.

"I'm deeply ashamed about upsetting order and making your job more difficult. I apologize, you do fine doing your duty for the sake of our esteemed school, while I egotistically allowed my base instincts to take over my rational thoughts!", Tenya said with tears in his eyes, bowing deeply to the hall monitor.

The girl blushed at the younger boy's words and the hint of his tears, playing with a lock of her hair, nervously.

"Well, you don't have to actually go _that_ far, bowing that deeply, I'm... sure you didn't mean anything bad by it? You do seem well behaved after all...", she muttered, while watching the poor boy open a window, apparently trying to get some relief for his plight by getting a breath of fresh air. The sight was actually _kinda_ cute.

Then the boy simply jumped outside.

The hall monitor panicked and immediately ran to the window, sticking her head out...

...only to see the first year run down vertically on the side of the building, using what seemed like wind Dust engines built into his armor to achieve an impressive amount of grip and velocity.

The former blush on her face was replaced by the hot flush of the righteous anger of a hall monitor being impeded in her sacred duties.

" _ **Stop right this instant**_ **, DELINQUENT !** ", she screamed after him.

"I'm certainly not running in the hallways and I don't think I'm actually breaking any other school rule by this course of action either, but take my apologies anyways...", the boy's voice faded away.

The girl pulled up her scroll, booting up the school regulations file.

"Damn it, there's _gotta be some rule_ against what that guy is pulling there and I swear I'll find it! _Tenya Iida_ ? I'll remember that name, _delinquent_ !"

* * *

"Alright so, Izuku will ask Professor Goodwitch about whether we can use a classroom to set up the birthday party sometime in the next couple days. Good, solid. While I'm setting up the decorations, the beverages and the snacks, with some advice given out by Nora to ensure I don't bring anything too 'boring'..." Weiss muttered as she looked over at her energetic partner, said bubbly bomber just giving a big old grin and a thumbs up as Weiss sighed in some annoyance, "... Nora will go ahead and take Pyrrha out for a day on the town. Anywhere she wants to go, she can go and make a day of it... and Nora and I will convince her to do so even if she's hesitant." Weiss checked those items off the list that she had been organizing of their group's suggestions.

For the past several hours the three of them had huddled down into a little circle in order to dish out what ideas they'd had as far as organizing Pyrrha's birthday would go. Lots of ideas went here and there and quite a few ended up on the cutting room floor because one party or another objected too strongly; as much as they did eat pancakes, Izuku shot down Nora's idea about an all-pancake party, saying that it was 'Pyrrha's' Birthday and that she deserved to have something other than just pancakes offered to eat and that the others might also appreciate some variety. Nora decried this as heresy but, after a while, it was clear the energetic girl did see reason and calmed down. Weiss' suggestion of classical music as an entertainment option was, likewise, gunned down by Nora.

Izuku really didn't have many ideas; he wasn't a partying type of person, either in the going to them or organizing them way, so he didn't have too many ideas. Which was why he was more than happy to listen to Nora and Weiss' advice on the matter so that they could get the best birthday put together for Pyrrha as possible.

"Meanwhile, Izuku handles inviting everyone else and baking the cake. These are a very fair and equitable split of responsibilities, so thank you Izuku."

... Okay, well, he came up with the ideas for 'how' to get Pyrrha's birthday arranged but he wasn't going to step on Weiss' or Nora's toes when it came to actually getting their stuff done.

"O-Oh it's no big deal. After all I cook enough already so it doesn't really seem like I've got a hard job if you ask me..." He scratched the back of his head as Weiss shook her head.

"Come now Izuku, baking a cake is no small feat. After all, we have an entire butler whose job it is to make cakes for celebrations or parties, so it has to be a demanding job." Izuku saw Nora's face go slack for a moment, before a hungry look came over her eyes and a little bit of a drool slipped out the corner of her mouth.

"You... you have a cake butler?" Weiss couldn't help but grin a little bit at that as she shrugged her shoulders.

"I suppose I do at that, Nora."

"... I want to live your life for one day..." Nora muttered just low enough for only Izuku to hear it and Izuku couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of what Nora would do with a cake butler. After a moment, he frowned as he brought his hand to his chin, thinking deeply as he realized... he had no idea what to get Pyrrha for her birthday. He had 100 Lien on his card, sure, but... well, that wasn't not much for a birthday present, was it?

"Hey, guys..." Nora and Weiss turned to face him as he looked up at them, a slight frown on his features. "I only actually have 100 Lien on hand... I was wondering... what kind of present do you think Pyrrha would like? I mean, I want to get her something she'd actually like but... well, I have no idea what to get her... or if I have the money to actually get her something she'd actually like. You guys have hung around with her and you're... well, girls." Izuku coughed into his fist at that, his face slightly red as Weiss and Nora nodded at the obvious. "What do you think Pyrrha would like as a present?

Before Weiss could get a word out edgewise, he felt Nora flicked a finger at his forehead, causing him to flinch back as the orange haired girl just smiled ruefully.

"Silly Izuku, what kind of thinking is that? Pyrrha would love just about 'any' gift we'd get her, heck, especially if we came up with something nice ourselves! She probably already gets loads of super expensive or flashy gifts from fans or crazy people, so she wouldn't give a lick if it wasn't all the money you had in your account. Heck, she'd probably be thrilled if you just baked her an amazingly nice cake!" Nora exclaimed excitedly as Weiss narrowed her gaze.

"Nora, that last point isn't just because 'you'd' like it if Izuku spent a lot of money on cake ingredients to bake a nice one, is it?" Izuku saw Nora chuckle somewhat nervously as she scratched the back of her head.

"What? Come one Weiss, what kind of person do you take me for? Of course that's not the only reason! I'm sure Pyrrha would love it too!" Weiss sighed as she shook her head at Nora's... well, Noraness, but the Heiress did turn to face him.

"While I would think carefully about fully believing Nora's take on the cake... I don't think she's wrong either. Pyrrha doesn't really seem to like flashy stuff or a lot of attention. That's why we're trying to arrange for some place quiet and private rather than somewhere out in Vale. Just make it something nice Izuku... like a cake I guess..." Weiss glared over at Nora who had been poking her in her side with a smile, "-and I'm sure Pyrrha would enjoy it." Izuku nodded in understanding as the three of them quickly got down to the business of handling the birthday preparations.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

Izuku took deep, long breath as he slowly but surely bent his knees. In the training arena he and Glynda had used to work with One For All for these past several weeks, he was currently facing a corner where two of the walls happened to meet. He'd been training for several hours and, despite himself, he was taking another attempt at it. He felt tired but he just needed to get another round in. Just to try to get better at his control! He took a deep, long breath as he closed his eyes and did his best to push One For All through his system, as much as he could handle.

He felt 5% of One For All focus itself into his legs, pumping him full of energy as he chanced a glance up the particular wall he was looking to scale this time. With a short yell he burst off the ground, boosted up by the power he had churning through his legs. With a mighty leap he was sent a good ways up the length of the wall, far more than he might ordinarily be, as his feet briefly kicked up against the wall to send him higher. Now, as his eyes glanced over to the other wall, for the hard part. He did his best to bring One For All into his arms in order to help launch himself off the wall and onto the other one... and he actually pulled it off! He pushed off the wall with all his might and soar towards the other one that made up the corner. He was looking to go even higher, to force his body to go even further beyond...

Which was right when he felt his control over One For All slip while he was at least twenty feet pushed up into the air thanks to his previous successes.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" He hit the wall face first and, though that pain wasn't enough to make him scream, the fact that he was falling like a limp noodle down towards the wooden floor 'was'. As he was rocketing down toward the ground, however, he eventually felt something reach around him and slow his descent, a familiar energy shining around his body as his fall slowed to a crawl, whereupon he was able to set his feet firmly on the ground with no issues at all. He took several deep breaths, at this point just grateful to have gotten back on the ground without slamming onto his back or head, as Glynda slowly approached.

"I think that's enough for today Mr. Midoriya. As eternally amusing as it is to stop you from falling and breaking your back, I'm afraid even I can have my fill of fun." The deeply sarcastic tone of Glynda's voice told him that she had about had her limit of him training himself to such ends for today as well and, with a slight sigh, he nodded his head and admitted his defeat for now. "I swear, even when you're not breaking your bones you're finding new and interesting ways of putting your body into peril. I shudder to think what might've gone on if I hadn't decided to oversee you."

"And I do appreciate it Miss Goodwitch, really! I know you probably have a million different things to be doing given your position, so I'm sorry for wasting your time, but..." Izuku watched as Glynda's face seemed to strain as he went about apologizing and offering up his reasons. Unbeknownst from his perspective, he had inadvertently begun giving what his friends had rapidly referred to as the 'puppy dog eyes'. Eyes which, despite his age, still seemed to be quite effective as he defaced himself.

"Mr. Midoriya, it's quite alright..." She said with a sighed as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I wouldn't have offered by time if I didn't think helping the next Symbol of Peace prepare himself wouldn't be a good use of it." Izuku smiled slightly as he nodded and, following that, Glynda just clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "Now run along. I think your friends will be quite relieved that you aren't coming back from a training exercise with any injuries at all this time around." His smile widened; that's actually probably true, when he thought about it I mean, after all, Pyrrha's birthday was that week, and he needed to... oh, hey, that's right.

"Miss Goodwitch?" Glynda turned to face him as he spoke up, watching as he rubbed his elbow slightly as he thought of how to word his question. "Listen... Pyrrha's birthday is this week and we've been discussing ideas for how we can help her celebrate it. We figure she wouldn't want anything big or out in the open, so we were thinking we could have a private little party with just our friends here on campus... but none of our dorm rooms are big enough." Yeah, twelve people stuffed into one room could be a bit tricky and even Glynda seemed to agree with that. "So I was wondering if there was any way we could... I dunno, borrow a classroom after school hours?" Izuku saw Glynda stiffen up a bit as she brought her hand to her chin, stroking it slightly while she thought.

"... I don't know Mr. Midoriya. That's a bit of an odd request. Most people usually hold parties somewhere out on the town for these kinds of things. Classrooms are usually only assigned for Club Activities... I think you can imagine the sort of precedent we'd set if we suddenly started allowing them to be loaned out for students to party..." Izuku frowned slightly as, yeah, his imagination 'did' envision what might happen if students suddenly thought they could use classrooms after hours for celebrations.

"I understand Professor but... well, it's only the twelve of us and Pyrrha wouldn't really like the attention if we went out in Vale, I think. Please? I promise that the room will be just as clean when we leave as when we found it! Heck, maybe even cleaner!" Izuku watched Glynda's frown furrow more as the older woman considered the request...

"... You promise?" Izuku nodded fervently as Glynda seemed to take this under consideration. "... I wouldn't believe that coming out of most students. Fine Mr. Midoriya, I will allow you to use a classroom for this celebration... however, I have stipulations that must be followed... break my trust on any of these and I assure you, you won't have another opportunity like this again. Understood?" He nodded his head fervently as Glynda snapped her riding crop slightly, pointing it in his face which caused him to snap to attention. "No alcohol, no illicit substances, no destroyed property and, most importantly, under any circumstance, 'no roaming about campus with the party'. You want this room? You keep the party to it." Glynda brought her riding crop back to her side as she looked down at him. "Are these terms amenable, Izuku Midoriya? I will hold 'all' of your friends and yourself accountable if these terms are broken."

"Yes ma'am."

"Good," the taller woman turned, and began to march out of the room. Izuku just sighed, glad that he wasn't being glared at anymore. However, as she heard the door to the room open, he heard her offer one last word.

"Oh," a smirk on the edge of her words, "And have fun."

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

The party meant a lot to Izuku.

As he tied his apron's knot behind him, a determined look on his face, he considered just what it meant. It would be the first time, ever, that he was arranging or doing anything special for a friend. He hadn't grown up with a lot and even while he and Kacchan had been friends, it hadn't exactly been long enough for him to do anything special for his birthday. That was usually left to his parents or his mom. It was the first time he had a responsibility to a friend to make sure their birthday was something great, something they'd remember, something that would show how their friendship meant to him.

That it was Pyrrha, his partner, who had been of such a huge help to his, who had so much confidence and belief in him when even he was nervous, that just meant he had to go Plus Ultra and make sure everything would go well! With a firm nodded he finished tucking his hair into a hairnet, a pretty big one for that dense forest he called hair, and then looked to his ingredients. They were some pretty fancy stuff. Pure vanilla extract, buttermilk, baking soda, good quality flour, confectioner's sugar and lots and lots of eggs upon a myriad of other ingredients. He may have only been well-versed in making pancakes so far, but that didn't mean he lacked experience in the kitchen over all thanks to all those late nights making snacks for Nora.

He quickly cracked his fingers as he immediately began going through the recipe.

Baking a cake was a pretty complicated process compared to pancakes, he had to keep his eye on a lot of dough balls. There was the icing to look after to make sure it was actually forming up well, the cake itself which had to be constantly looked after to make sure he didn't overdo it, then there was the actual design phase. He was no artist so he knew a missed corner here and there was going to be inevitable.

That just meant he had to go back and make it look as pretty as possible once he finished with the overall layer.

Hours went by but, soon enough, the two cakes took form. Nice and large and, to an outside perspective, definitely looking delicious. With a slight frown, he knew that his moment had come. Taking a pinkie finger he quickly dabbed it into one of the cake's frosting, took a lick, cleaned it, and then repeated...

Huh, the cakes pretty much tasted exactly the same.

And they tasted 'great'!

He couldn't help the smile that came over as he untied the knot of his apron. He finished the cake... and managed to make two cakes of the 'exact' same quality, somehow! That was good as far as he was concerned; that just meant that there'd definitely be enough cake for everyone to have at least two pieces. Hopefully everyone else liked it as well, though given that he wasn't much of a sweet tooth and he liked these cakes, he had to imagine it'd be fine for everyone else as well...

A quick dab to disguise the areas where he did his quick taste test and the cake was good to go... now, for Pyrrha's gift.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

The tools felt familiar in his hands as he sat down, a block of wood placed right in front of him as he stared at it with a determined vigor. It'd been a while since he'd taken to carving and, before, that had been to make little custom figurines before...

How much harder could it be to make two symmetrical, smooth halves of a wooden locket? I mean sure, carefully carving out the insides to make room for the team photo the guys took with the Ursa would be a bit tricky just because he 'really' didn't want to accidentally punch a hole in his progress and have to start over but hey, if he was careful then that wouldn't happen, right? He wasn't 'any' good at metalworking at all, especially not when it came to jewelry, and he didn't really know any of his friends who really did... maybe Ruby and Tenya would be able to manage with their own experience but, well, he could ask them when he actually had most of a locket to present them. For now he had to just wipe the sweat from his brow and get down to carving.

The carving ended up being an even more time consuming process than baking the cakes, though for a different reason. With the cakes there was just so much to keep up with and do all at once, so many processes and steps you had to take in order to ensure that everything turned out right. It was a labor and a half and it demanded his time as such. With carving, it was taking up time because he had to be so careful. One false move and all his progress would be undone. One wrong chip and his wood would, essentially, be useless. He needed it to be symmetrical so that it would look nice. He needed to keep it looking just right to be sure that Pyrrha's gift would look nice! Then he had to start carving out the interior so that the picture could be slipped in once everything would be done... and there were SO many close calls. So many moments where his hand nearly slipped and split the locket right in two or where he nearly carved off an entire chunk when he only needed to carve a slip.

Yet, when all was said and done, he didn't make those horrific mistakes. He didn't horrifically butcher the wood carving and, in fact, it looked quite good if he did say so himself.

Which he did, so that was that. He sighed in relief as he once again cleaned his brow with an increasingly damp rag, the sensitivity of the task at hand having made him increasingly nervous. Now, however, raising his hard work into the light to take a good look at it, he couldn't help but smile. It looked good, he thought... hopefully Pyrrha would think so too...

Especially when it was done.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"Wow Deku, this looks really good! It's so smooth and everything! I'm sure Pyrrha'll love it!"

Izuku smiled and blushed under Ruby's praise as he sheepishly scratched at the back of his head. Izuku had gone to ask Tenya and Ruby to see if they'd be willing to help him by forging and crafting the metallic bits of Pyrrha's gift for him, as he had basically no skill at it at all. To his surprise, Tenya had refused; not because he didn't want to help but because, in his words, he'd be exceptionally poor help. While Tenya was a wiz when it came to design and doing the work of setting pieces into their place, upgrading and repairing them, when it came to actually fashioning the material in the first place he wasn't quite skilled. He usually depended on his own family's various industries to fabricate the various pieces of his armor. He was no smith, in other words, but he was a wiz at design.

Which had left Ruby Rose who most 'definitely' was a wiz when it came to smithing, especially when she had a design to work with, which was why she had ordered so many weapon magazines.

She couldn't afford the full finished products most of the time but she'd tell him, Ruby Rose could certainly reproduced them with enough familiarity and practice.

Though, she did hesitate to add, she wasn't great with jewelry. Considering that it was either her or taking it to a professional to have it done for a much larger price, he was willing to take the chance on Ruby.

Which brought the two of them to the forge.

"Thanks Ruby... I really hope so. I wanted to make something nice but simple... hopefully it'll be good enough."

"Psssht!" Came Ruby's artful response as she prepared a work-station, a pair of welding goggles secured onto her eyes as she smiled over at him. "Please, as if she could do anything 'but' love this! It's gonna be a great gift Deku!" Izuku couldn't help but feel uplifted by Ruby's optimism as she secured the two halves of the wooden locket onto the work station, a suddenly nervous grin crossing her face. "Errr... that is, if I don't mess this up." It was Izuku's turn to just smile at the younger girl and offer her some encouragement.

"Come on Ruby, you've got this! I'm sure you'll do great!" While his own words seemed to do little to make her less nervous, she clearly appreciated the vote of confidence. With a deep breath Ruby brought out her various tools and began to get to work.

He'd never really seen anyone deal with the direct metalwork of making an item before, so watching the process first hand was actually pretty interesting. He watched as Ruby took careful time and energy to make sure each of the metal pieces and bits necessary to hold the locket in place where secured to the wood without burning it or breaking it, a fine layer of sweat having gathered on Ruby's own forehead as the heat from her various tools washed back on her. The young weapon-crazed woman's work was slowly accomplished bit by bit, a confident smile growing on her lips as her work slowly came to more and more completion. As the necessary work was completed on the locket, its hinges in working order and the two halves secured to each other without worry of breakage, Ruby chanced a glance over her shoulder back to Izuku.

"So have you thought about what kind of design you'd like on the face of the locket?" Izuku blinked curiously as he tapped his chin, trying to think.

"Hmmm... well, how about a Mandevilla?" He suggested, Ruby's smile growing as she nodded in agreement.

"Yeah totally, your team name would look great on this!" Before Ruby could continue he shook his head and hands vigorously to draw her attention back.

"No, no, I don't mean like a MNVW, but an actual Mandevilla in bloom. It's a pretty geometrically simple flower so I figured it'd be easy enough for you to work out the design and... well, I think it might look better than just the team name. It'd be a reminder for her about all of us: that we'll always be there for her as friends and comrades and that, together, we'll grow beyond what we are now and bloom to become great Hunters in the future." Izuku chuckled nervously as he scratched the back of his head. "It sounds kinda silly saying it out loud, I guess, but I thought it sounded like a nice idea." He turned up to look at Ruby to see her reaction and, he admitted, he was surprised to find her with those silver eyes of her wide and watering slightly as she threatened to cry in a comical matter.

"... Maaan... my gift's gonna look lame by comparison..." Ruby said with a small laugh as she put the goggles back over her eyes. "Welp, stand back and let a girl work Deku! I gotta get this done if Pyrrha's gonna have a totally awesome present!" With that Ruby got back to work, folding the metal bits in preparation for the final design. Ruby's previous handiwork made getting on with the rest of the crafting pretty simple as the young girl worked from a picture of a Mandevilla to recreate its rather simple geometric shapes. A bend here, a fold in the metal here and a good application of heat to make sure it fit into place before letting it cool down so that it could set in nice and hard and eventually Ruby Rose presented you with a finished and, if Izuku had to say so, quite nice looking locket.

"Thanks Ruby, I really appreciate this! I think you're right... I think Pyrrha will really like this!" Enthusiasm slowly built in his chest as, slowly but surely, he became more and more sure that his present to Pyrrha would hit the mark. As Ruby put the various tools away and cleaned herself off, he quickly slipped the photograph of his team together into place, locking it in and taking another cursory look over the locket, a bright grin shining on both their faces.

"I told you! You got nothing to worry about Deku! This and the party will be fantastic! Pyrrha's gonna have the best birthday ever... so long as the cake's good." Izuku chuckled, his own good mood able to bounce Ruby's joke off from hitting his nerves. Even if the cake wasn't great, he thought Pyrrha would be more than willing to give him a pass on that. Besides, the cake was great, so there was nothing to worry about at all there. Yessir, nothing to worry about at all...

...

Would Pyrrha have preferred a chocolate cake? Oh Gods, he forgot to ask before he even bothered to make the cake! HOLY WOAH THIS COULD BE A-

"Calm down Deku!" Ruby placed a hand on his shoulder and shook him a bit, knocking him out of his spiral. Even then his nerves were immediately sent on the fray because 'a girl was touching you', but that was quickly fixed as Ruby took her hand off of him. "I was joking! Pyrrha'll love it, I'm sure! You're a good cook if Nora's anything to go by so just calm down, okay! Everything will be great!" He took a deep breath as he nodded his head, a ghost of a smile returning to his lips.

"Y-Yeah, everything will be great..."

* * *

"AH-HA HA HA HA HA! Listen up newbies! Today's exercise is going for be an every man and woman for themselves race!" After the votes had been counted and it was clear what the class wanted, everyone nodded in some excitement as Toshinori just grinned at them all. "Now then, I meant what I said when I was describing the exercise; there are no rules for this race, anything goes. Any Semblance, any weapon, any trick, any scheme and any possibility for victory! The only thing that isn't allowed is coordinated action; you all are operating solo on this test." Again, everyone looked at Izuku as he chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "In your careers as Huntsmen and Huntresses, you'll face many unexpected and dangerous obstacles when in pursuit of a criminal or a Grimm. You never know what might be around a corner or what your opponents might have up their sleeves in order to drive you off or surprise you long enough for them to get away. Intelligent Grimm can be tricky creatures in this regard as well; even as driven by hatred and destruction as the Grimm are, many of the smarter ones will run so that they might live and kill another day."

"This exercise is meant to simulate that uncertainty and your classmates, those willing anyway, will be the ones to simulate those obstacles. They'll be the intelligent Grimm that acts in a way you hadn't foreseen, the criminal with an ace up his sleeve to drive you off his heels or with accomplices nearby ready to push you off. Even people you might have considered allies or neutral parties can surprise you; there have been some cases where terrorists have hidden among hostages, ready to strike at unaware Huntsmen and Huntresses in tight situations where one's attention might not be focused on the task at hand! Of course, the grade will go on a scale from those who come in first to those who come in last... just to give those of you who might not otherwise feel inclined to get in the way of other classmates a reason to do so." Izuku saw a bunch of solemn nods from his fellow classmates as various eyes darted about, everyone taking everyone else in.

"You each have five minutes to decide what you're going to do! Use it wisely... I assure you, there will be those students in your groups who will." Toshinori gave a loud laugh at that as he stood back, everyone immediately turning their gaze on the make-shift race track, himself included.

'How am I going to do this…'

As soon as Toshinori blew the whistle for the challenge to begin it was chaos. Pure, unadulterated chaos. Izuku watched, slightly surprised, as a torrent of rose petals immediately took up the front of the pack and blew right past it, Ruby Rose appearing on the other end of the torrent as she turned around for a moment, blew a raspberry at the other competitors, and then proceeded to sprint off. What followed next was even more chaotic. He felt a chill rise up his spine as the very air itself seemed to freeze over, everyone turned their attention to Shoto Todoroki as the young man crushed an Ice Dust Crystal in his hands. Afterward he stomped his foot on the ground and, lo and behold, a huge wave of ice suddenly covered the ground. Everyone immediately jumped up, doing their best to avoid their feet being caught up in the ice as it passed them. A great many students succeeded but many more failed as the ice overtook thirty yards of space in front of them and a significant distance behind Shoto.

"Sorry about this, but if I'm going to catch up to my leader, I can't have people on my heels." With that Shoto immediately ran off after Ruby, his feet easily crossing the ice field as, wherever he stepped, the uneven and slippery ground seemed to give way under his feet to provide him with more solid footing.

"Oh please, as if he's the only person here who has a talent with Dust..." Izuku heard Weiss call out as, suddenly, several glyphs form on the ground. The trio of Glyphs were quite large, stretched out so as to be able to cross the distance of Shoto's ice field and, having been the one to summon them forth, Weiss was the first person to immediately start sprinting across them.

From there, the chaos roared as numerous students did their best to get on top of the glyphs and secure their place on the 'easy track'. He watched, dumbfounded, as Nora and Yang easily battered their way to the front of the chaotic line. The pair sent students flying before they burst forth into the front, easily shoving their way onto the glyphs and crossing the difficult terrain, hot on Weiss' heels. Out of everyone though Ren seemed to have the easiest time; most people stopped hitting each other and arguing as Ren ran by, the sea of people calming considerably as Ren approached which allowed the Mistrali teen to easily make his way through them. Blake and Tsuyu, meanwhile, seem content to cross through less drastic means that fit with each of their styles far better. You watch as, with a great deal of grace, Blake easily hops, skips and jumps across the heads and shoulders of various Beacon students in order to cross the gap of the ice field while Tsuyu, being the Frog Faunus that she was, just gave a quick 'Ribbit ribbit' before hopping in leaps and bounds across the treacherous, icy terrain.

That's when Izuku heard two loud eruptions of noise come from just beside him. his head swiveled as he took a gander around and saw equally terrifying sights on both sides. Tenya, geared out in his armor, had fired up his leg engines with what had to have been a great deal of the Wind Dust he kept packed away in his suit. Meanwhile Izuku watched as Bakugo lowered his hands toward the ground and, with a violent look on his face, immediately began producing a long, continuous explosion from his hands.

"YOU WON'T GET AWAY FROM ME THIS TIME RUNT, I'VE LEARNED MY LESSON! DIIEEEEEE!" With a loud roar Kacchan propelled himself off the ground, keeping his feet tucked up close to him as he used the force of his explosion to not only speed himself up but to also propel himself up and over the icy terrain.

"I'm afraid I can't allow myself to be shown up either, especially not by my teammates. What kind of leader would I be if I let myself fall behind!" With that Tenya's leg engines erupted and, with a burst of speed, he sprinted across the icy terrain. Despite the difficulty of it, Tenya was easily crossing it and, with his speed and the heat of the engines, he practically tore open a path behind him. Of course the ice filled back in as soon as he left but it was still an impressive sight to see.

"Holy shit, would you look at the Invincible Girl go? No tricks or nothing, she's just truckin'!" Izuku cast a glance to his side to see that, indeed, Pyrrha seemed to be just running across the top of the icy expanse with no trouble at all. However, as her partner, he'd come to learn to keep an eye out for Pyrrha's Semblance... and he did see the faint, black outline of Pyrrha's Polarity surrounding the various metallic bits of her clothing, practically lifting her up off the ground just enough to keep her footfalls from sinking too heavily into the icy clutches beneath her.

Izuku took a deep breath as he eyed the crowd that has gathered in front of the Glyphs. The simple truth of the matter was that he didn't have a lot of options; he could run across the field of ice but he didn't have Kacchan's explosions or Pyrrha's Semblance to help ease him across... nor was he as inhumanly fast as Tenya when he was activated his engines. He wasn't acrobatic or agile on the same level as Blake or Tsuyu, so jumping his way across didn't exactly appeal either. He'd probably end up just costing himself more time that way then actually making effective progress, even with his shotguns. Then there was the idea of using One For All to Smash his way through but... well, that presented two problems; Shoto could just close up whatever path he made and, even if he didn't, Izuku's path would end up much like Weiss' Glyphs: everyone would want to use them. Sure, maybe he'd get first use out of them but, well, he wanted to win the race. Giving more people a chance to get past the first obstacle easily didn't exactly fit in with that plan. So Izuku immediately charged into the fray of people fighting over Weiss' Glyphs.

At first it was so incredibly hard; he shoved and shouldered and pushed but he was just getting caught up in the sea of chaos surrounding him, people doing their best to throw him out of the way in order to make their own progress. For a moment, it really did seem like he was going to stall there.

Then, however, he tapped into that 5% of what he could control of One For All and, immediately, he felt his body surge with raw strength. One moment he was being kicked around and pushed by the other students and then, in the next moment, he was the one doing the pushing and shoving. He ground his teeth together as he poured One For All into his arms and 'forced' his way through the crowd. Sure he might not be sending people flying, however, a lot of people were pushed to the side or otherwise just bodily shoved out of his path by the force he was applying. It isn't terribly long at all before he was making his way to the other side of the crowd and he could, finally, actually start running in this race.

"Yo, what's the matter Shoto? Can't you just 'chill' and not do that kind of stuff to-"

*THWWWWAAP*

"OW! DARN YOUR REACH TSU!"

"Ribbit ribbit."

Yang's diatribe had been cut off by her partner's usual reaction to her puns but Izuku couldn't help his furrowed brow. It wasn't like it wasn't a smart move by Shoto to do these things; out of all of them, except for Maybe Kacchan, Shoto was capable of really messing with most of the competition through his Semblance's abilities. Kacchan would've been dangerous in and of himself, but it seemed like he was more interested in using his Semblance to boost his own performance with the hope of keeping up with Ruby and Tenya.

Perhaps it was the fact that there were still so many behind him, combined with Yang's mild tease, that caused Shoto to look back at those of them who hadn't just sped off ahead with an apologetic look as he crushed another Ice Dust Crystal in his hands. With a stomp of his foot, a myriad of ice pillars and obstacles that, coming together, form a craggy, if intimidating, wall in his wake. Yang growled out in frustration as Shoto continued to run to try and catch up with the other members of the race. Izuku watched as a good number of his friends stop before the obstacles and then, with grit teeth, made their way around it, not possessing the innate skills themselves to get over it.

However, a couple of his friends did and it was quite easy to watch them as they put those skills to use. Blake and Pyrrha, graceful fighters above all else, seemed quite able to take advantage of the craggy, uneven nature of Shoto's wall in order to traverse it, quickly hopping off of edges of the wall and using makeshift foot and hand holds in order to quickly make their way over it and, that time, it was clear to him that Pyrrha hadn't needed to use her Semblance to get her across. Tsuyu, being Tsuyu, just gave a quick croak before she jumped over the wall with relative ease. Izuku watched as Weiss fell further behind compared to the rest of them all... but as he turned his attention forward, he swore he felt the charge of Lightning Dust beginning to gather behind him.

Meanwhile he kept his eyes on his desired position; first place. Ruby was putting her Semblance to good use compared to Toshinori's first test: instead of just constantly keeping it going like she had way back during the first week, she was using it in short bursts to help propel her forward some distances, allowing her to cover more ground more easily. Kacchan was still screaming as he used his explosions to burst forward, the great stream of fire erupting from his palms as he kept zooming forward. Speaking of zooming and fire he watched as Tenya activated his engines again and put even more gas into it, bursting forward into the immediate competition for First Place thanks to his efforts... though the smoke and heat that was coming off his engines was noticeable even to Izuku.

That just left Izuku and how he was going to deal with things.

He started taking deep breaths as he got closer and closer to the ice wall, his pace not slowing a bit as he ran right up to it. The idea's in his head and there was no way he was going to stop! With a quick moment's thought he deactivated the safeties on Emerald Gust, pulling the metal cover back over his fingers as he stretched them out. 'Jeez, this was going to be really, really, 'really' cold,' but it was the best idea he had at the moment. As he got right up on the wall he bent his knees and squatted as low as he could, tightening his body like a spring. Then, with a shout, he jumped up, his fingers outstretched as his eyes glanced about for a handhold somewhere on the ice wall he could use. His emerald eyes went wide as he noticed a solid ledge not too far from the top of the wall and, with a scream, he grabbed onto it, digging the metal of his boots into the wall as well to keep himself steady.

...

'HOLY WOAH IT WAS WAY COLDER THAN I THOUGHT IT'D BE!'

With a quick scream of surprise from the pain his fingers suddenly felt directly touching the wall of ice he pulled himself up and over it. The others runners who'd decided to go around it, and those who'd just jumped or parkoured their way up, watched with a bit of stunned surprise as he just hoisted himself up and over the wall, getting some distance over those who went around and keeping pace with the others who went over it.

"Hey there Izuku, how you doing Fearless Leader?"

"I THINK MY HANDS HAVE FROSTBITE!"

"Okay cool, see you at the finish line!"

Nora's quick check in with him as he took a quick drop from the top of the wall and landed back on solid ground. Okay, so maybe you were exaggerating when he said his thought he had Frostbite but really, it still hurt a lot. His fingers were nearly white from the cold and shivering and, to get some warmth back in them, he took a moment to shove them under his armpits while he started running again. Admittedly this only had the immediate result of making his armpits super cold but, eventually, between his running and his own natural body heat you managed to get feeling, other than pain that was, back in his fingers.

It wasn't long before you hear the pounding of other feet behind him as other students managed to get up and over the wall. He chanced a glance behind him and boggled a bit at the number of students who were still chasing though; he was just barely short of being able to count them on both his hands. Shoto's work has really proven itself here, the guy had essentially left the vast majority of the field in the dust. Still, looking forward to Shoto who seemed... slower than usual, he couldn't help but wonder if he felt the same way, given that all of you have managed to stay up so close to him. The frustrated look on his face seemed to communicate as such as Izuku all just continue to move forward. Ruby was way ahead, followed by Tenya and Kacchan, while the rest of them hug around roughly the same point in the race.

It could be just about anyone's game to get into the top ten or, Heck, even the top five.

Well, maybe that potential game just got a lot shorter if the sudden blur of motion that nearly knocked Izuku off his feet has anything to say about it. He blinked, completely in shock, as Weiss just burned a trail straight through his group of the pack, the Heiress covering a truly insane amount of distance as you all watch her go. Izuku could, distantly, see a slight smirk on Weiss' face as she ended up just completely passing them all by and heading for the front of the pack and, if his eyes weren't betraying you, she might be moving even faster than Ruby.

"Holy Schnee-t!"

 ***THWAAAAP!***

"Ouch!" Yang rubbed the back of her head as Tsuyu finished clocking her across the back of her head with her tongue... from right above her. They all watch as Tsuyu managed to hop right on past them all, leaping huge distances each time she touches down on the ground as she gives quick ribbits. Tenya seemed to be slowing down back to a more manageable pace which was leaving it, from his vision, pretty easy for Weiss and Tsuyu to catch up as the two young woman finally managed to make a breakout after all the obstacles Shoto put in everyone's way. This, not surprisingly, seemed to greatly annoy Kacchan as he suddenly had so many people nipping at his heels for second place. With Shoto no longer causing mass chaos on the field, it seems like things are settling down for your group; Ruby, Kacchan, Tenya, Weiss and Tsuyu are breaking out in the front, Shoto's behind them and, increasingly, you're catching up to him and Izuku led the remainder of the field, his feet slamming against the ground as he pushed himself forward.

'Need to be careful,' Izuku thought, 'This is the last stretch, and I can't let anyone knock me off the path.'

He began to see some eyes glancing about in not just his group but the group in front of him. Competition was stiff and people wanted to win... Izuku couldn't help but feel in his gut that Shenanigans were incoming after Shoto's moves were no longer hanging over their heads.

Izuku realized he was at a rather odd position in the field when all of this was said and done. Far back enough from the people with a decided lead to not factor into their race and getting increasingly ahead of the rest of his friends, he was not quite in immediate reach for everyone to immediately grab at or interfere with. That fact became more and more clear as he saw Kacchan begin lobbing minor explosions around the front of the pack to try to drive them off or back or trip people up while, behind him, Yang and Nora started shouldering each other to try to edge the other out for a lead. It was the start of a very mild form of chaos that rocked both sides of the field, though it largely left him in a place where he was pretty much left alone by the rest of his friends.

Or so he thought, up until he felt the swish of a whip hit a spot where his foot had been previously. He gave a small yelp as he jumped up and ahead, sending his gaze backward where Blake reeled Gambol Shroud back into her grasp, a somewhat sheepish, if not fully apologetic, look on her face as she gave a shrug, as if to say 'had to give it a shot, right'. For Izuku though he was not quite in the position to want to give any of these shenanigans a shot and, while Pyrrha did send a glance his way, she seemed hesitant to do so either... especially while she already had to deal with the 'very' competitive Nora and Yang. So in the end he just kept on sprinting, going as hard and as fast as he could to try and earn his own spot in the field but, also, to try and catch up to the rest. The key word being 'try'. Even with their own distractions between Kacchan's boost, Weiss' Glyph, Ruby's Semblance, Tsuyu's incredible leaps and some last minute boosts by Tenya, it seemed like the front of the pack is pretty much settled.

There was a brief, brief moment where he considered tapping into your Semblance, into One For All. Not just in a light sense either; no, he considered pulling out 100% of One For All and pushing it into one of his legs, or both of them, in order to just leap the distance between his current spot in the field and the front line.

Two things stopped him; one, it probably wouldn't look great if he used 100% of One For All to win a race, especially if the collateral hurt anyone. Second, even if he was inclined to use it, he... really couldn't think of a way to safely stop himself before he splatted on a wall. Probably a really bad idea, all things told. So instead he just focused on his running and getting on ahead.

In the end, the insane speeds of the leads of the pack and his own consistent pace throughout the race pretty much decided the top spots. Surprising absolutely everyone, Weiss actually ended up edging out Ruby for first place, followed up by Ruby, Tsuyu, Bakugo and Tenya. Izuku did end up passing Shoto eventually, his strange slowness putting him at a pace slower than his, though his own commanding lead and how he distracted most of his friends ended up putting him in a spot just behind Izuku. From there Pyrrha, Blake, Yang, Nora and Ren, who seemed content to just hang back and let the others rough it out for their various places. Eventually all the other students made their way to the finish line with mixed results.

Finishing in the top ten out of the entire class of First Years wasn't a mean feat and, judging by Toshinori's look of pride and the somewhat hidden thumbs up he gave Izuku, he wasn't disappointed either.

* * *

 **E/N: The toilet bombings bit is Juvenile Delinquents by Vandalgyon. You'll be seeing more of that plot thread next update.**

 **-Shovern**


	38. Team MNVW, and friend, Investigates!

"A-Ah! Kacchan!"

"Deku? What the Hell are you doing here?"

Izuku had been on his way to Ozpin's office when he had ended up running, quite unexpectedly, into Kacchan on the way to the elevator. Izuku'd see him get called off and, worried for his old childhood friend/bully/fellow Huntsman/this is a pretty weird relationship all things told, he ended up going to the office. Izuku suspected that Bakugo was being brought in regarding the rumors about it having been him who decided to vandalize the various men's restrooms across Beacon. Now, Bakugo was a lot of things but Izuku knew for a fact that he would never risk his position here at Beacon for something as simple and stupid as vandalism. So he wanted to go to Ozpin's office to provide a character witness.

"A-A-Ah... I thought that you might be in trouble and... well, you know, there's that rumor going about, so I thought I could tell Ozpin that-"

"Save it Deku, it's fine." Izuku blinked as Bakugo ground his teeth in annoyance. "The school faculty knows that it isn't me. Hell, they aren't fucking stupid Deku." Bakugo scoffed as he looked off to the side. "They just called me in to assure me that my position here at Beacon wasn't under any threat and to just bear through the fucking rumors until they die down and Ozpin can hire another janitor... not that I give a shit." Bakugo looked him right in the eye with a small scowl. "Anyone whose opinion even halfway matters already knows that I didn't do it, so I don't really give a shit if all the other losers in this school think I did it." His explosive bully just shoved his hands in his pockets as he started to walk off. "Now get the Hell out of my way Deku, the Runt and the others will want to know what's up."

Izuku stepped to the side, allowing Bakugo to push past Izuku as he muttered under his breath. While that should've been the end of it... Izuku admitted, he was feeling really curious. 'Bear through the rumors'... what?

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"It means exactly what it sounds like Mr. Midoriya; Mr. Bakugo will have to bear through these rumors being on the mill here at Beacon until they pass by or we can get a janitor in who'll repair the damage... or until Glynda will concede to fixing it herself." Glynda sighed in annoyance as she turned to Ozpin.

"Whoever is actually doing this should be the ones to fix this themselves. If I do it now, then they'll just keep up their behavior because it shall have no consequence to them..."

"Are you sure it isn't just because you're annoyed?" Glynda frowned at Ozpin as the Headmaster just smiled behind his cup of coffee. After Izuku had ascended the elevator and informed Ozpin and Glynda as to why he had originally come, he had asked them what exactly Bakugo had meant by that. Surely Ozpin wasn't just going to sit by and let rumors of a student, especially ones as negative as vandalism, go on. It flummoxed him when he confirmed Katsuki story and, after a moment to recover, he frowned.

"What, why? I don't understand." Ozpin sighed as he took another drink.

"Understand Izuku that if we could immediately solve this little question that we would. Vandalism is a serious offense here at Beacon and the student or students perpetrating it should be the ones to deal with it... however, it seems our little criminals are quite clever in hiding their tracks." Ozpin waved his hand to a few pictures he saw on the table and, scooting up to look at them, Izuku saw the blown up restrooms. "The Dust used in the explosions are Ground, Base Grade Flame Dust, the kind of Dust that is used in the common ammunition Beacon provides students who are unable or unwilling to pony up the money to buy their own specialized Dust ammunition... as you can imagine, this all but eliminates any teams second year or above from the roster of suspects as all of them purchase their own Dust... and we'd notice if supplies of standard grade Dust were being moved into teams that otherwise have their own supplies. But beyond that, any student who had this ammo could crack open their shells, pour the Dust out and then use it for this crime."

"The fact that it's being done in the restrooms is further difficulty." Glynda added as she adjusted her glasses. "In accordance with... quite a few privacy laws, Beacon doesn't have cameras in its various restrooms or in student dorm rooms. The law suits this campus would face if we put cameras in either location would be quite... well, damaging for our reputation" She pulled up her Scroll and played a sped up video of varying cameras outside the various restrooms that had been blown up. "We've not seen anyone on camera who has carried in suspicious packaging into these restrooms before they blew up so they must have some means of sneaking it in that wouldn't look suspicious for a student to commonly carry... furthermore we have reasons to believe that whoever is doing this is using some kind of time-based fuse in order to put time in between them entering the restroom and the explosion."

"What makes you say that?" Izuku asked, curious, as Ozpin pointed to Glynda's Scroll.

"The students who went into the restroom preceding the explosions wouldn't have fit varying criteria. They either purchase their own, unique supply of Dust different from what we've gathered at the various crime scenes, they don't have skills in managing Dust and, even if we wanted to implicate an entire team of the effort, none of these youngsters were on the same team. So it gives us reason to believe that whoever is behind it is somehow delaying the explosions so that they don't occur soon after they've entered one of the restrooms. Also, no young women went into the restrooms before any of the explosions, so an obvious out of place suspect of that type is out." Izuku nodded his head at this and placed his finger to his chin.

"Well... don't you have suspects?"

"Of course we do Mr. Midoriya... but without proofwe can't just go around breaking down doors and interrogating students. You all have rights, after all. We'd need to have a reason to believe that the student, or students, in question are guilty before we could move forward with anything... and if they owned up to their crimes, all the better." Izuku nodded again as he scratched at his chin. Ozpin, seeing that, cracked a small smile that quickly disappeared before he shrugged. "At any rate, our last janitor quit before he had a chance to clean up the mess so the... crime scene, as it were, is still as it was after the explosion. It'll probably stay that way up until we hire a new janitor or until the suspect, or suspects, are caught and we can... administer an appropriate punishment." Ozpin took a small sip of his coffee as he nodded his head in understanding. "Good luck with the rest of your day, Mr. Midoriya." Izuku and Glynda both looked confused for a moment before he ended up leaving Ozpin's office.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"Honestly I still wouldn't put it past Bakugo to have done this."

Izuku frowned slightly at Weiss' declaration as she crossed her arms. He had gone back to his dorm room to discuss the turn of events with the rest of his Team and, while Nora and Pyrrha seemed to nod along intently, Weiss still seemed rather cross.

"Come on. Even Ozpin doesn't think he's done it and you heard Izuku; whoever is causing the explosions is doing so using the Dust used in the school's common ammunition. There's plenty of reason to think he hasn't done it... besides Izuku's own judge of his character." Pyrrha added as Izuku nodded appreciatively, causing Weiss to rolled her eyes.

"Izuku still insists on calling that thug 'Kacchan' after years of having been bullied by him. As much as I trust Izuku's intuition as a leader broadly, I don't trust his judgment on Bakugo in specific." Izuku winced slightly at Weiss's words, the girl swinging a hand around. "Besides, Bakugo could've just as easily nicked a supply of Dust from other students or, who knows, maybe his own team. Like I said, I wouldn't put it past him." Weiss shook her head as Nora frowned a bit.

"I dunno Weiss. Not even Ren uses common Dust now that he's on Ruby's Team and the rumors would be way worse if Bakugo was actually shaking down students for the stuff." Nora tilted her head at her partner. "You think maybe you're just being stubborn because you don't like the guy?" Weiss scoffed as she glared over at her partner.

"Oh what, and you do?" Nora snorted.

"Nope, he's 'really' really angry and can be a real jerk.. but Fearless Leader hasn't pulled us in the wrong direction before, Ren says he's absolutely certain it wasn't Katsuki and so far everything we've heard says that Katsuki isn't behind this." Weiss frowned at that and looked to Pyrrha, hoping for some kind of support from the former tournament fighter... only to see the girl shake her head.

"I agree with Izuku and Nora. As off putting as Bakugo can be, I don't think he's behind it." Weiss sighed as she shook her head, turning to look back at them all with an annoyed look... accepting, but annoyed.

"Well alright. If that's the case... well, then what? If what Ozpin and Glynda say is true then they don't have a path to proving who's behind it or not. It sounds like a cold case if I've ever heard one." Izuku bit his lip slightly as he brought a hand up to his chin.

"Well... that's not 'exactly' what they said." He looked up. "They just said they had no recourse without putting Beacon in an odd space with the law. So long as someone worked on this without being officially involved with Beacon's staff..."

"... Then they could, in theory, have a little more leeway." Pyrrha picked up on his train of thought, causing Izuku to nod.

"And of course, if 'they' got caught then they'd be in big trouble." Weiss said with a frown as she looked at them all. "I mean, who cares? You heard Bakugo Izuku; it's just his reputation and even he doesn't give a crap about it. If we just let it sit then the only bad thing that'll happen is the school will think he's actually a thug instead of just acting like one." At that Nora grinned.

"Oh, so you like having the guys in our restrooms then Weiss? How progressive of you!" At that Izuku saw Weiss visibly pale as she shook her head.

"Gods... so many puddles, how do you all make such a mess..." Weiss frowned as she crossed her arms. "... I suppose that there could be something to gain from putting... whoever might be doing this in Ozpin's hands..."

"It's probably Cardin."

"Yeah my money's on Cardin too."

Izuku and Weiss blinked in surprise as Nora and Pyrrha quickly put forward Cardin's name as a suspect, which caused the heiress to huff a bit.

"So what, I put forward Bakugo's name as the prime suspect and I'm just biased but you putting up Cardin's name as the likely suspect and you're doing this on solid reasoning?" Nora shrugged.

"I mean, the guy does pretty much hate Katsuki's guts. He's the only person who'd actually have a motive to do something like this in such a way that it'd set up Katsuki as the likely fall guy for doing all this." Nora explained as Pyrrha nodded.

"Plus he hasn't been shy about agreeing with the rumors. Out of everyone in the school, he is the only person I can think of with a motive."

"It could be someone random that we have no idea about who doesn't have a proper motive, like that old cartoon that used to air with the talking dog." Izuku put forward as everyone considered that point a bit.

"Yeah but that wouldn't make much sense..." Even Weiss seemed to agree, even as she shook her head.

"Even so, even if it is Team CRDL, you heard Ozpin; he needs solid proof. So if something were to be done about this, we'd need to significantly link Team CRDL to the crime... and that could mean doing something 'very' against school rules if we wanted 'actual' evidence..." They all shuddered slightly at Weiss' point. Eventually, everyone turned toward Izuku.

"Well Izuku... you're team leader and you did bring this up. What do you think?" Izuku paused for a moment to think it over…

"Well," he began to lay out his thought process, "I think we are going to need some help. We are more of a combat focused squad, so this sort of reconnaissance and espionage really isn't our thing," he did his best to keep his mumbling under control, all while he continued, "So...that would probably mean we need someone who has a long history in tracking and investigation. They also need to be able to be...discrete, so in case we need to investigate our suspects more personally."

"Ooh! Ooh!" Nora waved her hand in the air, "I know who!"

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"I'm honestly surprised you were so ready to come Ren. After all, you know Bakugo personally, I figured it wouldn't exactly engender a lot of... positive feelings to know him personally." Weiss' comment was met with a furrowed brow as Ren just shrugged his shoulders.

"It's actually more like because I've been around Bakugo so long that I feel inclined to join you. The entire team doesn't think Bakugo's been behind this... it doesn't really match with his drive to be the best here at Beacon and not to risk that. In addition, I'd like for this matter to be resolved as soon as possible; while Bakugo's reassurances that he doesn't care about his reputation outside the staff and the team, it's still disconcerting to have a member of our team be in everyone's eye as a thug. It upsets Ruby that someone would frame her partner like that... and it's frustrating that doing so ends up tarring Team RSBR all together... plus I really couldn't say no with Nora so excited."

"WE'RE GONNA BE ACE DETECTIVES!" Nora cried out in her usual energetic way, the girl practically buzzing with energy as she glanced around. The four, well, five of them after MNVW procured Ren after a short detour, were well on their way to the scene of the most recent crime. Ren's close proximity to both the victim in question, Bakugo and the fact that Nora really was insistent in asking her best friend to join up with them all, left it pretty much a beyond simple task to convince the magenta eyed young man to join the investigation. There were risks involved to be certain but given Izuku's own willingness to see it through, Ren's strong belief in Bakugo's innocence and Izuku's team's loyalty, the investigation was a go.

"Fair enough..." Weiss' assertion was more curiosity than dead set belief at that point. While it was clear that the Schnee Heiress still didn't have any confidence in Bakugo, and wasn't necessarily swayed by Izuku's judgment of his character, the fact that Pyrrha, Ren and Nora were on board seemed to draw her into the investigation fully. "Let's just see what there is to find then. The janitor didn't bother cleaning it up at all and, judging by what Izuku described of his talk with Ozpin and Glynda, a fine tooth comb hasn't been used yet. We might be able to find something other than the obvious." They all nodded in agreement as, finally, they arrived at the restroom in question, a stretch of yellow tape placed in front of the door.

Izuku had to admit, there was a bit of hesitation to just barge right on in when the official yellow tape was right in front of him. Pyrrha and Weiss seemed to share in that hesitation as well as even his partner seemed slightly uncertain when faced with what, for most of their life, has been a direct symbol of 'don't trespass'...

"Let's go Ren, we've got a toilet to investigate!" Nora cried out in excitement as she quickly ducked under the yellow tape as if it were nothing. Ren just nodded in agreement as he, too, lackadaisically ducked under the yellow tape. With the taboo broken, Izuku and his remaining teammates ducked under the yellow tape and made their way into the boy's bathroom...

"Gods, it reeks in here..." Weiss complained as she looked around.

"Makes sense, a toilet was blown up in here..." Ren responded casually as they quickly spotted the toilet in question; it wasn't that hard to guess as a lot of water still remained on the floor around the stall in question.

"I'm feeling pretty certain that this place would reek even without that..." Weiss said with some disdain as she carefully stepped around, she and Pyrrha careful with their steps as they made sure their high heels avoided any suspect stains that had been left on the ground. Finally, Nora cracked open the door in question and they all just stared at the... well, at the crime scene.

The actual bowl of the toilet was almost completely fine, the water drained out sure but without much damage to it. The further back it went the more cracks there were in it. Then at the back of the tank, however, it rapidly became clear just where the damage was done. The tank was pretty much wrecked, blown right apart and with some ceramic still scattered about the floor, bits of the metal piping still standing for it.

"Alright guys... we're here. Let's do this: time to investigate!"

The five of them started looking about the crime scene, trying to pick up whatever pieces of evidence might be helpful to them putting a fuller picture of the puzzle together. As they all looked about, Nora seemed to be the first one to take an interest in the crime scene, dipping her head toward the tank as she frowned at some of the scorch marks.

"So, I've never really done stuff like this before but... I dunno, aren't you supposed to put the bomb in the bowl or something? I mean, that's how the prank normally goes right? Why put it in the back thing?" Izuku tilted his head to the side as he considered Nora's point, a slight frown on his face as he tried to think up a few ideas as to why.

He tapped his chin as he considered the tank and, after a few moments, he snapped his fingers. "I think it's pretty clear what they were going for. Like Nora said, usually in a prank like this a person would just drop the bomb in the actual bowl. It's be a lot more damage to the toilet and it'd make a lot more of a mess. Furthermore, there would've been no equal guarantee that the bomb would've gone off any better in the tank... after all, it's often got a lot of water running in it too." Everyone nodded with his findings as Ren himself brought a finger up to scratch at his cheek.

"So this tells us that the reason why he put the bomb in the tank would be to keep it from being found." Izuku nodded at his assessment as he looked at everyone else.

"We know that the suspect, whoever they are, was using some kind of time delay in order to make sure that the explosion didn't occur right after they left the restroom. It'd make sense that they'd want to keep the bomb hidden from sight from other people who might wander into the stall and, by hiding it in the tank the sounds of the toilet's various functions could've helped to hide the sound of whatever mechanism may have been attached to the bomb." They all nodded in agreement as he looked down at where the tank would've been. "It's our most likely option, I think.

As they all continued to scan eyes about, Ren and Pyrrha ended up noticing something around the same time. A frown actually formed on Ren's otherwise stoic face as he bent down to take a closer look at the water, while Pyrrha tapped her chin from afar.

"You two find something?" Weiss asked, curiously, as she tilted her head over to look at them. Ren nodded his head somewhat hesitantly as he quickly dipped a finger down into one of the grooves between the tiles of the restroom floor, much to Weiss' immediate disgust. It's to her surprise then that as Ren pulled his finger back, a slight film left on the tip of his finger, the young Mistrali boy's eyes narrowing as he brought it up and rubbed it against his finger.

"It's Dust."

"Well of course it's dust, the janitor... oh! You mean capital D Dust, Renny!" Nora said with a nod as Weiss' light blue eyes went slightly wide.

"What? Give me... urgh... jeez... the things I do because my teammates ask me too... give me it..." Ren nodded and dusted his fingers off into the palm of Weiss' hands, causing the girl's face to turn up into a slight scowl as she brought the material up to her eyes. She looked it over real quick and, with a slight gag, gave it a quick smell...

"Gods..." Weiss frowned as she brought out Myrtenaster and quickly drew a Pull Rune into the air. With a few applications of Gravity Dust here and there they all watch in some astonishment as a lot of Red Dust flew up from the floor and onto the face of the Glyph, Dust even separating from the drained out water of the toilet to reach up for the Glyph. "It's Fire Dust. All of it..." By the time all the Dust on the floor was gone, a good solid layer of the stuff had covered the face of Weiss' Glyph.

"Well I mean it's not too odd right? I mean, they had to bring it here in a container... if it was a Dust Container, then they probably just fumbled the lid."Izuku said somewhat plainly, as that was the possibility that first came to mind. Weiss emphatically shook her head as she reached for one of Myrtenaster's containers, disconnecting it from her weapon and bringing it forward.

"Well obviously that was a possibility that all Dust Company's considered when designing containers. After all, Dust is... very fine when ground down and could slip out easily if you let it and, even in its ground form, extremely dangerous to just let lay loose. That's why the containers you usually see for Dust are designed to interact with other machines... why do you think I have to tap our own Dust supplies into the dispensers rather than just having it free filled out of a bag or something? Dust is too dangerous to leave just out in the open or to allow for the possibility of a spill. No, wherever this Ground Dust came from, it wasn't a standard Container." Weiss clarified before snapping said container back into place in Myrtenaster. They all nodded with this new information as he take a moment to consider it.

"If Weiss is right that an ordinary Dust Container would be out of the picture because of how they normally function, needing a proper mechanism to get the Dust out, then we need to move on to other possibilities." Everyone nodded in agreement as Nora smiled slightly.

"Oh! What if he just brought a bunch of Dust Rounds into the room with him? I mean, no one would sneeze if he was bringing them in inconspicuously, after all, most First Years have Fire Dust Rounds! Then he could just crack them open here! It'd even explain why there's so much Dust scattered around; you'd probably need a lot of force to crack those things open!" Izuku looked down at the pile of Dust Weiss had collected and frown. There was a certain about that which makes sense, true... but...

"I'm pretty sure that if someone spent enough time in the bathroom to crack open a handful of Dust Shells in order to dump the Ground Dust out, that someone would notice though, right? I mean, sure, if you have something really pointy and a lot of force you can puncture it, but it'd still probably look weird on a camera for someone to go in for that long."

"Let's not forget the fact that Ozpin didn't directly bring up that they found Dust Shells or the remains of them in or around prior crime scenes." Pyrrha stated as she looked down around the toilet. "You'd think that would be a significant clue in trying to round up a potential suspect."

"It could be that they took the remains with them. It wouldn't discount the idea completely." Weiss brought up as she waved a finger in the air, Ren nodding in agreement.

"True, but if our suspect really was doing that you might figure they'd leave at least a scrape of it behind. You'd have to be 'very' careful in order to ensure that you didn't even leave behind one shred of a Dust Shell." Izuku nodded in agreement as he brought his finger up to draw attention.

"Plus I can't imagine it'd be an awfully quiet activity either. If someone walked up to the restroom while someone was busting open Dust Shells, they'd probably hear it... and they probably wouldn't mistake it for much else. I doubt that busting open metal shells sounds much like any other bathroom activity. I do think it sounds more likely that he's just using a container that wouldn't ordinarily hold Ground Dust in it." They all nodded in agreement, though Weiss seemed hesitant.

"Still, wouldn't that suggest there's a trail of the Dust being left behind? If the container's spilling it, you'd think they'd be finding Dust piles leading up to the bathroom too." They frowned as Izuku consider this point, tilting his head.

"It could be that it only really becomes a problem while the container in question is open and that it doesn't spill out or become hard to manage when it's shut. I don't know, there's a lot of possibilities... still, it's something to look out for in the future." Izuku all nodded in agreement as he let this clue settle for now, "All right, let's keep looking."

As Izuku chanced a glance around the actual zone of the blast itself, the tank, his eyes caught something. It was incredibly well hidden, just behind some of the pipe work and somewhat obscured by mostly lining up with the pattern of the floor, mostly. Dipping down into a squat he hesitantly reached down and after being sure he wasn't picking up something gross he lifted it up. He frowned somewhat as he tried to piece together what exactly it was he picked up. Whatever it is, it's completely charred black and grey like ash, burned straight through to its center. That face is easy to pick out because, as he messed with it, it crumpled pretty easily after having been wet for a while, almost like it had the consistency of paper... albeit burnt paper. As he glanced around he noticed a lot more chunks like the one he was holding in his hand scattered about, as if this was pretty close to the blast at the time it went off.

Izuku frowned as he brought the burnt thing to his face and took a quick sniff... there's something weirdly familiar about it.

He... he couldn't place it. No matter how tantalizingly close he was, he just couldn't quite place the smell. It's... kind of chemically and smoky... right on the tip of his tongue...

"Got something Izuku?" He glanced up at Weiss as he nodded, presenting the thing to her, before she can freak out he quickly assuaged her concerns.

"It's not what you think it is. I think it might have something to do with the bomb. The stuff... it's been burnt whatever it is and it's got this weird chemical scent that I can't place..." Weiss frowned as he said this and, bending forward, chanced a quick smell of it herself.

"Well whatever you're smelling, I can say one thing for certain; it isn't Fire Dust. This has a different odor to it that I can't quite place..." Weiss frowned as she placed her hand on her chin as he brought the burnt chunk back down to his face. Burnt paper consistency and a familiar, smoky chemical smell... what was it?

"Wait... could this be the fuse?" Izuku asked aloud as he turned over the little burnt clump in his hand. Weiss frowned slightly as she crossed her arms.

"How could that be possible? Fuses don't exactly leave a trace once they burn out, right? They... oxidize, I think it's called? Whatever this is, it wouldn't be the remains of a fuse." Nora nodded in agreement with this, though Ren seemed to be tapping his chin.

"... Unless it isn't a proper fuse." Ren muttered as they all turned to him, the magenta eyed young man pointing at Izuku. "I think Izuku might be onto something. If this was the container for the bomb that wouldn't make much sense for it to have a chemical smell to it. I can't really think of a lot of explosive containers that are required to be chemically treated before housing Dust in them... I've been around Nora enough to know that for certain." Nora nodded her head as she pounded her fist.

"Oh yeah, Ren's right! My grenades are just basically metal cans to hold all the bits and pieces and Dust together!" Pyrrha picked up soon after that as she pointed at the remained of whatever is in his hand.

"Weiss is right that this couldn't be a normal fuse. Firework fuses oxidize and I assume that'd be true of most of them... 'but' if you wanted to make a fuse from scratch..."

"You'd need to chemically treat it somehow." Weiss finally picked up as she brought out her Scroll, typing in 'homemade fuses'. Sure enough Weiss' screen displayed a number of potential amateur fused made from various common ingredients. All held the same; they needed to be chemically treated somehow and, even then, some of the fuses, especially those made out of a more paper-like material, would leave behind chunks not too dissimilar to the ones they all had found.

"Alright, so we know it's possible but... I still can't quite place the smell. It's on the tip of my tongue... gah, I'm going to feel like such an idiot if we ever find this out." Izuku sighed as he scratched the side of his head. It wasn't quite a common enough smell for him that he was near it every single day, goodness knows that'd make it easy, but... it wasn't something overly special either, something so distinct that he'd never mistake it. It was...

Gah, this was going to bug him for the rest of the day.

"Okay, so it's pretty simple to make these by the looks of it..." Weiss admitted as she looked over some of it and the rest of you nodded; even without a lot of experience, you all think you could pretty easily follow the instructions laid out to make some of these. "Still... why bother with a fuse like this? Why not spring for something more professionally made? It'd be less risky and it's not like these fuses look like they last as long as actual fuses. At most a good sized fuse using these methods might only be made to last... what, five, seven minutes? Ten if you really stretched it?" They all pondered for a moment as Izuku considered the possibilities.

"Probably to keep things inconspicuous," Izuku finally arrived at, "Just a bunch of commons stuff, so they could hide they had it?"

Ren rubbed his chin, and then nodded. He then gave the bathroom one last glance before announcing to his companions.

"I think that's probably everything we could find from here," Izuku nodded, "Now, we just need to find out who possibly could have had the time to do it."

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"Run this by me again, Mr. Midoriya?"

Izuku couldn't help but swallow nervously as he scratched at the back of his head. It was a bit of an odd request to make, to be certain. Students asking to see camera feeds of the various crime scenes before they blew up wasn't exactly a... common occurrence. Nor was it a request that could be taken lightly; the videos were school property taken for security reasons. It wasn't exactly something that was given out without thought or reason, especially as if students did get their hands on these sorts of feeds there could be the potential for abuse. After all, if someone was able to become familiar with someone's schedule and their habits, well, the potential for messing with them or causing them some distress would be quite large. Izuku'd hate to imagine what would happen if someone like Cardin got a hand on something like that.

To say nothing of the fact that this was a massive breach in student privacy that he was asking Glynda to be complicit in.

But he steeled himself as he looked up at the professor who, aside from Toshinori, he was probably most familiar with. "You see, Professor Goodwitch... I really agree with yours and Headmaster Ozpin's sentiment that Kacchan isn't behind all of this. It also seems to me like he's being set up. My team and I have looked into this already and... well, we have some pretty solid evidence that there is something to that idea." Glynda stroked her chin as he quickly went over his findings, her eyes narrowing in thought as he spoke. Still, she didn't snap at him or start stringing him up, so he considered this a good sign. "Because of all this it seems really likely that, whoever's behind this, they're doing it to try to cause problems with Kacchan. We have some ideas as to some suspects but we'd feel a lot better going into this if we could form an actual pool of suspects. To that end, we'd really appreciate it if we could... you know... see the tapes of who was going into the restroom, when and with what in each case?" He cautiously asked as Glynda stared down at him.

"... You are aware that the bathroom was warded off for a reason, Mr. Midoriya?" He nodded submissively, the woman tapping her fingers against her arms as she looked down at him.

"Mrs. Goodwitch, if I may?" Glynda turned to look over at Weiss, the heiress keeping her composure as she looked up at the older woman. "We have found evidence that, according to both yourself and Ozpin, you didn't have when making considerations. In addition, we as students are faced with less severe punishments if we're found looking into other students than you as faculty are. Detention, marks on our records and time spent working off our punishment would be bothersome, sure, but these are small potatoes compared to the potential landmines the staff of Beacon would face if you all did what was necessary to figure this out and failed. In addition, if we're right about Katsuki Bakugo being innocent, then not only is a student who has nothing to do with this being unjustly looked down upon by his peers but persons who're vandalizing school property in order to create this environment will run free to continue to do so if we do not bring them in. It's unorthodox, certainly, but I think with the evidence we've brought to bear that we've proven that we 'can' help with this problem, if you'll allow us."

As Weiss calmly explained the situation Izuku saw Glynda's gaze soften a bit as she nodded her head slightly. As Weiss finished his watch as Glynda sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "I'm surprised that you, of all people, are pushing for a breach in the rules like this Miss Schnee. For someone that you care very little for at that." Weiss frowned slightly as she huffed.

"Regardless of whether I think Katsuki Bakugo is a good person, this is a matter of right and wrong Professor Goodwitch. As a Huntress presented with evidence that this is going on, I would prefer to see that what's right be done... and I'd 'very' much like it if the boys would stop being forced to use our restrooms..." Weiss muttered under her breath as Glynda shook her head, the older woman clearly annoyed, though not as much, as she looked at them all.

"... I swear the three of you are going to be the death of me..." Before anyone can respond Glynda nodded her head behind her. "Come quickly now before anyone sees... if you tell anyone about this, rest assured your detention will go on for quite some time." They all nod nervously as they followed in behind Glynda. It was a winding path that eventually lead him to the security hub of Beacon Academy and, as the doors open, Izuku almost winced as the flare of multiple screens ended up filling his vision. As he blinked away the spots in his vision from the sudden shine, his eyes were met with several dozen screens attended to by multiple security guards, all of whom turn to look at who had suddenly entered the room.

"At ease gentlemen, they're here with my permission." The various security guards nodded in understanding as they turned back to their business, each of them looking across the various screens as they all are pulled back to a corner of the room. A series of screens sat here with a connection to various boxes and monitors and, with a swipe of her own Scroll, the system came to life. "I'd like to make this quick so that the chances of you all being seen near here by other students isn't quite as high. I'll play the videos for you, I'll stop whenever someone goes in, you make your notes and then you're gone, is that clear?" They all nodded in appreciation as Glynda tapped at her Scroll and, soon, the various security feeds of the various crime scenes were being played.

"If our suspicions are right Professor Goodwitch, the culprit in question will have only arrived at the restroom between one and ten minutes of the actual explosion. If you just play the preceding ten minutes before the explosions go off, we'll be able to form our suspect pool." Glynda nodded her head in understanding as she did just that.

They all looked over the tapes one or two times as they tried to take a quick count of everyone who went into the restroom and what they were carrying. While there were some oddities here and there, and Izuku had to admit that he felt a bit of a sweat come down as his teammates and Ren tried to wrap their minds around who the person they and Glynda knew as Toshinori was and what he was doing here, things eventually circled down onto two suspects, or, one singular suspect and a potential group of suspects.

"Tenya was there on all three days but... I dunno, he's not carrying anything suspicious and I really don't think we can count him as having a motive." Izuku frowned slightly as he spoke, though Nora comically whispers 'maybe that's just what he wants us to think' before she leaned back and took a look at his other notes.

"Then there's Team KOBA. Various members were at all three crime scenes so they had the opportunity to lay a bomb... plus Owari is a rather skilled inventor, I doubt a simple bomb would be of much difficulty for someone like him to fashion up." Everyone nodded in agreement with Weiss' thought but the Schnee Heiress frowned. "But... opportunity is about all we have for them. As far as means go we can't really give that a plus because I doubt that crossbow that one of the suspects is slinging around would be able to carry around the Dust necessary to pull this little venture off. Add onto that the fact that if those books were hollowed out that they'd be spilling Burn Dust 'everywhere', then I think it's safe to say that they didn't exactly have the means."

"To say nothing of the fact that they really don't have much of a clear motive if they were the ones behind this." Ren remarked dryly as he stroked his chin. "Our team hasn't really had much interaction with them. Honestly, the most anyone in our group has had with these guys would be your spars with them Izuku... and I doubt that those would translate into them trying to ruin Bakugo's reputation."

"Even if it was meant to be a proxy hit against Izuku it wouldn't make much sense; what, hit the guy who you beat in a spar and then who beat your teammate in a spar by framing his lifelong bully for something he didn't commit? That's... I guess feasible, but-"

"Occam's Razor, yeah. If they wanted back at me or thought I was against them, they'd do something to me, not Kacchan." Izuku agreed with Pyrrha's assessment as they all sped through the videos one last time. "Which leaves us with a pretty simple suspect: Cardin Winchester."

"Guy has motive; Katsuki beat his entire team into the ground by himself. As much as he's been trying to mess with others, he hasn't bothered to target Ruby, myself or Shoto after Katsuki manhandled him. Cardin doesn't exactly come off as the kind of person who takes that kind of embarrassment well... but he doesn't exactly come off as the kind of person who'd directly attack someone he knew was stronger than him either." Ren remarked as Nora nodded in ready agreement.

"Yeah, guy hasn't bothered Yang, Tsu, The Leadership Council or that rabbit girl ever since he got his butt handed to him on all those occasions." Pyrrha nodded in agreement as she piggybacked off of Nora's sentiment.

"Doing something that doesn't involve him getting into a direct fight with someone who's already proven more than his match does seem like motive."

"Not to mention he 'might' have means. I'd have to take a closer look at that Mace before I could say for certain but I could imagines situations and designs where this would fit our idea of the container used to smuggle in the Ground Dust. That the guy's brought it into the bathroom with him every single time in one of these videos also establishes a pattern."

"Cardin doesn't fit some of Ozpin's profile of the person as not having the resources and needing to use School provided Ground Dust Rounds... but his teammates do use Ground Dust Rounds provided by the school. From there... well, like we saw, information on how to do something like this is just a search away on the CCT." As he rubbed his chin to consider this thought, he looked at the others. "Means, Motive and Opportunity right? Seems like he'd be a good avenue to look at going forward." Glynda nodded her head slowly.

"Admittedly, Cardin Winchester was among the top of our list of suspects when we were considering this but the janitor who worked with the school previously hadn't brought to our attention the additional information you all found. In addition, we have no way of directly proving this without potentially overstepping our boundaries as educators and you all as students. Suspecting Mr. Winchester and breaking into his room simply because he has an... attitude problem and that he happened to be at the place around the time wouldn't hold up if we were wrong and it turned out he was innocent."

"Well... how about now?"

"You're right that he has motive and opportunity... but without direct proof that the mace is, indeed, smuggling the material in then you can only 'suspect' that he has means. Suspicion doesn't exactly hold if the school makes a serious misstep in carrying out justice." The group nodded in understanding as Glynda quickly moved to usher his out of the security room.

"And... what's gonna happen to us?" Weiss asked, cautiously, as Glynda just looked down at the group of you. There's a moment where she just stares at you before sighing.

"You shouldn't have gone into the restrooms to check this out yourselves... but if we're teaching you that it's your future duty to jump into situations that don't involve you for the sake of others, that we can't expect you to turn off those instincts... especially when they involve a member of your peer group." Glynda adjusted her glasses. "That you all made some honest to goodness headway in putting more pieces of this together would also suggest that you're taking this seriously."

"You all are 'still' students and the rules and laws of Beacon are here for a reason, as is detention... but if you're doing right and doing so responsibly, then I can't exactly fault your work as Huntsmen and Huntresses-in-Training. However, causing injury, legal or physical, is not to be overlooked no matter what intentions you have. Think carefully and be 'certain' about your next course of action." With that they all were guided out of the office and left to they own devices, Glynda having decided that escorting them all away from the security office might look odd to anyone who might catch sight of them all.

With that, they all begin to consider the next phase in the investigation.

"Going forward, I think our best bet is to mark Cardin as our main suspect. We know he has the motive and now we've seen that he's had the opportunity. If we can find out for certain that he has means then we might just have the culprit on our hands." Everyone else in the group nodded in agreement. "I don't want to do anything drastic. Like Glynda said, we're already skirting on the edge of school rules as it and we could get into trouble if we do anything too far out there. For now, I think our best bet is to just tail him and see what he gets up to. With any luck, we'll be able to see some suspicious behavior or find some more clues."

"Sounds perfectly fine to me." Weiss' opinion seemed to be that of the rest of the group, everyone ready and, in Nora's case, somewhat eager to get on this.

"STAKE OUT! WE'RE TOTALLY GOING TO BUST CARDIN, AND-"

"Nora." Ren remarked, coughing slightly into his fist to get her attention. "Maybe 'I' should tail Cardin? Not for nothing but... well, you aren't exactly the stealthiest person I've ever met." Nora blinked slightly and, looking at the rest of them, saw that everyone was in agreement.

"Not for nothing but we don't have much training in sneaking around... at least, I know I don't and I suspect Izuku and Weiss haven't." Izuku nodded to confirm Pyrrha's suspicions and Weiss just nodded in a slight huff as well. Nora frowned for a moment, her cheeks puffing out at having her opportunity to play secret agent tailing the bad guy shot down, before she turned to face Ren.

"Be careful alright? I might be able to break Cardin's legs but-"

"I don't intend to get caught. Even if I do, my Semblance should be able to buy me the space I'd need in order to get away." Ren remarked dryly as Nora's spirits lifted up a bit. At that, Ren turned toward the rest of them and pulled out his Scroll. "I'll silence my Scroll so that any communication we might have won't get his attention. I'll send you guys a message if he does anything interesting that you might want to look into while I'm tailing him. If something really big happens I'll call you guys in for support."

"Good luck Ren and thanks for the help." Izuku said gratefully though Ren just chuckled.

"I should be thanking you for going ahead and getting involved. It isn't your team's business... but you've been a big help nonetheless. So thank you, Izuku." Izuku beamed a bit at Ren's appreciation and, soon after, the Mistrali teen was quick to run off and find his quarry. From there, it was a waiting game to see if Ren happens upon anything interesting as Team MNVW waits for any communication from Ren.

The first hour was nothing special as Izuku and his teammates all sat around and waited for Ren's messages. They came in, usually, at a pretty slow trickle and mostly said much the same thing. 'Cardin's tormenting some kid, apparently because he scuffed his armor after bumping into him in the hall'. The next several messages were some variation on 'he's still doing it' and not much beyond that. It was a bit frustrating to just be sitting by and waiting rather than doing something about this but, well, if anyone moved in to try to stop Cardin now, the jig would be up and then there'd be no chance of actually catching onto something more significant. So, hoping that forgoing helping that person would pay off later, they all just continued to wait for Ren's updates.

The next hour, though, started a bit nervous. 'He may have spotted me, stand by' started things off tense. When Ren didn't send an update for several minutes, Nora was about ready to storm off to help her best friend. Thankfully, an update, 'he didn't spot me, but he's acting suspicious' came through, easing worries and raising hopes.

Those hopes turned into a nervous swallowing of throats as the next message popped up. 'He's grabbed his Mace from his dorm room'. The next few messages followed that trend, Ren's updates coming more and more frequent. 'He's passed the arena', 'he isn't heading directly to a class', 'we're on the second floor'.

Five minutes would go by before the next message would pop up.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

Lie Ren was many things. Best friend to Nora Valkyrie, Last Survivor of Kuroyuri, Huntsman-in-training and member of Team RSBR.

And he'd just watched Cardin Winchester walk into the, for now, co-ed bathroom on the second floor. Cardin didn't notice as he slowly tailed him in and, though he did want to dip in closer to the bathroom to try and get a better picture of what the Mace-wielding Huntsman was up to he didn't 'fully' enter the restroom. Even as quiet as he could be, there isn't a lot of room to hide without his feet showing. So he stuck behind the wall leading into the restroom and just waited, listening out for what Cardin's doing. He couldn't say for certain just what he's up to yet, but-

* **CR-SNAP!***

If the sound of metal giving out is any indication, it's not much good. As soon as Ren heard the metal sound give it's followed up by the echo of one of the toilet's emptying out, the draining sound continuing on for a moment. Eventually it eventually quieted down until just the sound of a toilet running hummed lightly in the room. As quickly as the sound dissipated Cardin opened one of the stalls back up, the creak of the metal frame alerting you to this fact. Ren cracked an eye cautiously around the corner, watching as Cardin just casually swung some kind of plastic plug on the end of a metal chain around in his hand. He quickly stuffed it down into the bottom of a mostly filled trash bin before heading back into the stall he just exited. It's not hard to notice him fiddling with the Crystal at the head of his Mace before he enters the stall again, out of sight all but for his feet.

Ren sat back and wait, bringing out his Scroll and switching it over to its recording function as he took a careful amount of time to make sure that Cardin's feet were very much visible in shot before stepping back and finding a new hiding place. With any luck, Cardin will depart before long and he'd have video proof of not only him in the stall but also of him leaving. If he left the recording on at that, then he'd definitely have video proof that none of this was cut together from various shots. Just a seamless stream of video to connect Cardin, and whatever he's doing in here, to him and him alone.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

'Come here now.'

It was a very short message from Ren and straight to the point. In addition, it was one that was very much contradictory to the nature of the mission they all agreed on when Izuku sent him on his way to tail Cardin. Nora was the first one to start sprinting for the location that Ren texts but, before long, all of them were running. For Ren to send that kind of a message then it had to be something important. Footsteps echoed through the halls as they all sprinted for the second floor co-ed restroom and, given their speeds, it wasn't long before they all arrived and ran inside.

"REN, WHERE ARE YOU, HAS CARDIN HURT YOU, DO I NEED TO BREAK HIS EVERYTHING?!" Nora's roar was probably audible from the other side of the school but, at the moment, they were all a bit high strung from the fact that Ren sent such a message in the first place. He could very well have gotten caught or hurt by Cardin. 'This is my fault, I'm the on-'

Before Izuku could trail down that line of thought, of blaming himself for Ren possibly getting hurt, Lie Ren walked out of a nearby stall, his magenta eyes open and his eyebrows quirked as he pulled his Scroll back, carefully positioned as if recording a video... which he realized was exactly what he's up to. He turned to look at them all, turning the camera of his Scroll with him so that they were all within shot.

"Oh, hello Nora, everyone."

That little four word greeting was all that transpired before Nora Valkyrie immediately leapt forward and tackled Ren, shaking her best friend about like a rag doll as she looked up at him.

"YOU'RE OKAY, WAIT, YOU'RE OKAY?! WE THOUGHT YOU WEREN'T OKAY BECAUSE OF YOUR MESSAGE! YOU COULD'VE TOLD US YOU WERE OKAY REN BEFORE SENDING THAT! I THOUGHT CARDIN FOUND YOU! I THOUGHT MY BEST FRIEND WAS GETTING BEATEN UP! I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO BREAK SOMEONE IN HALF!"

"Nora! I'm alright, except, I might not, be if you, don't put me, down!" Ren's words were chopped up by Nora's energetic shaking, the bubbly bomber realizing just what she must've been putting her friend through as she violently shook him about. After a moment Nora dropped Ren back on the ground, the Mistrali young man taking a deep breath to help steady himself as Nora just frowned.

"Sorry Ren..."

"It's okay... I could've been more specific..." Ren said as he cracked his back, wincing slightly as Nora just apologized again.

"Well we're glad you're alright Ren but... well, what happened then? Why did we need to come so soon?" Ren turned his attention back your way, the Mistrali teen just nodding slightly as he waved his hand to the stall.

"I do believe that you might have your case wrapped up Izuku. I've taken the liberty of making sure nothing will happen but... well, I left the pieces intact for you to take a good look at." There was a collective buzz of energy that moves between the team as they all took Ren's words in. Could it really be true? Did they all have what he needed? Ren drew Weiss and Pyrrha's attention back to the trash can as Izuku and Nora walked over to the toilet in question, the cistern laying open and its cover laid off to the side as they all took a peak in.

He hadn't seen many cisterns himself but immediately he could tell that something was missing and, whatever that was, it was causing the water to constantly drain out. Not a lot of it now but just enough to keep a slightly wet atmosphere in the cistern. It'd explain where the water came from in the explosion. What really caught his attention was... well, three plastic bags, sealed mostly back up, filled to the brim with Burn Dust arranged in one of the corners of the cistern. One of the bags in question was cracked open at the edge and, though it's allowed a small amount of water to seep in, it wasn't much. From that opening, however, was something that immediately drew his interest; a thin rope of... something, deeply colored red that stretches out and around the cistern, stiff and somewhat long. The end was burnt and smoking and crumples of what he recognized to be the remnants of what Izuku thought to be the fuse on the bottom of the cistern. Cautiously he reached in and pluck the little red rope out and his grip immediately alerted him to the fact that it felt like some kind of paper, though it was hard to tell exactly what kind it was because of the odd texture of whatever the red stuff was that covered it...

The smell was filling his nostrils, fresher and more abundant than before with the end of it still smoking quite heavily.

"Darn it... I still can't place it. It's right on the tip of my tongue but I just can't..."

"Cheer up Fearless Leader, it's fine... it's... it's..." Nora take a few quick sniffs herself of the end of the makeshift fuse, the normally peppy girl's brow furrowing as she narrowed her gaze. "... Really familiar... like... really familiar..." Eventually a smile grew on Nora's face as she pointed to it. "OH DUH! I didn't recognize it before because it was so faint but I know what this smells like Izuku! It smells like a match!"

"A match?" Before he'd even finished asking the question, a memory slammed him in the head like a brick; days celebrating Color Week Festivals spent with his mom as people set off fireworks around Mountain Glenn, Izuku himself being allowed to hold onto a box of matches as Inko Midoriya allowed him to set some off...

Said fireworks almost immediately going off in his face and giving him a fright.

Well, that's one repressed memory that's come back to the surface.

"I can't believe that I couldn't place it!" He slapped his forehead, honestly befuddled as he looked over at Nora. "Nora, how did you place it?" Nora just scratches her cheek, the normally energetic girl glancing off to the side.

"I... set a lot of fires with them way back when I was a kid... it was a good way of setting a little quick one... you know... just to stay by." Izuku blinked for a moment, an amused chuckle escaping his lips.

"I didn't take you for a pyromaniac Nora." Nora just laughed a bit distantly, old memories playing across her eyes as she just shrugged.

"Yeah, that's me alright. Anyway, I wonder why Weiss didn't recognize it. I know she's rich but-"

"Rich and daughter of the world's largest Dust Magnate. My father and anyone in his social circle only ever used Burn Dust Lighters." Weiss called over her shoulder as she, Pyrrha and Ren fished out the part from the toilet; sure enough between the chain and the plug it looked like it belonged with the broken bit of the cistern. If Izuku were a betting man, he'd guess that if he went back to the most recent crime scene and inspected its trash cans you'd find something very similar stuffed down in there, there only because the most recent incident made the janitor quit.

"I see. Well, I guess that... might explain what's going on with this? It smells like a match... so..."

"Uh... so... hmmm..." Izuku stroked his chin as he tried to think, Weiss frowning as she shrugged.

"I'm not exactly an expert but if the heads of matches can go off and sustain a fire, then maybe Cardin and Team CRDL just took a bunch of match heads and coated some homemade fuse in whatever coats a match?" Ren checked through his Scroll for a moment, eyes scanning through results before he nodded.

"It does seem like if you shear them and then boil the remains in hot water that you can coat homemade fuses in the substance to make them last longer." With that, Ren quickly played back the video he'd recorded up to that point, a rather continuous stream showing Cardin's feet, to waiting outside for him to leave, to him leaving, to Ren going back in and investigating the toilet, to waiting for the team to show up.

"So... I mean, I don't want to jinx this but... I'd say between all of this we have a fairly substantial bit of evidence on our hands Izuku." Pyrrha said, somewhat cautiously optimistic, as the others nodded.

Choosing what to do after everything was said and done turned out to be a surprisingly simple affair. Confronting Cardin could lead to trouble and really, going straight to Ozpin when they had the case all but settled and figured out and with ample evidence ready to try to convince him that he could act... well, why not just go straight to the man in charge? It'd also kept them from stepping over their bounds... well, more than they already had, Izuku supposed.

So it was with a somewhat heavy atmosphere that they all entered Ozpin's office, Headmaster Ozpin and Professors Goodwitch and Aizawa present... he wasn't exactly sure why Aizawa was here but it didn't make much difference... okay so maybe it made Izuku a bit more nervous but hey, he was going to be nervous going over all this anyway, right?

"Now then Mr. Midoriya, your call said that you had information for us on who exactly it was behind the various explosions in the bathroom." Izuku nodded somewhat stiffly, not quite trusting his vocal chords to not squeak or crack under the strain of his nerves. "Well then Mr. Midoriya, would you care to share with us? Anything you might've gathered would be a help." He took a quick look back at his Team and Ren, the four of them giving him a nod of encouragement before they all turned back to face Ozpin. He took a deep breath to steel his nerves as he returned his gaze to the three adults in the room, a calm slowly settling over him as he organized the case and the clues he'd gathered in his mind.

"Headmaster Ozpin." He took a step forward as he spoke, an odd sort of confidence filling him as he looked him in the eye. "It is the belief of my Team and of Lie Ren of Team RSBR that the culprit behind the bathroom bombings was none other than Cardin Winchester of Team CRDL!"

And so it began.

"Cardin hmmm? I can't say I'm surprise by this assertion, he was on our own list of suspects as well, but assertions and suspicions aren't things we can go off of Mr. Midoriya." Ozpin stated calmly as Izuku just nodded in understanding.

"I'm aware sir, but here and now we believe we have the evidence necessary for you to make your case." Ozpin merely nodded as he allowed Izuku to continue. "First and foremost, you had a large profile of our mystery bomber already established and, needless to say, Cardin fit all pre-requisites, likely the reason that you put him on your list. What you didn't have was the means by which the suspect ended up destroying the various toilets. You could suspect, but no one could be certain until now." With that Ren quickly produced his Scroll while his team assembled the various components of the improvised bomb that Cardin had left behind. "The means by which Cardin would have committed these acts are an improvised explosion powered by Fire Dust! At the most recent crime scene, the lack of proper cleaning allowed us to recover plenty of spilled Fire Dust from the ground... and if you were to go to the restroom we recovered Cardin's most recent attempt, I'm sure you'll find the same."

As the three professors go over the video evidence, you continue. "As for how he smuggled this in the first place? Well, the plastic bags and the fuse would've been easy enough to hide in his pockets, but the Fire Dust? Hidden in plain sight in his Mace! In fact, if you were to go retrieve Mr. Winchester's weapon at this very moment, you'd likely find evidence of improperly stored Fire Dust inside of it, if I had to wager." The three teachers nodded as Izuku went on, though Ozpin did whisper over to Aizawa. "In addition, the security evidence that gave you your own ID on the suspect also gave us ample proof that Cardin Winchester was at each crime scene at least ten minutes before the explosion went off... and that the mechanism used to delay the explosion of these make-shift bombs perfectly explains several aspects of these delays!

"A makeshift fuse, made from a tightly twisted together paper substance and coated in the chemical compound that makes up match heads! Now, being such a ramshackle fuse, it's natural that it'd be fickle and lead to chaotic and unpredictable times of explosions from when Cardin would set it off, explaining the differences in times between Cardin's various arrivals in the security feeds." Izuku hadn't even noticed that Aizawa was gone as he went through the evidence, too caught up in the moment of explaining the case as he continued on. "In addition, Lie Ren's video feed of the most recent attempt by Mr. Winchester not even a half hour ago shows conclusively that Cardin was the only person in that stall at the time of the explosive being set up, who actively vandalized the cistern by removing that piece you see there and here, in order to drain out the cistern. Why? So that it wouldn't be full of water to smother his explosive!"

Ren just nodded as he gave a short explanation of the uncut video that Ozpin and Glynda had finished fast forwarding through both of the teachers nodding at his own account before Izuku continued. "So that's means and opportunity... and motive is quite simple. Cardin Winchester, along with the rest of Team CRDL, had attempted to ambush Kacchan some time ago in the halls... only to fail spectacularly. Beaten and bruised, their reputations injured by their fight with Kacchan, it'd be natural for someone like Cardin Winchester, a known bully, to want revenge. However, the only way he could do so against someone who wouldn't take his bullying would be to sully their reputation!

"No matter how you slice this evidence or the situation, Headmaster, One Truth Prevails! Cardin Winchester is your culprit!"

There was a bit of silence in the room as he finished and, for a moment, he fearing that maybe his evidence and his case wasn't as nearly rock solid as he thought it was. Then Ozpin just gave a small chuckle and raised both his hands up, giving him a small round of applause.

"I must say Mr. Midoriya, well done. I wasn't quite expecting this-" Izuku saw Glynda roll her eyes as Ozpin said this, the Headmaster just sending a small wink her way before he turned back forward, "-but I'll accept it nonetheless. This is fairly conclusive evidence and, even if it turned out that Mr. Winchester was innocent, no one would be able to blame us for... investigating this further. I suspect that Mr. Aizawa will find his search to be fruitful." Izuku couldn't help but smile, along with the rest of his team and Ren. Though he allowed a frown to peak out as he stepped forward.

"Sir... Professor Goodwitch has made it clear that we did overstep our bounds in doing this... I just want you to know that this was all my idea. I roped everyone else into doing it as their team leader... or most of them, anyway. I'll take full responsibility for any punishments we're owed."

"Izuku!"

"Fearless Leader!"

"Hey!"

There seemed to be a general revolt among his friends as he lined himself up to take all of any punishment that might be coming forth. Before anyone else can step forward and insist that it was totally of their own doing as well, Ozpin just chuckled as he waved his hand.

"Mr. Midoriya. If you'd like to take credit for thwarting a fourth bathroom explosion and finding the culprit, well, I won't stop you but it seems a little bit selfish in light of the help you said your team and Mr. Ren here gave you." Izuku blushed slightly as everyone stared kind of witlessly at Ozpin. "I hope you've come to understand by now that here at Beacon, well, we do have some expectations that you students are capable of handling yourselves. Emergencies... well, emergencies are 'very' serious business to Huntsmen and Huntresses who might otherwise be needed elsewhere. So for... smaller problems, it's good for you all to learn to be able to support each other and pull each other through. It's true, we have rules... but given that you've just settled a school issue for us, all to keep the reputation of an innocent student clean... I think we can overlook a few... 'strained' rules." Izuku couldn't help but smile at that, along with the rest of his team. "Especially since you took such care in not doing anything too harmful." Ozpin fixed up some papers on his desk as he waved them all off. "We'll handle this from here... rest assured, if you're all right, then justice will be seen to. We do need a... replacement janitor up until we can hire a new one, after all."

And with that, all of them departed Ozpin's office. It wouldn't take long for them to hear about Aizawa's little haunt to Team CRDL's dorm room. Indeed, Cardin's Mace had been found to have trace amounts of Ground Dust left in various crevices it hadn't belonged in. Not to mention an... unusual amount of matches without their match heads left in trash bags, likely to be dumped later when no one would notice. When confronted with the overwhelming evidence, Cardin Winchester insisted that it had been a team effort, and that the other members of his team had assisted him in gathering what he needed. With the three other members agreeing to said version of events, the Team was collectively punished; all four members were made to be replacement janitors during their off hours, working on the various messes made and fixing their own destruction until they made up for the costs of the repairs they made necessary. In addition, a close eye would be kept on Team CRDL in the future.

Team RSBR couldn't have been happier at how it was all wrapped up... or at least Izuku thought so. Ruby was really happy at any rate, Shoto and Ren had small smiles on their face and Bakugo... well, Bakugo reaffirmed that he hadn't needed his help and that anyone who mattered already knew the truth.

Not a surprise but he didn't spend time berating Izuku afterward either, so that was a change of pace. Not only that but, every now and then, he'd hear whispers about how people saw his team going around as a group and, it seemed like, trying to solve this case. It seemed like he had really made an impact here which, above all else, really was what made him happy, along with the rest of his team.

A busy day, but a good one, all things told.


	39. A (Not Quite Spartan) Birthday

'Okay Izuku.'

'Just... just push some buttons and then hit the call button.'

That's it. He'd already done it at least once a week since he'd come here to Beacon. He'd already talked to his mom so many times. It had been a rather regular occurrence all told as he'd wanted to keep his mom in the loop at the very least. It only seemed right after all; his mom would've gotten really worried otherwise.

So it shouldn't be so hard to do it again, right?

... Well, except for the fact that he was getting set to apologize for... for a lot of stuff that he'd been keeping behind him while here at Beacon. He was still grateful to Blake for helping him come to terms with all this. Really, who would've thought that a discussion about The Man With Two Souls would've ended up getting to the heart of one of his own failings... one that concerned your mother, no less.

After this call, he'd have to thank Blake again...

Though being grateful for having this opportunity realized didn't stop him from being nervous about actually following through with it. His mom loved him, he knew that to be true from the very bottom of his heart but... man... he'd known she's been hurting for a long time. She'd been as hurt by his inability to see your dream through for the longest time as he was. His frustrations were cause for her sadness, his pain was hers.

'How exactly do I 'just' start a conversation like that?'

'Oh hey Mom, I just called to check in to see how you were doing, tell you how Beacon was going and then apologize for all the emotional torment I put both of us through for pursuing my dreams, not to mention the financial strain, and about how I'm sorry to have been such a tremendous block of stress and sadness in your life.'

Yeah, simple.

Still, he never let a task being difficult stop him from going through with it before. Especially if it was the right thing to do.

And Gods, it was the right thing to do.

So with a deep breath he pressed a few buttons on his Scroll and brought it up to his face, waiting for his mother's image to come up on the other side. One ring, she had just noticed it. Two rings, she had picked it up or pulled it from her pocket. Three rings, she'd seen his name on the new contact ID and-

"Izuku, my baby!" Izuku winced a little bit as he lowered the volume of his Scroll slightly. Really, he had to remember to do that before calling her.

"H-Hey mom!" He answered back somewhat skittishly as the familiar, smiling face of Inko Midoriya filled his vision.

"Oh it's so good to see you Izuku! I was hoping you'd call soon, it's going to get busy here in an hour or so when I go off to work and I wouldn't want to have to put off talking to you this week!" Izuku saw that his mother, indeed, was getting ready to go off to work. "How are you Izuku? Did the Lien get through earlier?" He couldn't help but smile; his mother asked that every time he called and every time, without fail;

"Yeah mom, the Lien got through, same as always." Izuku saw his mother sigh slightly as her smile widened.

"That's good! I always get so worried because maybe I've forgotten to put in the right amount for the transfer or maybe I made a mistake when punching in your card's number."

"Well... you shouldn't worry mom. You haven't made a mistake so far..." Or ever, really...

"Well that doesn't mean I can't Izuku." She said with a slight laugh as he watched her do her hair up. "So how's my baby doing at school? Are your grades still good? Did you make any new friends... have you met more girls?" The last question, as always, is tinted with that slight conspiratorial and concerned edge, his mother's worry about him being on his own still somewhat present...

Gods it was awkward. Did he just cut right to the heart of the matter or did he play along? I mean, it'd probably be a slight shock for him do just 'unload' on her but... well, he wanted to do right by her and if he stalled, well, that wasn't going to do him any good... except maybe for him to work up the nerve.

"Well... I guess I have actually. I met these two girls from the year above me, Coco Adel and Velvet Scarlatina. They're pretty cool people..." He started by answering his mom's question, and the other end of the line was just so silent.

"... _Oh no my baby's meeting older women now_..." His mom's whispered under her breath as a 'dire' expression came over her face. He just shook his head, trying to get away from that particular discussion, as he did his best to smile.

"A-Anyway! I'm going to throw a birthday party for my teammate Pyrrha yesterday." This seemed to be enough to snap Inko out of her spiraling panic as she looked at him, his mother's face breaking into a smile.

"You are? Oh Izuku, that was so nice of you! I hope she enjoys it? Have you gotten her something nice?... It isn't too nice, is it? Or it isn't-"

"I got her a locket I carved myself and put our team's picture in mom." Again his mother sighed in relief as she let him talk about the party at length, the woman's smile growing more and more as she listened in. Hearing how happy Izuku sounded, it just made his mother so happy... it hurt that he'd have to bring it all down to something so depressing. Speaking of...

"I also ended up having to convince one of my other friends, a girl named Blake, to get in and enjoy the party. She's... a bit shy and reclusive, but she's really smart and... really a good person." Izuku said, scratching the back of his head as Inko seemed to be getting just a bit worried again.

"O-Oh, is she? T-That's nice Izuku..." Izuku knew what his mom is thinking but, rather than get off track by correcting her again, he just sighed.

"Yeah... she... we had this discussion a little while back while we were talking about this book we read... and it... kind of made me realize something." His mom just blinked, her worried expression dropping away as she saw how upset he seemed to be getting. "Mom... I'm sorry."

"... What?" She asked, seemingly bewildered, as he look at her through the Scroll.

"I said I'm sorry mom... and I'm sorry I didn't say that until just now, after all these years." Izuku clutched at his chest a bit as he took a deep breath, steeling himself. "Mom... I've noticed how upset you've been over the years because of me. How I've made you worried or scared while I was pursuing my dream... how stressed you were about how I was hurting myself during the training at Birch or how you were worried about putting money together to get me in... I noticed it. I saw how much stress I was putting on your shoulders... and I didn't do or say anything about it... because I knew I wasn't going to stop pursuing my dream…"

"But... but just because I got here doesn't make everything I've done to you right. It doesn't make all the times I saw you cry because I was crying or upset right. It doesn't make it right that I never said thank you or that I was sorry for putting us both through that... I know it sounds empty because I'm still here at Beacon and I'm going to keep on trying to be a Huntsman... but... but I just want you to know how sorry I am for all of that. That I never stopped to thank you for what you were putting yourself through..."

There was a dead silence that strained the conversation as his mother just stared at him through the Scroll, shell shocked.

"Izuku..." He watched as tears streamed down his mother's cheeks as her expression turned from surprised to upset, the woman shaking her head fervently as she turned those emerald eyes on him. "No! Don't apologize to me, baby! I'm sorry! I'm your mother, it's my job to worry about your safety or about money! It's your job to chase your dreams or be what you want to be at your age! You shouldn't have ever seen me like that! It's my job to have that on my shoulders, not my son's! So please don't apologize Izuku, I'm sorry that I put that on your shoulders and that you've been carrying it!"

At that point tears were streaming down his own cheeks as he shouted back at the Scroll.

"Mom, I can't accept that! You've done so much for me, how could I accept that you need to apologize because you didn't hide how much it was hurting you from me?! You're not just my mom, you're a person too... and I put you through so much! You can't sit there and say that it was okay for me to do what I did because I'm your son, it isn't right! Besides, you said it yourself, you hoped that I would stop pursuing that dream because you thought I was going to be hurt! So I'm sorry!"

"I'm sorry I said that Izuku! Yes, I know I thought that, but I said it as part of my way of apologizing to you for even thinking that! I didn't believe your dream was possible when it was and it stopped me from being behind you all the way! That's why I'm okay honey, that's why I'm glad you're at Beacon making all of these friends and being so happy! So I'm sorry I ever said that, I didn't want to put the idea in your head that it was 'your fault' that I felt that way!"

"Well I'm sorry mom but it is my fault that you felt that way and I should've been more considerate of that!"

"Well I'm sorry-"

"No I'm sorry!"

"Izuku don't interrupt your mother when she's apologizing!"

"I'm sorry mom!"

Izuku really should've known what was going to happen. If there was anyone he was like on this planet, it was his mom. So it went that he and his mother spent several minutes going back and forth, sobbing like crazy people and apologizing to each other in circles.

"Izuku Midoriya." There was an authoritative tone Izuku didn't hear often from his mother in those two words as they both finished apologizing. He looked into his Scroll to see his mother, tears staining her cheeks and eyes red, as a stern look was in her eyes... but a kind smile was on her face. "You... are my wonderful little boy. I know you wouldn't mean to hurt me in any way... and honey, I know that I was worried. I know that I was scared... of course I was. I thought there was a chance you were going to die if you kept at this too long. What mother wouldn't be horrified?" Izuku frowned and tried to look down to the side, though his mother's stern look kept his eyes locked with her. "But... I could have told you to stop. I was the parent and you were the child. I could have forced you to go to a normal school and be a normal child..."

"But... honey... you are still a young man. You deserved a chance to chase your dreams... even if they weren't feasible. I figured if you did graduate from the Combat School that you could just go into engineering. It's a good job that makes a lot of money here in Mountain Glenn... but instead, you got your chance to live your dream. Sure, we didn't know it... but... if you have the chance to be happy, if you have the chance to live your dream to its fullest... then Izuku, no amount of money I spent or stress I went through was not worth it." Izuku swallowed a little as he couldn't help but smile at his mother's words. "Izuku... I appreciate that you want to say you're sorry, I really do... but right now, you don't have to. You're happy... and for me, for 'your mother'... that's all I need. Not an apology... just a smile." He choked a bit as he felt tears fresh in his eyes again but, nonetheless, he gave his mother a wide smile, one that sends fresh tears streaming down her cheeks as well.

"Now... now I have to get to work... Gods I hope I'll be able to clean up before I get there, I must look like a wreck..." They both chuckled as Izuku wiped at his eyes. "Izuku... I'll call you later, okay? We'll talk more then, alright?"

"Yeah mom, sure... I love you." The smile on Inko Midoriya's face was nearly blinding as she closed her eyes, dropping a few tears, before nodding.

"I love you too, Izuku." With that, the conversation ended and Izuku released a sigh, wiping at his eyes as he tried to clean himself up a bit before heading back into the building.

* * *

"Wow Weiss you really went above and beyond with these decorations. Place looks like a real fancy-pants' pad now, ribbit ribbit."

Indeed, even Izuku was a bit surprised when he walked into what, during the day, was Professor Oobleck's classroom. Chosen because there were no doors that lead into Port's, er, 'Grimm Storage' area and because there wasn't a guarantee that Aizawa wouldn't just sleep through the evening and end up overstaying in his own classroom, Oobleck's classroom was considered the best possible room for them to rent out for their party that met the various requirements and would be, well, private.

However, apparently Weiss didn't decide to take up decorating duties for nothing. What was once a classroom was rather snazzily decked out from top to bottom and, as Tsuyu said, it looked like a really fancy party. The more expensive decorations and party touches were evenly distributed and really brought a different light to the usually drab classroom. Heck, there were coasters nearly everywhere for the drinks that people might've wanted and the centerpiece of it all were the tables laid out to house the, well, no other word for it but 'buffet'. The various snacks, food, drinks and, of course, the two cakes were all arranged in an artful and pleasing manner, the cakes in the center and the food and drinks evenly distributed, so that it had a sort of parallel look to it. The plates and cups that were selected even matched in color, or complemented the color of, the tablecloth that Weiss had insisted they buy for the event.

It looked nice without looking super expensive and everyone was really digging it. The music also probably helped... though that seemed to be less Weiss and more everyone just fiddling around with the Scroll they all had set up to stream a CCT station for the room.

"Eh, it'll do. It's nothing like an actual Atlesian Soiree but I think Pyrrha will probably appreciate it." They all nodded in agreement. "I'm just glad that we did send Nora out with Pyrrha; we probably would've had a time and a half with her trying to keep her from devouring those two cakes."

"Yeah, how horrible..." Ruby muttered as she stared at the two cakes Izuku baked, her mouth clearly watering as the sweet aromas wafted off the cake.

"Nuh uh, little sis. Gotta wait for the birthday girl to show up before any of us can get any cake." Thankfully, Yang had been on hand to keep a firm grip on Ruby's cloak, the younger girl just whining in defeat as she continued to stare after those cakes like a dog denied a treat.

"You won't have to wait long Ruby, according to Nora she and Pyrrha just arrived back on campus. They'll be here soon." Izuku offered in a conciliatory manner to the young girl, causing Kacchan to scoff from the other end of the room.

"Better hurry the Hell up. I got my ass dragged here and I'd like for Red to just get her damn gift already so I can get out." The explosive Huntsman muttered as Ren cracked open an eye to look at him, the Mistrali young man seated not so far away.

"Have some patience Katsuki. This is an event for all three of our teams. It'll do good for us to relax and enjoy ourselves with our peers." Bakugo just scowled slightly but, tellingly, didn't bite back against Ren. Instead he just crossed his arms and continued to lean up against the wall while Ren just grinned. "Did you figure out what you were going to get her, by the by?"

"Course I did!"

"Was it still just cash?"

...

Bakugo's face just went red as he cussed up a storm under his breath, Ren just smiling knowingly from his seated position. Shoto, on the other hand, just blinked a few times in confusion as he looked to his partner.

"Is it inappropriate to use Lien as a present? I'm afraid I'm not overly familiar with what is and isn't a good gift, so..." Shoto asked his partner as Ren just shook his head.

"Not at all Shoto, Lien is a fine gift if you're not certain what to give someone. I was just having some fun at our teammate's expense."

"You two can go fuck yourselves." Bakugo muttered as he kicked off the wall and went over to the buffet to get himself a drink. Before anyone else, namely Yang, could pile in a set of footsteps was heard coming down the hall, one distinctly a set of high heels. The entire room quieted down as the footsteps approached and, lo and behold, you heard two very familiar voices.

"So Professor Oobleck wanted to see us when we got back?"

"U-Uh huh! He, uh, he said that he wanted to discuss our grade on our test! Yeah, he said he wanted to talk to us about that!" They all couldn't help but slap their foreheads at Nora's fabricated lie.

"Oh dear, I hope it isn't anything too serious." Thankfully, Pyrrha was a rather trusting person and it seems she bought into Nora's little tale... or was just indulging her. It was hard to tell. Ruby Rose quickly ran up to the light switch using her Semblance, turned off the lights, and then quickly jumped back into her hiding place. Finally, Pyrrha and Nora approached the door and, opening it, Izuku could practically see Pyrrha's furrowed brow.

"Hello? Professor Oobleck? You wanted to see us?" The former tournament fighter flipped the nearby switch and-

"SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY PYRRHA!"

"AAAAAAAAH!"

Izuku was privately thankful that there wasn't anything metal nearby for Pyrrha to send flying out from her surprise. What was certain however was that there was a slight 'flash' of a Scroll's camera going off as Yang chuckled to herself. "Aaaand saved..."

"E-Everyone?" Pyrrha seemed to recover her wits as they all smiled at her, some softly chuckling at her surprise as she looked around. "Oh! Y-You all didn't have to, it wasn't-"

"Of course we had to Pyrrha! It's your birthday and, as friends, compatriots, teammates or otherwise, it is all of our duties to celebrate the anniversary of your birth in order to show how much you mean to us! To do otherwise would simply be a travesty of poor taste!" Tenya declared nice and loud as he swung his arms about, Blake just shaking her head from her own hiding position as she cracked out a book.

"What he said. It's no problem to celebrate your birthday Pyrrha. So come on, your team put a lot of work into this." Pyrrha blinked in surprise as she looked between the three of them and, after some hesitation, a smile cropped up on her face as she allowed Nora to drag her down to the party floor to join in with everyone else.

Time to get the party rolling!

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

By the time Izuku'd noticed that Yang Xiao Long had turned that predatory gaze upon him, it was already too late. Before he could make himself look busy or try to get distance between him and her, the blonde young woman had him by his arm and was tugging him out onto the makeshift dance floor.

"Come on Slugger! You can't just leave Tenya all here on his lonesome! Come on, let's see if your dance moves are half as tasty as your fightin' moves!"

"UH YANG I REALLY DON'T KNOW IF THAT'S A GREAT IDEA I MEAN I'VE ONLY JUST REALLY STARTED LEARNING HOW TO DANCE!" Yang looked over at him, a slightly surprised expression on her face that rapidly turned coy as she continued to pull him to the dance floor.

"Oh? Learning to dance are we Izuku? What, trying to learn how to impress the ladies before the big dance?" His face immediately went beet red at Yang's insinuation... well, he was trying to learn how to dance for the big Vytal Dance coming up next semester so... she wasn't wrong, he guessed? Seeing that reaction caused Yang to bark out a series of 'very' entertained laughs as she just grinned at him. "Well come on then Slugger, let's see how good you've gotten? Show us all how you shake what the Gods gave ya!" With that Yang shoved Izuku out onto the dance floor, leaving him somewhat nervous as everyone turned their attention on him. Ruby, still laughing, started whistling for him to start dancing, a gesture followed up by a lot of his other friends.

Tenya just gave Izuku a look of manly understanding as he did his best to awkwardly dance.

Izuku suspected that it'd look a lot better if it wasn't for Tenya's usual body language getting in the way, causing him to awkwardly jerk about rather than go with the flow of the music. His face remained beet red as he tried to think of his way out of it.

Izuku felt a rush of determination as he was dragged out onto the makeshift dance floor by Yang. It always seemed like Yang was the one who had him on the back foot, that the highly socially competent young woman just constantly had him on the ropes when it came to poking, prodding and teasing him. It was never harsh or ill-meant, but it never ceased to make his face turn red when the young woman would just start pushing all his buttons in rapid order and him felt like that there was little he could do.

It gave some motivation, here and now. Why just let Yang be the one having the fun? After all, he... kind of knew how to dance a little bit! Maybe it was time he got a little bit of payback and got to see Yang blush for once!

Before that thought could make him chicken out, he swallowed the lump in his throat and allow his arm to go slack so that Yang's next pull ended up practically dragging him right into her.

"What's wrong there Slugg-" Before Yang could do much to respond... well, it wouldn't necessarily be wrong to say he basically moved in to do to her what he did to both her and Bakugo during his fights; toss her own body weight around. Except in one case he was tossing her over his shoulder but now, with a combination of light footsteps keeping in rhythm to the music, he switched his grip so that, rather than being dragged about the hand by Yang, he got her in his grip. From there he pulled a pretty simple maneuver; he pulled in somewhat close to Yang and spun a couple times, his quick steps and the momentum of her pull causing the both of them to whirl about. It was a little bit disorientating at first but, eventually, he took one big step out and, with the hand holding onto Yang's, whipped her out.

To Yang's credit, and his, she managed to keep from completely falling over as she planted her feet, the both of them barely connected by their hands. It was actually rather comical as the quick series of spins ended up with Yang's hair a little disheveled.

Okay, so, just like the movies; after his momentum ceased he ended up pulling Yang back in, the blonde brawler giving a quick 'ah' as her feet awkwardly stumbled about from the surprise dance he'd ended up inflicting on her. To his surprise he ended up basically leading this as Yang seemed to be too surprised and a bit out of her depth when it came to dancing like Weiss taught him. The scene that thus played out for everyone is that he, Izuku Midoriya, ended up leading Yang about on a makeshift Tango while the blonde girl was pretty much helpless but to follow his lead, lest she end up falling flat on her butt.

To say that everyone else was entertained would've been an understatement.

"Come on Yang, you tease Izuku about his dancing and then you go in looking like a limp noodle, ribbit ribbit?" Ruby's cheeks puff out as Tsuyu tossed that out, the sister and Frog Faunus equally amused to see the usually in control and cool Yang Xiao Long having utterly lost ground to Izuku of all people.

"Wait, hold on, just give meeeeeee-" The dance just ended up going on despite Yang's protests, by that point most of the more exuberant party goers just laughing or hollerin' for Izuku, free entertainment before their eyes. Tenya himself took the moment to stop dancing and sneak away from the makeshift dance floor himself. Eventually Izuku's own boldness ended up draining out as he realized that he'd been holding hands and dancing with a girl and, face flushed, Izuku ended up giving Yang one last spin. He kept a hand on her shoulder to keep her from falling over, her hair whipped about her hair so as to obscure her face as the young woman gave a few uncertain steps following the entire affair.

"So... uh... was that good dancing Yang?" Izuku ended up awkwardly asking, not quite possessing Yang's talent for teasing. Yang gave a quick 'Huh?' at Izuku's prompting, her mind seemingly back on the dance floor herself before she suddenly just started laughing.

"O-Oh! Yeah, totally! Got me good there Slugger, looks like whatever lessons you're takin' are paying off!" Yang gave another quick laugh as she readjusted her hair, turning around as she headed off for the buffet. Izuku couldn't help but frown slightly; despite her initial shock, it seemed like Yang recovered pretty quickly. Heck, Izuku didn't even really get a chance to turn the tables on her and get her like she usually got him.

Though he wondered for a moment if he spotted a deep shade of red on her ears as she fixed up her hair.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"Not big on parties I'm guessing?" Blake blinked as he approached her, the black haired young woman looking up from her book, The Modern Sage coincidentally, and just shaking her head with what amounts to a friendly smile.

"Nah, 'fraid not. Don't get me wrong, your team did a great job but... eh, I've never been much the celebratory type." Izuku frowned a little as he crossed his arms.

"Never? That's... not exactly a great thing Blake. Did you ever celebrate your birthday?" Izuku saw Blake paused for a moment, her eyes having moved to go back to her book after she answered him. Sighing slightly, though with a slight smile that indicated she wasn't too annoyed, she closed her book and pocketed it as she scooted over a bit to offer him a spot against the wall.

"Well, it's not that. I celebrated my birthday every year back when I lived with my parents. It was... alright." Izuku saw Blake was trying her best to play it cool as she combed a strand of hair behind her ear, a distant smile on her face. "I wasn't super social even as a kid, but my dad would still do what he could to invite a whole bunch of kids over to see if I could make friends... I made some. They were friends I'd have for a long time..." Blake sighed a bit as she looked over at him.

"So... life happened as it usually did and I ended up not staying with my parents anymore. I ended up kind of living on my own as my own person... at age fifteen. I think you can imagine that didn't go too well." HE nodded in response as Blake looked off to the party, a sad smile on her face. "I still had my friends and they were a big help at the start... I really couldn't have survived long on my own without them by my side. But, well, I think you can guess that things with them didn't exactly go so great judging by the fact that I... well, I don't have those friends anymore..." She paused as she considered that, a frown crossing her lips as she looked off to the side.

"What's the matter Blake?" Izuku saw her amber eyes swivel about as she thought... but she just did her best to give him a smile and shook her head.

"It's nothing, don't worry about it." That Didn't exactly help Izuku all that much but he saw Blake turn her attention back to the rest of the party. "So yeah. I haven't celebrated much of anything for a couple years now. That's for the best right? You get older and you stop having parties and celebrating the fact that time passes some arbitrary marker. Don't get me wrong, I'm not gonna turn my nose up at you guys for having this celebration, especially not with how happy it's making Pyrrha." They both glanced over to the birthday girl in question, who was just laughing and smiling away as various party went go up to her and forced her into some various festivities.

"That... that's a good thing to have, and I'm happy that we could do this for her. I just... I dunno. I guess it just isn't for me anymore. Do you understand what I mean?"

"I think I understand a little at least." Izuku replied calmly as they watch the ongoing party, Blake just smiling a bit as she shook her head.

"Surprise, surprise..." There was a slight laugh there, but he just shrugged his shoulders as he continued.

"It's probably not that surprising that I didn't exactly have big birthdays myself. I wasn't great at making friends when I was a kid either. The fact that eventually it came to light that I was... thought to be Broken didn't make things any easier, especially when how fervently I was sticking to my dream. I guess people didn't want to hang out with the weird, Broken kid who was in way over his head. Just me, my mom and, sometimes, my dad." Blake nodded quietly as she waited for him to continue, as he took a moment to sheepishly scratch at the back of his head before doing so.

"To be honest... I didn't really think of birthdays as being the celebration or the decorations, at least not when I got older. To me... it was about being able to know that there were people out there who cared that were happy that I was around and wanted to celebrate it. It... it really helped sometimes." Izuku took a slightly shaky breath as he looked out at the larger party, smiling at the energy and excitement. "And I think everyone deserves that. To know that you make people that happy. That's all this party is when you think about it; our way of telling Pyrrha that we're glad we met her and that we became friends."

"... That's... that's a nice sentiment, Izuku." Blake said with a nod as she looked back out at the birthday girl in question.

"... That's not just true of Pyrrha either. That's true of everyone here at the party." Izuku turned to look at Blake and offer her a sheepish grin. "I'm glad you're here Blake and, more than that, I'm glad you're my friend. You don't have to do anything special or act crazy while you're here. Just being here, showing that you care too, is more than enough..."

"Plus hey, there's cake." There was a moment where, as Blake was staring at Izuku gob smacked, he saw her mouth something to herself. 'Friend' was his best guess though he readily admitted that reading lips wasn't his forte... or a skill he possessed much skill in at all. Still, from this close, he could practically hear it under her breath. Eventually Blake's surprised expression turned to her more casual, neutral one, though with a slight grin tugging at her lips.

"It must be pretty good cake too, if Katsuki's willing to stick around just to eat it." At that, Bakugo turned from his position supporting the wall to glare at the two of them.

"I'm not just here because of Deku's shitty cake." He muttered before he walked on off. It was kind of hard to take him seriously when he said that through a mouth full of said cake though.

"... Come on, let's have some ourselves before the others swallow the rest of it whole." Blake said, a slight shake of her head as she pushed herself off the wall to walk over to the buffet. Izuku couldn't help but grin himself as he went over to join her.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

'...How long has it been,' she wondered, 'How long has it been since you've felt this much joy and happiness?'

While this wasn't her first birthday party... she'd forgotten when was the last time she _truly_ enjoyed one.

It's not because of the quality of the food or the party. No, she'd had much better in recent years.

It's because of the love and warmth that was put into this party. She knew that every provided gifts, even Izuku who didn't have much to spare. (I'm sorry!)

That was the first time in so many years that the party was for **Pyrrha Nikos** a friend, not for **Pyrrha Nikos** , **The Invincible Girl.**

While her parents did love her, and she would never admit it to them, it had been a long time since they put in their own personal effort to make the best birthday party they could. In recent years, they'd bought their expensive gifts and cake from other places rather than create it themselves.

Here though, she knew that Izuku was the one to create the cake, and that despite having little time to prepare their own gifts, all 10 of her friends, and Bakugo, tried their best to create meaningful gifts for her regardless of the price.

... she didn't want that feeling to ever go away. For so long, her title has been hanging over her... but now, bit by bit, it was starting to fade.

She knew that the day that she will be defeated in class is coming. She didn't know when or who, but it was inevitable. Whether it would be Shoto, Yang, Nora, Weiss, Katsuki, Izuku, or anyone else, that day will come.

When it did, she would finally be free of the burden, " **The Invincible Girl**."

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

Taking a quick break to see what Weiss had gotten up to in trying to keep the party in order, Izuku was slightly surprised to see the Heiress doing her best to clean up a few problem spots that had crept up as the Party had gone on; while the amount of trash wasn't huge thanks to the limited number of people, there was still is a fair amount piling up and Weiss seemed to be doing what she could to ensure that nothing ended up forgotten, lost or, worst of all, spilled before the party's done. They all had an agreement to keep to, after all, and it seemed like Weiss was determined to see that the party went off without a hitch.

Seemed like Weiss was taking her partial role as Party Host quite seriously... to the point where, in the moment, she seemed to be taking up a bit more than she could chew, a good number of plates, some trash and cups stacked up in her arms as she maneuvers around the class turned party room.

"Hey there Weiss. Need some help?" Weiss turned to face Izuku as he approached, the white haired Heiress standing up straight as she could as she looked at him.

"Well, I wouldn't necessarily say that I need your help, Izuku... but I'm certainly not going to turn it down." Izuku grinned as Weiss muttered the second part under her breath, him reaching out his hands to take some of the trash and dishes from Weiss' grip so as to ease off the pressure on the young woman. There was an almost imperceptible sigh of relief as he reach in to help Weiss, one that she seemed to do her best to ignore while the two of them did what they could to lightly clean up around the periphery of the party.

"So, have you been enjoying the party Weiss? I haven't seen you doing too much with everyone, so I was just wondering if you were bored or something?" Weiss shook her head as the two of them kept up their work, the white-haired Heiress just taking more and more trash and stuffing it into bags.

"Hardly Izuku. While I can't say that I've ever had to so personally handle so many aspects of a party myself, we mostly left that to the servants, I am enjoying playing host for our friends. Seeing the fruits of our labors, my decorations, the choice in music, the food and, of course, the cake make so many people happy or lift their spirits has been a treat. There's a certain satisfaction to managing a party well, after all." Izuku nodded in agreement, after all it was good to see that so many people had enjoyed his cake, but it still seemed odd.

"Well... I mean, I guess that's true, but I haven't seen you dance or join in with a lot of the fun yet. I understand that we're managing the party but that doesn't mean we have to spend our entire time managing it." Weiss paused for a moment as that was brought up, rapping her fingers against one of the table counters, before she shrugged.

"I'm aware... but we did make our promises to Professor Goodwitch. Besides... well, it's not that I don't enjoy parties but... festivities like these aren't quite what a person of my position would be used to in Atlesian Society." Now Izuku was the confused one as he tilted his head, Weiss sighing as she put a stack of plates down. "The parties in Atlas, especially at the social rank my family occupies, are less about dancing or eating a fourth slice of cake like Katsuki Bakugo over there-"

"MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!"

"JUST ADMIT YOU LIKE THE CAKE YOU BRUTE!"

"OVER MY DEAD BODY!"

"... Anyway. It's less about that and more about forming strategic alliances and bonds. There's more of a purpose to parties in Atlas, things usually have a higher stake. Don't misunderstand me, it's not that this doesn't look fun but... mmm... well, I suppose I'm just more used to playing the host than playing party-goer. It's the... role I'm more comfortable in." Weiss said, somewhat distractedly, as she shoved a stack of paper plates into a trash bag.

"Well, isn't being a good host also about going out there and talking to people? I think that's involved somewhere too, right?" At Izuku's question, Weiss froze up a bit, the young woman biting her lip slightly as she put some plates into a trash bag.

"Yes, well, you are correct Izuku. That is indeed part of being a good host... but I can't say it was a part of being a good host that I was ever particularly... good at." Izuku thought she might've been reaching for another word but he couldn't be certain. He just watched as the Schnee Company Heiress shrugged her shoulders as she continued working. "Besides, what does it matter if I'm going out and talking? I can be a good host and make sure that Pyrrha's part is going perfectly in other ways."

"Well... I mean, if you ask me, I don't think Pyrrha is necessarily worried about the party going perfectly. Seems to me that she's having fun as is." They both turned to see Pyrrha laughing and smiling with some of their other friends as they wished her well. "... But I do think she'd be worried if she saw that you weren't having fun with everyone else, Weiss." Izuku saw Weiss fidget with her fingers slightly, the Heiress casting her gaze about.

"Maybe... but Izuku, we made a promise about keeping this place Tidy and... it would be better if we kept on top of it." Izuku just shrugged as she said that, offering a friendly smile as he did so.

"Well hey, I was pretty much set sticking around to clean up afterward anyway Weiss, so it's not like I'd have a problem with helping you clean up later. Come on, there's nothing really all that wrong with stopping to have fun at a party Weiss... if you'd like, you and I could even dance! I know it's something you're good at and that you enjoy, so maybe just take some time to dance a bit?" The young woman turned to face her, her light blue eyes scanning over him as she seems to hesitate.

Whether it's because his words got through to her or she found his smile infectious, Weiss seemed to deflate as she heaved out an irritated sounding sigh. Though it was hard to take its tone seriously when a little smile preyed upon the Heiress' face while she shook her head.

"Honestly, if you're going to badger me about this, I suppose I might as well. If only to get you to stop worrying, Izuku." Izuku just chuckled as he nodded, as if conceding to Weiss point, as he managed to bring her back to the party itself. The party was still ongoing and some people were still dancing on the floor as he and Weiss made their own onto it and they did their best to try to get back into the groove of the music playing.

His own efforts were pretty much average. Without Yang to work off of or to make his own dancing seem more impressive, it really wasn't much of a show. He still get some hollers from the crowd as the 'skittish church mouse' once again hit the dance floor.

But he pretty quickly worked out of people's attention by Weiss' own dancing. Graceful would be putting it mildly and he was quickly reminded why he decided to ask Weiss for dancing lessons in the first place. The Heiress practically glided across the floor as she spun and twirled, taking careful and graceful steps as she elegantly move along with the rhythm. Izuku smiled, and calmly backed out.

Glad that Weiss had allowed herself to actually relax a bit and enjoy herself.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

Finally, after what seemed like an age, Izuku made his way over to Pyrrha, the birthday girl in question having set a plate of finished cake down as she dabbed her mouth with a napkin. Upon noticing Izuku approach the former tournament fighter smiled at him warmly as she quickly pulled out a seat for him. Izuku greeted her with his own smile as he took a seat down beside her, giving a small sigh as he relaxed his legs. He'd been up and about for most of the party, so getting off his feet, he was not gonna lie, felt 'really' good.

"A wonderful party you've put together, Izuku." Pyrrha said quite plainly as he took a seat, turning his head to face her with a somewhat befuddled, if still smiling, look on his face.

"What? Hah, don't be ridiculous Pyrrha. This was hardly all my doing. Weiss, Nora and I worked together to make this happen, all of us did this equally. To call this my own success is kind of being unfair to them, don't you think?" Izuku asked with a shrug as Pyrrha just smiled, looking over at their other teammates as they seem to have it out a bit.

"Oh yes, I've heard about that from Nora and Weiss, how all three of you split up duties... but Izuku, even if you all eventually did agree to this, it wouldn't have come about if you didn't bring the team together to make it possible. Because you wanted to throw me a party, everything ended up being put into place... Nora's wonderful little day out, Weiss' amazing decorations and your very delicious cake." Izuku couldn't help but smile as he scratched his cheek.

"Well thanks Pyrrha, I'm glad you liked it... and I guess you have a point. Still, I don't consider it that big of a deal. After all, I just wanted to throw you a good birthday party Pyrrha, it seemed like the least you deserved." Pyrrha's smile grew, the young woman turning her green eyes to all their friends, and Bakugo, as she heaved a happy sigh.

"That's why I want to thank you Izuku... so... thank you... thank you so much." There was a slight bit of emotion in that admission that surprised Izuku as he saw Pyrrha watching all of their friends. "As you can imagine my... schedule as a fighter made it difficult for my family to arrange things like this. Oh they'd always mark my birthday with gifts, very nice gifts too..." he saw Pyrrha raise a hand up to the necklace and tiara that she, at that very moment, was wearing. "But... it wasn't as quaint or as personal as this. Not after I had gotten my fame. My... friends... yes, friends back in Mistral also really couldn't help me celebrate either..." Izuku saw Pyrrha scratch at her arm as she spoke, causing him to frown ever so slightly.

Though that frown was blown a bit away as Pyrrha fixed Izuku with the widest smile he thought he'd ever seen on her face.

"But... to have everyone of our friends here at Beacon having such a great time together... just celebrating something even as unremarkable as my birthday and being so happy while doing so... it's... it's something to see." He saw Pyrrha take a deep breath as she gave a quick nod. "So... really Izuku. I have to thank you. You might say that you're thanking me with this party but... I don't know what I did to deserve it."

"Pyrrha... you really didn't need to do anything." Green eyes met as he spoke up, a warm smile on his face as he looked at her. "You're our friend. Nothing more was needed for us to do this for you and nothing more is ever going to be needed. Besides, you can't just call your birthday unremarkable; it's 'your' birthday, it's the entire reason you could become our friend. That makes it remarkable." Pyrrha's breath hitched for a moment as he finished, a slight gleam to her eyes as she just smiled back at him.

"Izuku... thank-"

"Okay ladies, gentlemen and Bakugo-"

"Go to -*OMPH*- Hell!"

"Already there whenever you're around Sparky." Yang fired back as she got everyone's attention. "Anyway, getting late and I 'definitely' want to see what the birthday girl here got as presents! So come on everybody, get your stuff and let's show Pyrrha a good time!" A small cheer erupted from the more energetic of the party goers as everyone grabbed their stuff and piled in around Pyrrha. The presents usually came in a few flavors; some things that were nice, some things that were useful and some things that kind of showed how awkward certain people could be.

Weiss and Yang actually seemed to be roughly on the same wave-length; each got Pyrrha small piece of jewelry to go with her current set. Nothing way too expensive for Pyrrha's taste but, in their words, it was pretty clear that Pyrrha had a thing for nice jewelry.

Which Pyrrha, to her embarrassment, couldn't exactly deny. Especially not when looking at the pair of earrings Weiss got her with gems in the studs that matched Pyrrha's eye color or the bracelets, colored much like the bronze parts of Pyrrha's outfit, that Yang got her.

"Oh, they double as like little bracers too so if you find yourself in a spot-"

"Of course you'd think of giving her bracers."

"Hey, you can look good and kick ass at the same time, Weiss-cream." A chuckle was shared between the group as Pyrrha thanked the both of them. Kacchan and Shoto were up next, with Kacchan giving her... a Lien card with 50 Lien. Before anyone could speak up, Shoto followed up with the exact same gift.

"I'm... sorry it isn't actually something, but-"

"It's okay, it's the thought that counts. Thank you both." Pyrrha's kind smile seemed to put Shoto at east, though Kacchan just muttered a quick 'whatever' before the both of them walked off. Ren and Nora quickly followed up behind them; Ren spotting a small tea set with several bags of tea leaves while Nora brought up an assortment of various sweets.

"Nora and I have... traveled a fair bit before. Seen a lot of stuff, tried some different things. These are some teas that I've had over the years. Good for you and very delicious."

"And these sweets are AWESOME! You'll love them! There's some stuff from Mistral, and Atlas and even this little thing I tried from a Vacuoan Vender once that was SO GOOD!" Nora jumped in as Ren finished, causing Pyrrha to chuckle and nod as she gratefully took the gifts from them. Tenya and Ruby followed the both of them, Tenya with a nice, red winter coat in hand and Ruby with something actually wrapped up.

"Now Miss Nikos, I'm aware that Mistral usually stays seasonably warm throughout most of the year, being closer to the equator than either Atlas or The City of Vale, but you'll find that it gets quite cold around here, thus making your choice of attire a poor fit for the winter months. I know you have the sum to probably add a winter wardrobe yourself, however, I thought that it would be both thoughtful and helpful if I were to get you a nice winter coat that looked like it would go very well with your usual taste in clothing." Tenya's hands gyrated through the air as he explained all that, Pyrrha just blinking slightly as he went through his explanation before smiling and taking the coat, slipping it on.

"Oh, well it is very nice Tenya, thank you." The young man just snapped to attention and gave a quick bow as he stepped back and allowed Ruby to practically shove her gift into Pyrrha's hands.

"Open it open it open it open it open it open it open it open it~!" Everyone, save for Bakugo and Weiss, laughed a bit at Ruby's excitement as Pyrrha did indeed open up Ruby's gift to reveal... a scope? "I found this in a weapon's magazine; it's a new top of the line scope that's made for your kind of rifle! It's really expensive but I was able to grab some design details from the magazine and parts of a blueprint from another and I was able to make this in the shop!"

"You... made this, Ruby?" Pyrrha remarked, looking at the fine craftsmanship on display.

"Yeah! It's got two settings so if you really need to aim for something far away, you'll really be helped a lot! I also penciled in little markers here and there to help you compensate for any drop in your bullets for the longer ranges! I hope you like it!" Ruby was practically vibrating with excitement over what she'd given, Pyrrha just giving a wide smile as she nodded.

"I really do, thank you Ruby." The young woman just pumped her fist.

"I told you she'd like it Yang!"

Yang just shrugged her shoulders, a 'how about that' expression on her face as Blake and Tsuyu walked up. From the Frog Faunus was a large plastic container full of food while Blake handed off a book, The Ancient Siege, to Pyrrha.

"It's an old family recipe from back when my family lived in the marshes around Vale. Humans that've tried it say they really like it too, so I hope you'll enjoy it, ribbit ribbit." Pyrrha gave a small smile and nodded, piling it on top of her already considerable pile of presents, while Blake just blushed and looked to the side.

"I'm not great with presents and such either but... well, Lien didn't seem right either, no offense." She said, turning back to Shoto and Kacchan, who each just shrugged. "So I thought I'd give you a book I liked. It's a little long but I thought it was enjoyable." Pyrrha nodded and, again, thanked the pair for their thoughtful gifts. Izuku swallowed nervously as he stepped up at last, holding the little wrapped box with his carved necklace in hand. He knew Ruby said that she thought Pyrrha would like it, but now after seeing what everyone else got her... well, everyone else except for Kacchan and Shoto, he couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. Pyrrha, as ever, just smiled reassuringly as she gracefully took his present and unwrapped it, opening up the box to pull out the necklace by its chain.

"It's... wooden." She said in some surprise, as did most other people, as he just sheepishly scratched the back of his head.

"Y-Yeah. I carved it myself. There's a little slot in there for a picture of... our team. I had the metalwork done by Ruby so it's also, kind of, sort of her second present too, I guess." Pyrrha blinked as she eventually managed to pop open the locket, gasping slightly when she saw the picture of their team inside. Most everyone else gathered around to see as well, and he could hear a few impressed whistles even as the locket was closed.

"Dang, even put the team flower on front. That's cheesy there Izuku... but dang." Yang's voice called out, clearly to some degree impressed, as was everyone else. He just keep scratching the back of his head.

"It really isn't all that much, it's just a little carving with some metalwork... but, well, I thought it'd be a nice way to keep us close always. I... uh, Pyrrha?" He was surprised when he saw a few tears peek out at the corner of Pyrrha's eyes, the young woman carefully gathering up all the gifts that were brought for her as she looks at all of them, a wide smile on her face.

"Thank you Izuku... thank you all. These are wonderful." Most everyone else smiled as Pyrrha laughed, brushing away the little pinpricks of tears that had gathered at the corners of her eyes.

It really had been a fantastic evening, and that was just the perfect way to end it, it seemed.

"Happy Birthday Pyrrha."

* * *

 **E/N: A quick POV from Pyrrha via The Crumbling of the Invincible Girl by Supa.**

 **-Shovern**


	40. Tales of Beacon V

"And that's why I came to you."

Izuku blinked slowly at that, looking around in confusion before focusing on his grinning teammate. "Nora, you didn't say anything. You just walked up to my desk, sat down, and said 'that's why I came to you'. I'm going to need more context about what you're talking about."

Nora sighed and rested an elbow on the table. "Well, if you're gonna bug me with questions, I suppose I can answer you." She seemed oddly proud when she began to explain. "My semblance is awesome, right? Super awesome and powerful, right?" Izuku was smart enough to nod at both questions. "But it's kind of a waste of a lightning grenade just on me instead of, ya know, the bad guys. So I was wondering if your super smart brain had any ideas about how I could use it better." She pointed, and he leaned back as though he was expecting the digit to go off like a gun. But it was Remnant, and it WAS Nora, so he thought it better to be prepared just in case.

When the finger didn't explode or do anything other than be a finger, he forced himself to actually lean towards her as he pondered her request. "Well, you could crush lightning dust, but we don't know how much you can absorb, and the crystals themselves can be volatile so you'd have to be careful with storage. Hmmm..." Fingers idly drummed on the desktop for several moments. "I'm not sure, though I think Professor Oobleck has a semblance that's similar. You could ask him?"

Nora gasped in excitement. "Izuku, you're a genius! How do you know we have similar semblances?"

Having expected the inquiry, Midoriya calmly fished out Hunters of Remnant volume 7, the table shaking when he set his notebook down with a 'thud'. "If I remember right," He paused to fish through the pages. "his is more towards flame attribute, so you can at least ask what ideas he came up with. How's that sound, Nora?" When he finally looked up, she was gone. It was actually rather impressive, Izuku noted, that she could leave so quickly without making a sound. It didn't stop him from clapping his hands together and praying the teacher could forgive him for what he'd unleashed.

 **xXxXxXxXx**

"And that's why I came to you."

"Hmm..I see." Professor Oobleck nodded, leaning back in his chair while the excited student leaned on his desk, hands grabbing the edge in a way that reminded him of a bird of prey. "Well, I cannot fault a student that wishes to improve herself, especially when our abilities seem to share some correlation. I would be happy to assist you, Miss Valkyrie!"

"This is so awesome! So what's your big secret? Do you break Dust stones in your teeth and absorb their power, or breathe in and suck up all the fire around you for a super cool power-up?"

"Actually, I find rationing it out is the most efficient." He shrugged as she sagged in place. "Breaking Dust creates a brief boost, yes, but the results are unpredictable due to the grade of dust used and its size. Too many variables that need to be accounted well in advance, you see. And while yes, I can actually absorb flame, I prefer to use it to bolster aura I've lost or for as a precursor to larger attacks. To improve my baseline strength and other basic abilities, I actually powderize my Dust and add it to my coffee thermos."

"Your thermos?"

"It holds my coffee. It's also a flamethrower."

The look of awe he got made the wait worth the theatrics.

"Whooooa. So can I get a coffee thermos full of whoopass? Would that mean I'd have to modify Magnhild? Oh that'd be tough." She gasped. "Maybe I could wield two weapons at the same time! I would be queen of the world! Ahahaha!"

Professor Oobleck, being a professional, simply smiled, nodded, and waited for her to wind down. That sort of mania was actually rather familiar to him, and amusing as well. "I'm afraid I wouldn't recommend that, Miss Valkyrie. You are certainly physically able to do such a feat, but it would make it impossible to use their more exotic abilities properly. Not to mention I wouldn't recommend coffee to a young lady for some time, as it could stunt your growth."

"No! I don't wanna be Weiss-sized forever!"

"Indeed. There are still strong teas that work just as well, and I expect you to come see me after classes at least once a week so I may teach you how to properly grind and ingest dust. If you fail to meet my standard, or attempt this without me, I will inform the Headmaster so he can punish you accordingly." He adjusted his glasses, letting the light flash over them as he leaned forward. "Am I understood, Miss Valkyrie?"

Nora stood ramrod straight and saluted with impressive crispness. "Yes sir, teacher-man, sir!"

"Capital! Now, do you know where you can get any tea?"

"Actually..."

 **xXxXxXxXx**

"And that's why I came to you."

Ren looked at the open door, then to his teammates, then back to his very confusing friend. "Nora, you didn't actually say anything." Though the familiar antics did put a small smile on his face, which made her blush...from embarrassment! Yes! Purely from embarrassment! She was just so excited, not just because she was getting to see him, that she forgot the boring explaining part. Fine! He'd get the quick version.

"Ren! I need your tea!"

"About time she just said it!" Bakugo snorted.

"No no. She said 'Tea', like the drink." Shoto corrected with a brief shake of his head.

"Really?" An irritated sigh. "Fuck."

"Language!" Their leader chided, then continued. "And what are you talking about?"

"Nothing!" That time it came from all three boys, even through Ren had no idea either. Better to play it safe. He looked to Nora and quirked an eyebrow. "Why do you need tea? Is everything alright?"

"It sure is, but I wanna put lightning dust in a drink so I can be super awesome like Oobleck, so I thought to myself 'Who has the best tea in Beacon, though I don't really drink the stuff?', and then I thought remembered you always had good tea so I wanted to get some from you and maybe learn how to make itandhangoutwithyousomecauseweneverhangoutanymoreandImissyouand-"

Thankfully Ren was finally able to interrupt her before she passed out. She was looking rather red at the end. "I get the point." He let out a brief huff of amusement. "But I take making good tea seriously. Are you ready to learn?"

"Yes!" She pumped her fist into the air. "I'm ready for your tea! Anytime and anywhere!"

Bakugo looked over at Shoto. "You sure she said te-"

"Yes I am. Now shut up."

* * *

Blake sat down in her dorm room after her little chat with Toshinori. A small wave of calm flowed through her since she was in a safe place where she could relax and nothing could surprise her.

She leaned back in her chair, her hand reaching down for one of her ninjas of love books almost instinctively. Instead of her hand brushing against the leathery binder of the book, she touched the air and only the air.

A frown etched itself on Blake's face. Where did her book go? Surely no one from her team had taken it right? No, they wouldn't do that. They were her teammates so she could trust them with anything... Okay, maybe not anything but she at least trusted them not to steal her stuff.

She thought back to the last time she had the book. She remembered picking the book up but where did she take it? Her eyes opened wide with shock as she leapt up from her chair.

"No no no, please don't be where I think it is" Blake muttered under her breath.

How could she not? She took her book with her when she was following Izuku. That way, she would have something to read if he did something mundane, like studying aura again. Which means, the only time she would put down the book is if she dropped it. There's only one moment where she could have done such a thing.

When Toshinori jumped out of nowhere.

…

"Hmm, what is this?" Toshinori asked himself as he bent down to pick up a book. "This must be Miss Belladonna's"

It was quite an easy conclusion to come to. It was the exact spot he had a conversation with the young miss after all.

"I'll give it back to her the next time I see her in class" Toshinori said as he pocketed the book for now.

* * *

"I'm thinking about getting a job."

Weiss was the first to looked at their determined leader, quirking an eyebrow before reaching under her bed while Pyrrha was kind enough to unintentionally stall him. "Why do you think you need one, Izuku? I have money if we really need it, and Weiss certainly has lien to spare. Not that I'd expect her to just hand over money at the drop of a hat of course..."

"I understand perfectly Pyrrha, but please continue Izuku." Weiss offhandedly replied as she pulled a small box from under her bed marked 'PIFDSSK', ignoring the others as she opened it and withdrew a pair if silvery white half-moon glasses.

"Ah! Thank you Weiss." With his steam reclaimed, he pressed on. "I just don't feel really useful is all. You two give plenty of lien already, and I have a hundred to add. I don't want to ask my mother, and be any more of a burden then I already am, so I was thinking I should see if Vale has an places I can get a-GAH!" He was swiftly cut off when Weiss sprayed him with water from the spray bottle she'd pulled out of the box. "Weiss! Stop th-ah!"

After several more sprays, when he finally went quiet, the white-haired heiress nodded in satisfaction. "Now that I have you attention, allow me to explain why that is a bad idea." She calmly got up and began to tick off her fingers. "One, you are already close to overworking yourself with your training, studying, meetings, and this will eat into what little time you have left. Second, you routinely cause yourself extraordinary harm in the name of personal training. Can you say, with full confidence, that you will always be fully healed in time to go to whatever job you get?" She adjusted her glasses and waited for him to sullenly shake his head before continuing on. "Third, with everything currently going on that I've mentioned and most likely more besides, I know you will not be able to give any job you get your 100% effort." She pointed the spray bottle to stop his attempt at a counterargument. "Not from lack of trying, I know, but you will be physically and mentally exhausted when you arrive, and I cannot in good conscience allow you make such an attempt when there are certainly people looking for work that will certainly give more of their time and effort then you."

She looked like she was about to say more, then paused to lower the output on the bottle and spray the water into her open mouth. Much better. She hasn't properly lambasted anyone in ages. Wiping the remaining trickle from her mouth and chin, she resumed. "Fourth, you are our team leader. Monetary deficit or not, you are expected here. You will not be learning about combat effectiveness and leadership flipping burgers in some greasy spoon. And finally," She extended her thumb and stepped forward with her open palm drawn back, glasses glinting ominously. "I will hurt you if you try."

As Izuku winced, and Pyrrha went to defend him, Nora leapt to her feet and grinned. "Can I get a job then?"

"I swear to god Nora.." Weiss prepared her more literal backhand counterargument.

"Maybe that'd be a better idea, Weiss." Pyrrha offered as she moved between the girls, hands held out in a placating manner. "Nora certainly deserves a chance at self-reliance, and I think she has plenty of energy for a job."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

"Then maybe I could too." This time everyone was staring at the blushing Pyrrha. "I mean, it would be kind of nice to try something that wasn't revolved around beating things to a pulp while keeping Nora out of trouble."

"I don't know.." That time it was Izuku that looked doubtful as well as worried. "It wouldn't be fair to make you two do all of this. It was my idea."

"Aww don't worry fearless leader!" Nora flexed and grinned. "It'll be fine."

"And that is when you shot Mister Kuma, known locally as Junior?"

"YES!" Pyrrha sobbed into the blanket the police had given her. "He was just so...grabby! I'm sorry!" She shouted at the tall bearded man that was being helped into the ambulance. Hopefully he'd be able to walk again soon, she thought as she pulled at the blanket but felt no real cold.

The burning club was keeping things surprisingly warm at such a short distance.

Weiss had been kind enough to use her glyphs to assist the firefighters, while she had left Izuku on 'keep spraying Nora in the face' duty. Which had lasted all of three seconds before Nora decided to show off her new friends.

"Could you convince Miss Valkyrie that Miss Melanie and Miltia Malachite are needed for witness testimony, not for her team, and that she can't just 'adopt' people as she pleases?"

"I-I don't know. I think Izuku is trying already, but..."

"You mean the young man that Miss Valkyrie is throwing them at?"

She was silent for a moment, then nodded with a sigh. She didn't want to be the first teenage superstar that got into a fight in a bar!

* * *

Ruby Rose walked towards the room the leadership meeting took place in, lost in thought.

In the beginning she hadn't even been all that sure about joining it. Iida Tenya was a little imposing to look at when he started with those flailing hand gestures of his and Ruby had felt the meeting would detract too much from her time with her team.

Also Ruby Rose was aware she just... wasn't all that good with people to begin with. But Izuku had joined too and she didn't want to be the odd one out either. She also had promised her sister to make a bit of an effort to reach out to people more. Her team, with two very silent people and Katsuki who really shot down most attempts at that, she didn't get many chances to make right with that promise.

With Izuku joining, Ruby had also figured it would be a nice way to get to regularly ask him for advice regarding Katsuki Bakugo without having to impose too much on the boy's personal time. That way she could maybe also get her sister Yang to stop teasing her. Ruby could almost hear her just thinking about it.

"Running after your friend Izuku again? How daring! Oh my, looks like my little baby sister is finally growing up, eh? Never knew you were into abs, sis!"

Yang's done that most of the times Ruby went to find Izuku to ask for advice about Katsuki. Really, her big sis spent more time with the boy than she did, between those karate lessons she gave him and the spars they had, but Ruby had recognized a long time ago the simple fact that, unlike herself, Yang was near-impossible to tease or embarrass about anything and she would always lose to her in that regard. So just not getting more of that teasing was enough to satisfy her, no need to get even.

So, getting to see Izuku regularly without any rumors brewing and receiving advice to handle Katsuki from two sources instead of one was very welcome and had been enough of an incentive to make her join.

And while a council consisting of two socially awkward people and Iida Tenya, who insisted on following procedures to the letter to a comical degree had surely sounded terrible on paper. Well, Tenya actually had gone out of his way to make them feel welcome, gotten snacks and shown genuine concern about their teams' problems when they told him about them. He had done anything to be helpful. He had even taken notice of what snacks Ruby and Izuku liked best and gotten more of those the next times.

So in the end Ruby had been pleasantly surprised, and whenever Katsuki had worn her nerves down again, these team meetings had become something she looked forward to all week. Here at least she would be recognized as a leader and given some feedback. While Lie Ren and Shoto Todoroki tried their best to be helpful in their own ways, talking wasn't exactly high on their list of priorities, barring that mysterious wordless form of communication the two were capable of using with each other.

When Ruby entered, she was surprised to see that, today, it was only Iida Tenya greeting her.

"Hello Miss Rose. Please take a seat. Mr. Midoriya told me in advance something came up and he might be a little late."

She frowned at that. That was atypical for Izuku. Did something serious come up? Well, if it did, he would probably bring it up during the meeting. Then she concentrated on something else that had been bugging her for some time already.

"How often do I have to tell you to just call me Ruby?"

"Just always one more time.", Tenya answered with a little smile.

"Really, I mean, you've told me it's alright to call you Tenya, why not do the same with me then? It's kind of silly!"

The boy shook his head. "It would be improper for me to address you by just your first name. I was raised to hold myself to proper standards!"

Ruby scowled at that and couldn't resist. "So... since I address you by your first name, does that mean _I_ wasn't raised properly? I may have been raised out in the woods, but not by wolves, you know!"

She held back her grin when Tenya began gesturing wildly, slightly shocked that he might have unintentionally insulted her. Yang would be proud of her!

"No, no, Miss Rose, I would _never_ even think to insinuate something like that! It's a different thing for a gentleman to address a young girl after all and not just that, I also..."

"So, is me being a girl or me being younger than everyone else here supposed to be the reason you can't treat me the same as I do you? Because both of those make me feel worse about it!"

"Miss Rose, I would never! All of my team is composed of girls whose skills I can only admire and despite your youth, it's your skills and mindset that have allowed you to come to Beacon this early and advance to a leading position! Truthfully, Miss Rose, your and Mr. Midoriya's mindset have been nothing but an inspiration to me and I'd never look down on anyone for either of those reasons to begin with! I only have the utmost respect for you! Furthermore..."

Tenya stopped talking when Ruby just couldn't hold back her laughter anymore, while blushing a little at the honest respect he had shown her.

"Alas, you were joking, Miss Rose." The boy had a somewhat strained semblance of a smile on his face. "It seems that humorous streak indeed does run in the family. I should have known that someone raised with Miss Xiao Long would have learned a thing or two about that. If only to survive _her_ teasing."

"I'm sorry, yang is having an effect on me. Like you said, it was pure self defense on my side. But you're making it too easy. And it's true, I really feel a bit uncomfortable with you never calling me Ruby, it's as if we were still sitting in class."

Ruby looked down for a moment.

"I mean..., sure, we're meeting for a purpose, but you try to make us feel good and relaxed. Still, I can't really relax that way. Also, haven't we become... a bit of friends by now? I'm not used to being called "Miss Rose" by a friend. It's not like you'd have to call me Ruby everywhere, but just here in our meetings perhaps, couldn't you make an exception and relax a little too?"

"It's your decision of course, but I'd be.. kind of happy about it."

Ruby Rose watched Tenya's reaction, with a bit of a pleading look on her face. While it started as a joke, what she said was true. While her team was alright, they didn't really bond all that well yet, so having some other friends to have her back and help her, really meant something to Ruby.

Iida Tenya was a serious boy. Proper manners and following rules were something ingrained in him from early childhood. But even someone like him wasn't immune to the might of puppy eyes. While he groaned a bit inside, he put on a smile and said:

"I..., if you feel that strongly about it, I... suppose I could do that... Ruby."

Ruby's smile practically exploded onto her face.

"At least occasionally.", Tenya quickly added.

Ruby held back the grin of victory to not damage the outcome and grabbed a cookie.

"That would be nice, Tenya."

"Just never tell your sister, please.", Tenya implored her. While his effort was only that of an amateur, puppy eyes _did_ cut both ways.

"Oh, I wouldn't dream of it, she's teasing me enough as is about leading an all-boys team."

* * *

"So, you thought this was a good way to get acquainted?"

"I admit, this wasn't one of my better ideas." Tenya sighed as he sat at the table with Blake, watching the other two members of their team deftly maneuver around one another in the kitchen. It was almost like a culinary ballet, if he was being honest. "But when I heard what they had planned, I decided I'd at least see if I could be of some assistance. We're teammates, but I've never taken the time to actually ask your hobbies, or anything like that." He straightened his posture, then jumped as he nearly cut off his own finger when he looked away. He heard a snort of amusement beside him, giving Blake a level stare even as she continued working her knife through her own assigned material. "I assumed that's what you're here for as well."

"I'm here because they said shrimp."

Tenya sighed while Asui let out a brief 'ribbit' of amusement before making her way over to inspect his contribution to the meal. "Hmm...pretty good. Now you can get to the meat slicing like I showed you." She nodded, and he beamed At the praise. "And make sure not to cut yourself. Blood probably won't help the flavor, ribbit." And then he deflated again when she turned to his partner in prep. "How's the de-veining and mincing, ribbit?"

"It's going good!" He didn't like the defensiveness in her tone.

"Are you eating the shrimp?" Neither did the frog Faunus.

"...some?"

Tsuyu signed. "If you eat any more, you don't get any shrimp balls, ribbit."

With Blake soundly defeated as well, their overseer went over to Yang, letting the two actual cooks do a quick check of the sauce and broth. "I admit, I didn't expect either of you knew much about culinary pursuits. It seems Izuku and Ren are the ones everyone speak of when it comes to cooking."

"Yeah, but they're fixated on pancakes for some reason. They're a sometimes food, ribbit." Tsuyu snorted. "Since mom and dad were working a lot of the time, I usually did a lot of the cooking for my family."

Yang nodded in agreement. "Same here. Dad isn't a bad cook, but he sometimes had a hard time getting around to it. So when I got good enough, a lot of the dinners were on me."

"I see." Tenya nodded before slowly moving his knife through the meat, trying not to saw at it as he'd been warned against. "That's very industrious of the both of you. What do your parents do, if I may ask?"

"Hunter." Yang shrugged. Blake seemed hesitant to answer, or was at least how to phrase it. Tsuyu took a moment to stand up straighter. "Dad's an office worker, while mom's a chemist." There was an appreciative whistle from Yang, and she continued. "She's really super smart, ribbit. She even built some of the stuff I have in my combat suit, though the way I fight and stuff comes from my grandmother."

"Oh?" He wasn't sure if the genealogy or the chemistry interested him more, but Iida was intrigued all the same. "She was a huntress?"

"Yeah. A pretty good one, I think. A few in my family are Hunters, since we've all got our auras awakened." That surprised the others, but she barely glanced up as she mixed the minced shrimp into the prepared breading mixture. "Lots of people find that weird for some reason. We do it to help with our backs and stuff."

"Your back?" This time it was Blake that piped up. "I thought that was from Faunus physiology."

"What kind of frog has a hunch?" The amusement was clear in her Tsuyu's voice, which briefly became a 'ribbit' when Blake blushed. "It's a congenital thing. The vertebrae are actually a little further apart then for normal people, so it's hard for us to stand fully upright for too long because the pressure it puts on our spine. So to keep from scoliosis and debilitating back pain or nerve problems, we get our auras awakened when we're kids."

"That's very clever, actually." Iida nodded and submitted his work to Yang. From the way she patted him on the head, she was pleased as he continued. "Aura does remarkable things when you actually consider its benefits. What additions did your mother put in your suit, out of curiosity."

She waved a hand and shook her head. "I'd have to get my suit out to explain all the neat little things. Maybe I'll show you after dinner."

"Why not a spar?" All eyes went to the smirking Yang. "It's a fun way to show off, and we get extra hungry for the hot pot."

Blake rubber her chin. "I have been curious about your semblance, I admit."

Iida looked at the two of them with a sigh, then focused his attention on the faintly blushing Faunus. "I suppose the idea has its merits. What do you think Miss Asui?"

She rocked on her heels for a moment, rubbing her chin and letting the tip of her tongue stick out from her mouth. "Hmm..I guess we can. Nothing isn't really ready properly just yet, so we can let everything firm up in the refrigerator." With that decided, she put a hand on her hip and waggled her index finger at them. "Then let's finish up. I'll show you all the remaining prep and we'll have a quick spar."

The cheer was infectious, though Blake was most invigorated because she'd snuck another piece of shrimp.

"Ribbit." KER-THWACK!

"OW!"

"HA! About time someone else got a tongue-lashing!" A beat. "Wait! I didn't mean it like-" KER-THWACK! "Owwww!"

* * *

Izuku was walking through the streets of Vale when something in a shop window drew him towards it. It wasn't something that people would even look twice at considering how common it was yet it still drew him in. He looked inside the shop and was surprised that there was so much more. It's as if the shop was designed to sell that specific thing, if somewhat in different variations. He could hardly believe that something like it could exist. Despite that, he knew he had to buy one.

Though if he did buy it then there's something he'll have to do.

…

"I'm back" Izuku said as he entered his dorm room.

"Welcome back" Pyrrha greeted. "You were gone for quite a while."

"Yeah, I was a bit busy with something" Izuku said as he sat down on a chair and settled the plastic bag besides him.

"Ooh, ooh, what did you get" Nora excitedly jumped up and down. "Is it pancakes?"

"Oh yeah!" Izuku exclaimed as he rummaged through the bag in search of something. "I found something in Vale"

Izuku pulled out a small figurine. Unlike what his team was expecting, it wasn't a figurine of Toshinori. Instead, the figurine was of a girl with a red ponytail making an action pose with a sword and a shield.

"That's!" Pyrrha squeaked out before covering her mouth with her hand. Her cheeks flushed red as she lowered her head in embarrassment.

"Yep!" Izuku said with a smile. "It's Pyrrha. I was shocked when I saw it. There were other stuff there as well but I liked this one the best"

"So cool!" Nora snatched the figurine out of Izuku's hand. "Did they have one of me!? Did they? Did they?"

"Of course they didn't" Weiss scolded the girl. "It's because Pyrrha's the champion of the Mistral regional tournament four times in a row"

Pyrrha shrank into herself, feeling more and more embarrassed with her fame being brought up.

"There is one" Izuku said.

"See, they wouldn't have a figurine of some Beacon student… there is?" Weiss had to check her ears to make sure she heard right.

"Yep" Izuku responded with a smile. He rooted in his bag and pulled out another figurine. This one was of Nora standing on her hammer.

"Yay!" Nora cheered as she held up the figurine as if it was some sort of trophy.

"What? How? Why?" Weiss was completely bewildered. It made no sense. Why would they have a figurine of Nora of all people?

"There's one of you as well, Weiss" Izuku said as he once more pulled out a figurine. As he said, it was a figurine of Weiss holding Myrtenaster. He passed it to a bewildered Weiss who subconsciously accepted it with blinking eyes.

"There's one of me as well" Izuku beamed as he lifted a figurine of himself. "We can display them as a team. Like we are, a team"

"Well" Weiss said, finally broken out of her stupor. "While I don't know why such a thing exists. It would be nice to have something as a symbol of our camaraderie"

"Yeah! Team MNVW go!" Nora fisted the air.

"I.. I think I'd like that" Pyrrha said as she lifted her head, processing everything that has happened.

Somehow, the embarrassing situation of having her figurine, and by proxy, her fame, on display. A situation that displayed her loneliness for everyone else to see has turned into a display that she's no longer alone. She's no longer put on a pedestal that no one else can reach. But instead, she's part of team MNVW. She has teammates to be there for her. But more importantly, she has friends.

Of course, the only one in the shop was the figurine of Pyrrha. But Izuku thought it would be a bit lonely to only have a figurine of Pyrrha so he spent a bit of money, bought the materials and made the other figurines himself.

If anything, he had to thank his experience of making so many Toshinori figurines that he managed to make them so quickly.

* * *

Weiss was studying when something caught her attention. It was a box of tissues that Izuku kept on his desk. Normally, she wouldn't even bat an eyelid at something like that but the 'incident' with the mail had her thinking.

There's another use for tissues that boys, especially teenage boys, use often. What if Izuku is one of them? What ludicrous things was she thinking? There's no way he'd do it in the dorm where three girls sleep. Would he?

Curiosity pulled her in and she peered over to the trash can by Izuku's desk. Inside she saw multiple balls of tissues. Each and every one of them looked sticky.

That was… She could think of something that would lead to the tissues being so sticky. But that was so disgusting! To think he would do it here, in this room. This is where she sleeps for god sake! Could it be? Could he be doing it while she's sleeping!?

That is absolutely vile and grotesque! How dare he do such a thing.

"Oh hey Weiss" A voice greeted her. "Why are you looking in my trash can?"

Oh boy was he going to have it. Weiss prepared herself to give him the talking to of a lifetime. Then, she stopped. What if this was all a misunderstanding? She didn't want to jump to conclusions again.

She took a breath in, calmed herself and spoke in a voice that went completely against the anger she had before.

"Izuku.. This box of tissues is yours, correct?" Weiss asked.

"Huh?" Izuku slightly tilted his head to the side before nodding. "Yeah"

"And these tissues… do you 'use' them?" Weiss questioned him, putting extra emphasis on the use part.

"Well, yeah. That's what they're for" Izuku stated as if it was the most simplest fact in the world.

"Wha, why? How often?" Weiss slightly stumbled at the blatant way Izuku admitted it.

"Why? It's better than just letting it be there, right? As for how often? I didn't really think of it before but at least a few times a day, maybe.

"That much!? How!?" Weiss yelled out in shock.

"Well, if you leave it then it's like an itch you need to scratch" Izuku said, still oblivious about why Weiss is asking such questions.

"That's, that's" Weiss stammered, only to recollect herself and stare at Izuku with the eyes of hawk.

"...when was the last time you done it?" Weiss asked with all seriousness.

"About an hour ago" Izuku stated

"An hour!? Where!?" Weiss yelled at the boy. Izuku was becoming a bit panicked now.

"B-by your bed. I-it sort of came out on its own so I had to do something about it! I'm sorry! A bit might have landed on it but I cleaned it up, honest!" Izuku rapidly apologized.

"M-my, my" Weiss slumped to the ground, completely shell-shocked by that revelation. "B-bed. My bed" Weiss continued to mutter to herself, her body shaking all over.

Izuku was completely and utterly confused. Why was Weiss taking so seriously? Sure, a bit of it might have landed on her bed but he couldn't help it if he sneezed with a runny nose. He has had a bit of a cold for the last week after all.

* * *

Gods this was going to be a absolute mauling, Katsuki looked like he was about to tear Izuku limb from limb. Poor Ruby didn't know who to cheer for, the person who was her partner and who she was making small strides in "bonding" with or the boy who shared her dream in becoming a Hero. Ruby still wanted to track him down and have a proper talk about that too, but it seemed he was busy with his team and training his ass off. You should know since you helped him and maaaaaaybe saw some outline of that ass when he squatted. Wasn't the best you've seen but it was alright.

Shit, looks like Goodwitch was about to start it. Hopefully the little dude doesn't take it too hard...

...did he just Judo flip Katsuki onto his back?

That one flip set the tone of the match. You were amazed, Izuku controlled the flow for most of it and laid in some damn good hits on Katsuki. The times you were able to take your eyes off the match showed everyone as speechless as you. Then Izuku had to pull off a damn gust of wind that cancelled the blast from Katsuki. Apparently he figured something out to control that semblance of his, although as your eyes strayed to his miss colored finger, he wasn't quite there yet. A short gasp from Pyrrha showed that she noticed as well.

And still Izuku curled that finger like it was nothing into a fist, squaring off again against Katsuki before they made a final clash. Then one last weak punch to the gut(Gotta work on his form and endurance...)from Izuku with a blast of his shotgun ended it.

Goodwitch called it then. A brief moment of silence like in one of those old cartoons you used to watch followed. Dammit if you weren't going to cheer after that match! Whooping and Hollering you lead the cheers followed very closely by Nora with everyone else behind them. Ruby however was stilled conflicted and you wished to help her. However it was something she would have to come to you with, ya just couldn't be there to fix every problem of hers. You had your own team to figure out, and you didn't even know where to begin for that sort of mess.

What a mess it was too. You had a little idea of what Katsuki's and Izuku's relationship was, but damn did it not compare to what was revealed by that fight. Admiring your tormentor for the past how many years for his Talent of a Huntsmen? The other wanting to crush the other beneath his heel still. What a distorted relationship.

In the back your mind however was the improvement Izuku showed. It was monstrous, no two ways to go about it. This was the man who went from losing to a single shot from some random kid in class to just two weeks later taking down one of the best fighters for the first years. Sure he knew how the other fought pretty well and he got damn lucky on some of those hits, but it still doesn't take away from what he accomplished. All that effort he spent training with you and his team. Time spent training by himself to reign in that crazy semblance of his. What would he be like a month from now, would he awaken his Aura yet again? What about when the Vale Tournament began? When next year was here?

That tenacity, that will to win, to improve himself every day, to be the best he could be and then some. It excited you really. Here was someone who had a style similar to yours if lacking in hand to hand and having shotgun boots. It had been awhile since you last sparred with him, before he had his Second Awakening. You could feel yourself grin wide and looked to see a sullen Katsuki walking back with a uplifted Izuku behind him.

Blood pumped faster and you hoped to be picked next to spar if only to bleed out this extra energy for a bit. First you had to congratulate him, maybe even fluster him a bit for some fun. Last time you wanted to know his character, what drove him if only because it shook what you stood for. Now however it was different. Now you knew your place in this world if only a bit better but it was enough. But now you wanted your shot at Izuku. If he asked for help working out you would be only too happy to comply but no spars. Not until you called him out yourself.

This is going to be the first fight in awhile you would look forward to. You knew Izuku wouldn't disappoint. You were hoping he would exceed your expectations after all. However it wouldn't be next class or next week, nah you've seen his growth. You want a good fight with him, and that meant waiting. Not your best characteristic to be sure but something you could do. Give him a few weeks to keep training and playing catch up. Then either in class or out of it during the week, you would wrangle a fight out of him, even if you had to drag his ass to the mats.

Heh, Izuku sure was an interesting dude. Bringing out your inner Battle Maniac side a tad. Hopefully he could handle ya, if only a little bit~

* * *

 **E/N: Tea a Drink With Jam and LIGHTING! By Preventer Squall, Lost NInjas by Thebebb, And That's When She Shot HIm by Preventer, A Rose by Any Other Name by Vandalgyon, Meet the Scout by Preventer, Figurines and Box of Issues by Thebebb, and A Eye Opening Fight by Lucker13. In that order.**

 **-Shovern**

 **A/N: Of note, the last Outtake, A Eye Opening Fight, is set during Katsuki and Izuku's fight from a while back. It would've been awkward to input in the middle of all of that so the decision was made to put it in a Tales of Beacon.**

 **-gorilla_fingers**


	41. Tutoring and Being Tutored

"Alright, so, during the Faunus Rights Revolution there was a battle between General Lagune and a... well, the Faunus fighters didn't have ranks so I suppose 'Specialist' Kaa. Lagune was trying to ambush Kaa's army in the middle of the night-"

"But because most Faunus, Kaa especially, have exceptional night vision they were able to see Lagune's army coming from quite far away. The General, not having taken this into account, was in the end surprised when he stumbled into their camp to find no Faunus and, instead, found his ambush turned on him."

"... Yeah that's actually exactly right Velvet. You really know your stuff, huh?"

"Yes, well... it isn't 'knowing' this stuff that's been the problem so far..."

Izuku nodded his head as he closed up the history book he'd been studying from with Velvet. As part of Coco having joined the Leadership Council, she had wanted them all to help with Velvet a bit, make sure she'd actually pass her classes so that she could move on up with the rest of her team. Admitted on missions and recognized for combat in spars though she was, Velvet had seemingly had a great deal of trouble in actually passing the classes required to move up fully to the next year. While Izuku'd been taking care to watch her performance in classes so far, he'd decided that the best way to make sure that Velvet would be fine going on ahead would be to sit down and do a bit of studying with her... or, more like tutoring her with review material.

Imagine Izuku's surprise when Velvet seemed to not only know her stuff but did so to some degrees that were even more familiar with the material than he was. It wasn't too much of a shock when he thought about it; she had taken these classes before, it was natural to assume that she'd be able to remember a good deal of what she'd been taught. However, there was slightly more than that; it seemed like she not only remembered the material, but readily understood it.

Then again, maybe that shouldn't have been a surprise either. Coco's chastisement, minor though it was, of Velvet wasn't that the rabbit Faunus girl was dumb, no she seemed to think she was quite bright...

"Right, I suppose your problems are more in the actual testing and answering part of this huh?" Izuku sheepishly scratched the back of his head, Velvet nodding somewhat as he looked down to the side. "Sorry about that, I guess I was just going through the motions."

"N-No need to apologize! It's fine; better to be sure right? I mean, if I know it so well then I... shouldn't really feel so pressured when in class, right?" Izuku saw Velvet frown as she glanced off to the side, Izuku nodding in understanding as he stroked his chin.

"Well... that's fine then. If you know the stuff then the hard work's mostly done. It seems like you're really good at studying and actually memorizing this stuff so... let's practice actually giving answers and stuff?" Izuku sounded uncertain at first but, as the idea simmered in his head, it caught fire, giving him a spark of an idea. "Yeah! That's it! I'll give you a mock test and put some kind of timer on it! That way you'd be under some kind of pressure and we can build up on it from there!" Izuku realized that his excitement over his epiphany seemed to have spooked Velvet a bit, the skittish young woman backing away slightly from his loud declaration. "Er, sorry, I just get kind of excited when I think a problem through..." She nodded and smiled slightly.

"Coco gets the same way. Whenever she's sitting around puzzling something out and finally thinks it through, she just seems to burst with a lot of energy." There was a fondness there that made him smile. These two had been partners for over a year now, so he supposed he shouldn't be surprised that they seem close.

"Alright then, that sounds like a plan to me. I'll go ahead and start setting up a mock test based on the material! Feel free to study a bit while I do so." He saw Velvet nod as he immediately pulled out some notebook paper and begin scratching away, trying to think of a test that would end up looking like Oobleck's. As he focused in on the paper he failed to notice the smile on Velvet's face drop as she cast her eyes off to the side.

"... I haven't really thanked you properly for all this..." Izuku blinked slightly as he looked up to Velvet, the ear brushing a strand of hair behind one of her human ears as she sighed. "First you come out of the blue and try to help me with Cardin, without even knowing a thing about me... heck, you thought I was in your year. It must've come off as pretty pathetic that I was a second year being pushed around by first years..." Izuku frowned slightly; he did remember Coco's frustration with Velvet at the moment. She seemed frustrated and a little disappointed, though the degree to which that was aimed at both Velvet and herself couldn't quite be said. "Now you're here helping me with this. I know it was something Coco wanted you to do as part of her joining the Club... but I think just telling her about how I'm doing in class would've been enough to satisfy her... you didn't have to come and help me. But you have so... I really should thank you."

"Well... I mean, I couldn't just stand there and watch someone get picked on for something as inconsequential as having an extra pair of ears." Izuku saw Velvet seemed a bit surprised, though that surprise melted into a kindly smile.

"Izuku... I don't think a lot of people would agree with the idea that 'an extra pair of ears' are inconsequential..." He knew what she meant but could also see some degree of approval there too, emboldening him.

"Well, maybe so. I mean, I do think they're pretty cool. You're hearing must be great!" At that Velvet allowed a nod, the bashful young women's ears drooping a bit before going back up.

"It is... but still, even if that's the case, I don't understand why you'd get involved with someone who wasn't even protecting themselves... someone... kind of pathetic, to be honest." Izuku frowned as he shook his head, emerald eyes shimmering as he did so.

"Well I don't think you're pathetic Velvet. You're kind, in my view of it; you asked them politely to leave you along. Them continuing to mess with you was their failing, not yours. If they were just looking to deride someone for being different, then they're certainly not Hunters of your caliber." Izuku saw... a conflicted expression on Velvet's face. On the one hand she's nodding slightly, pleased by his description... but on the other hand, a frown began to form on his face as her ears drooped.

"... A Hunter of my caliber..." Izuku saw Velvet folded her hands up in her lap, her frown deepening. He expected her to say something more. To keep forging on ahead but... no, she stalled. She stopped. She didn't say anything and so an awkward silence began to fill the air. He decided to try to barge through the silence as he straightened up his own back.

"Don't put yourself down Velvet. Besides, what kind of friend would I be if I didn't do my best to help out, right?" That did seem to break through Velvet's malaise as she looked back up at him, her ears perking back up.

"Friends huh?" he heard her chuckle goodheartedly as she brushed a strand of hair behind her human ear. "It reminds me of Coco. Within a week of knowing me she was calling me her friend too... as aggravated as she could get back then." Izuku saw Velvet quirk her brow. "You're not so much like Coco though. I didn't take you for the type to make such fast friends... no offense, of course!"

Izuku nodded his head slowly. She wasn't wrong; as much as Izuku stuttered and muttered still, Beacon had been a big change of pace for him as far as having any kind of social life was concerned. Back in Mountain Glenn, he really didn't have much of anything when it came to social relations or friendships... he 'certainly' hadn't known or talked to as many girls as he had by now. Heck, he don't think his heart would've been able to handle it way back when. Still, the fact remained...

"If I'm being honest, this isn't the way it used to be for me. Having so many friends, being able to comfortably talk to people and even being somewhat intelligible... it really wasn't who I was before Beacon. Back when I lived in Mountain Glenn... I really didn't have any friends at all. What ones I did were short lived and then... well, we weren't friends for a long time. Still aren't, I guess. The truth goes even deeper than that; I used to be bullied a lot too, because I was really weak and powerless before I had my Aura unlocked. It... it wasn't a lot of fun." Izuku admitted as he reached up to rubbed at his arm, a slight frown on his face, and on Velvet's as well.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to bring memories like that up..." The rabbit Faunus apologized swiftly, though Izuku just shook his head.

"No, it's okay. Besides... I had an opportunity to change things around. When I came to Beacon, I took it as a chance to do things better. To take the risk, to meet new people and maybe even make some real friends. It was really scary and, if you can believe it, I muttered even more then than I do now... but I haven't been disappointed yet. Maybe I've just been lucky with all this, maybe I've just gotten the chance to get to know some really nice people... but if I hadn't stepped outside my comfort zone, I wouldn't have had that opportunity." Izuku looked up at Velvet and give her a sincere smile.

"Velvet, I really would like for us to be friends, if you'd like me to be your friend too." Velvet seemed surprised by that kind outreach of his and, though she did seem hesitant for a moment, she returned his smile with a slight nod of her own, her ears giving a slight wobble as she did so.

"Of course." It was a simple answer, but given with about as much boldness as he thought Velvet could muster. It caused Izuku to smile as he took a moment to turn back to the books so that he could get ready to prepare the practice test he had the idea for. There was a slight whisper he swore he heard but, glancing over at Velvet, it didn't seem like she'd said anything in order to catch his attention. In the end the both of them chatted somewhat amicably as they set up the practice exam; after all, he was not just here to make a new friend, he was here to help that friend pass her semester...

Though making a new friend certainly had been quite the welcome occurrence.

* * *

"Salutations my fellow Team Leaders! I hereby call this fifth meeting of the Beacon Leadership Council to order! I'll start with a simple roll call! Izuku Midoriya, Leader of Team MNVW?"

"I'm here Tenya."

"Very good! Ruby Rose, Leader of Team RSBR?"

"Here and ready to go!"

"Excellent! Coco Adel, Leader of Team CFVY?"

"Yo."

"Magnificent! And obviously I, Tenya Iida, Leader of Team TABY, am present and accounted for! This meeting may therefore come to order!" The four of them calmed down as they all settled into their seats and snacks, a little bit of munching to put some food in their stomachs before business really got rolling, which allowed for some casual conversation.

"So Deku, I heard that your team got up to some stuff recently and that's why dingus is our new Janitor for the next few weeks. Gotta say, nicely done if so." Izuku blushed slightly, a little embarrassed that word of his activities concerning the case with Cardin had already spread around the school. Before he could really interject or correct her, Ruby immediately leaned forward on the table and nodded fervently.

"It's totally true! Deku just decided to help out Katsuki without even having to be asked! According to Ren he was all detective like, with cool catch phrases and everything! 'One Truth Prevails'!" Izuku couldn't help but feel his face go red as the turn of phrase he used to conclude his case with Ozpin was brought up... especially when he saw the biggest, widest grin he'd ever seen in his life stretched across Coco's face as she turned to face him.

"'One Truth Prevails'? That's adorable!" Before he was even aware of it, Coco's had his cheek pinched between her fingers, tugging on it ever so slightly as she cooed. "Little guy was playing detective and came up with a little catch phrase! Nice and pithy too, nothing overly long or complicated. You've got yourself a mind for theatrics, eh Deku?" He supposed he did at that. He wondered where it came from if the answer weren't so obvious; all that time spent with Toshinori had given him a feel for adding a flare of the dramatic to his words or actions. The guy seemed to live by that course of action as a Huntsman, after all, and it really did seem to inspire people.

Or cause them to coo call you cute... which, considering that it was a girl and she was touching him, he couldn't really raise the gumption to feel defensive regarding manhood, especially with a face so thoroughly red.

"W-Well, I mean, I guess, I-I just wanted to say something that'd sound, y-you know, like, firm or definitive?" He mumbled out as Coco just gave a small 'aw'.

"A natural showman. You're going to love the Vytal Festival then." Before Coco could go on it seemed Tenya moved in to bail him out.

"Natural showman or not, Mr. Midoriya's actions were very much in line with the idea of a noble Huntsman. He saw that someone was being wronged and did his best to address it and, not only that, he succeeded. A crucial victory for him and his team and a relief for Team RSBR." Ruby nodded in firm agreement.

"Yeah, there were a lot of jerks who were just going along with the rumors and thinking Katsuki did it. I was really worried at first cause, you know, I want to be a cool hero that people look up to. I mean, I guess it wouldn't have hurt in the long run-"

"But getting stuck with that kind of rep can be really annoying here at Beacon. Trust me, you dodged a bullet." At that, Tenya raised an eyebrow at Coco as he crossed his arms.

"Miss Adel... was Team CFVY known as troublemakers in your first year?" There was a bit of an awkward chuckle that escaped Coco's lips as she nonchalantly looked anywhere but Tenya, her eyes eventually falling onto a clock on the wall as she let go of Izuku's cheek.

"Oh! Would you look at the time? We better get going on that official business before it gets too late!" Tenya, momentarily distracted, readily agreed and, hey, if it got her to stop pinching his cheek, then Izuku was fine moving onto official business as well.

"Sooo... what exactly 'does' a Leadership Club spend money on anyway?"

The question almost momentarily took Izuku out of his focus as he considered it, though a rubber bullet hitting just next to him put him right back in focus as he drew upon One For All in order to help speed up his movements. For another week, he'd ended up roping the rest of the Leadership Club into helping him train with his control of One For All and, again, it was proving to be exceptionally helpful. A little bit of odd advice here and there sprinkled in among the hailstorm of rubber bullets that were being fired almost constantly by Ruby and Coco, with Tenya zooming in every now and then to threaten him up close and personal when it appeared as though his focus faltered. It was heavy, heavy, 'heavy' training but it got a lot of results. He could feel himself pulling on One For All more and more easily, though that did eventually give way to exhaustion, the effort of drawing upon and maintaining One For All becoming a strain as time went on.

Still, same as before, he couldn't help but feel like the results just spoke for themselves.

"That's actually a pretty good question. How about we take five and talk that out Deku; you look like you're going to pass out any minute." Coco spoke up over the sound of her gun firing its rubber bullets, Izuku just nodded along as the spray of bullets came to a close and the glow of One For All faded. He took a deep, steadying breath as he approached his friends, Tenya quickly throwing a water bottle while Ruby and Coco put their own weapons away and grabbed some snacks.

"It is a good question. With other club activities across Beacon the answer is fairly consistently obvious between clubs. The Book Club wants to be able to buy all of its members new books, the various Sports Clubs that we have here at Beacon usually needs to replace old equipment or buy new workout clothes for its members, not to mention potential fees to rent out gyms and arrange skirmishes around Vale, the various Hobby Clubs usually have tools or paraphernalia they need to buy in order to get potential new members interested... there's usually some obvious expenditure attached to a club. The Leadership Club... well, we've been mostly flying by the seats of our pants, to be frank." Everyone nodded in agreement as Ruby inhaled one of the cookies Tenya provided.

"Yeah, I mean, it'd be nice if we could get some money for... something? But if it's not really anything to do with the club itself it'd be kinda... I dunno, wrong to just take money and then spend it on activities and stuff that barely fit with the Club." Ruby took a munch as Coco looked off to the side.

"Yeah, they're really not all that into clubs taking cash and running with it. It's why these rules are in place to begin with. It's also why stuff like the Fashion Club or the Game Club never really got off the ground or got funding in the first place; they were obviously just trying to score free product on Beacon's Lien." Tenya looked up, tilting his head to the side.

"I didn't know there was a Fashion Club here? I'm aware that the Game Club still meets up as a hobbyist sort of affair but I didn't see a Fashion Club anywhere." Coco coughed into her fist as she glanced off to the side, using her other hand to surreptitiously readjust her shades.

"That's cause there's no Fashion Club anymore... ANYWAY, moving on!" The three of them couldn't help but give Coco an odd look as she chuckled to herself, trying to wave off any further discussion about said 'Fashion Club'. "So, really, the things we're going to want to consider when we're mulling this over is making sure that the money is actually being used in a way that we can reasonably call it related to the Club's purpose and being sure that we aren't just asking for money for the sake of getting free stuff. In either case, I think Ozpin would be pretty quick to slap down anything we might try." Everyone else nodded in understanding as Izuku stroked his chin.

"Yeah. If we can't think of something that matches up with that, we'd probably be better off going the path of the Poetry or Game Club and just not asking for it. It'd be better than trying to force money out of the School for the reputation of the Club." Izuku said as everyone turned to focus on him.

"Well Mr. Midoriya, you are the Club's Treasurer for a reason. Do you have any ideas or suggestions?" Ruby and Coco nodded enthusiastically as Tenya put the question forward and he took a moment to bow his head in thought.

"Well, given all that, then I'm not entirely sure if the Leadership Club's ready to ask for funding from Ozpin yet." Izuku remarked as his hand remained on his chin, tapping a finger against it as he took some time to think. "The Leadership Club's not particularly wanting for material benefits; the focus of the club is very much focused on talking with your peers and your seniors. When we get more members that'll end up being a wide knowledge base to draw from, and all of it free since its coming straight from the minds of the various attendees." Izuku shrugged as he looked at the others. "Don't get me wrong, I think there's things that we could benefit from having; talks from experienced Huntsmen and Huntresses, books and guides on leadership and other small things like that... but given that there's only four of us here now, we probably really don't need to worry about money for stuff like that for now. So I say let's take our time and grow the club a little more before we concern ourselves too much with money."

Izuku smiled somewhat sheepishly at the other members of the club. "Of course, if you guys have any suggestions, I'm open to hearing them." He saw all them of them just nod as Coco leaned back in her chair.

"Nah, that sounds good to me Deku. We really shouldn't push for stuff we don't need at the moment, good way of getting the staff annoyed with our club. I'd say that's plenty smart enough of a conclusion to come down on." She gave him a small finger gun as she winked from behind her shades. "I can see why these two made you Treasurer then, Deku." Izuku blushed a bit at the praise and even more so when Ruby nodded in agreement.

"Yeah! I suppose we might've gotten a little bit ahead of ourselves but I'm glad we made you treasurer Deku! When any of us think of what we might need some money for, I think we can depend on you to handle it." With that, Tenya nodded in firm agreement as he began to whip his hands about in his signature, overly done gestures.

"Indeed! As President of the Beacon Leadership Club, I approve of the measure put forward by Head of The Treasury Izuku Midoriya. The Beacon Leadership Club shall table discussions about what funding we might ask from the school until our Club has had time to grow more and to consider possible uses for said money that would be fitting with the mission statement of this club!" Everyone nodded in agreement as Tenya readjusts his own glasses. "With that said, let us continue on with the rest of the day's agenda!" With that, the Beacon Leadership Club continued on with its 'official' duties, the four of them mostly hanging out, talking, sharing stories and ideas or updates and just, in generally, having a good time. Ruby asked Izuku if he could meet her at the firing range to go over a few things, and Izuku, as they were leaving, agreed to go along with her.

The club, even if it wouldn't be funded immediately, still stood out as a good thing in his mind.

* * *

"Alright then... so let's just wait... wait till you see the whites of its eyes..."

"... Ruby, it's a moving target, it doesn't have eyes at-"

"FIRE!"

Izuku practically jumped as his instincts kicked in, throwing a punch as hard as he could with Emerald Gust as he triggered the firing mechanism. He was, thus, treated to the sight of Emerald Gust's round firing off and flying toward the moving paper target in question, the bullets riddling it in various spots, some outside the bounds of the 'body' represented on the cut out and some within. At the range it was at he was just glad he hit it at all, as he wasn't quite so good at aiming Emerald Gust when a target was so far away... or at least, that's what his experience with doing so against opponents in spars told him.

"Yeah, you're not quite there with the aiming yet."

And also what Ruby told him. He sighed as he leaned his head back, giving a slight huff as the target slid out of view. It's no surprise that he hadn't really had time to brush up on his skills with the actual shotgun component of Emerald Gust. With all the things he had to train, with everything on his plate between his friends, his obligations as a leader and as the Successor to not just One For All but the name and title of Symbol of Peace and Hope, he just had so much going on, so many things that he had to do. Heck, his time with Ruby wasn't even actual training! She wasn't here at the gun range to practice with him; they both were here because Ruby's idea of a fun outing is taking Crimson Rose out to take a few shots at a range and, well, she wanted to see what Emerald Gust was capable of.

Needless to say, she thought nicely of the gun but didn't think so much of his own skill. It was fair and, hey, she was nice about it.

"Yeah, I've had so much on my plate that I've had to work on or get ready that practicing with my aiming has kind of fell to the back burner." Izuku sighed, a bit tired, as he cracked his knuckles. Ruby nodded understandingly as she cradled Crescent Rose.

"I know what you mean, Deku. I've been trying to pick up my training too and between that and handling everything that goes on with RSBR, you know how Kac...tsuki can be." Ruby coughed into her fist as her slight stumble as she straightened up. "I haven't really had time to just sit back and treat my girl to some time at the gun range. My poor baby Crescent Rose must think I've been ignoring her all this time." He still wasn't certain if Ruby's attachment to her Sniper Scythe was more endearing or creepy, the two emotions at play as he watched Ruby practically cradle the weapon like a baby or a puppy as she looked down at it. "So thanks for agreeing to come with me Deku. I would've felt pretty guilty if I was just here by myself treating Crescent Rose to a time rather than being with some of the others..." He just smiled and nodded at that; weird fascination with her own weapon aside, he was glad to be of some help to Ruby.

"Hey it's no problem. I was interested in getting your opinion on Emerald Gust myself. I know you thought it looked like your sister's weapon, so I was interested in seeing if that opinion changed after seeing it in action." Ruby nodded her head sagely as she brought her hand up to her chin, quirking her head to the side as she thought.

"Well, your thing with Emerald Gust doesn't go as smoothly together as Yang's thing with Ember Celica. Yang really never has to worry about breaking Ember or damaging her, even when she's got her Semblance pumping, so she's able to keep them on her and going strong throughout an entire fight. They're better melded together like that... part of the reason for that 'is' probably because Ember Celica is a bracer and not a gauntlet though." Ruby nodded her head as she looked at the metal covering his hands. "I didn't realize how big one design decision could be but seeing it in practice, it makes a lot of sense; Ember Celica doesn't take damage because it doesn't absorb the blows of Yang's punches. Her gloves do... which is probably why she's constantly having to replace them." Izuku nodded his head; having gone through a fight with Yang first hand and having tasted what a full-blown punch from her could feel like, it's not hard to imagine just how easily gloves might wear down on her.

"I probably make it even worse with my Semblance." Ruby grimaced as she nodded, shaking her head.

"Man... that reminds me of way back when at the Emerald Forest. Your gauntlet was just so broken... that was before you had it changed up, right? Took it from an actual gauntlet to the... slide-y thing?"

"Mei calls it quick-action armor plating." Izuku responded as Ruby nodded.

"Right, course." Ruby frowned slightly as she looked at Emerald Gust again. "You really didn't know what your Semblance was when you originally designed her. That's why you had to change it up... heck, you didn't even know you'd have a Semblance. At least Yang had an idea of what hers could do and how she'd fight when designing Ember Celica... it's probably why she went with bracers and not gauntlets in the first place..." Ruby smiled a bit as she seemed to remember some long passed memory and he couldn't help but smile himself. Eventually Ruby turned to look at him again, a wide grin on her face.

"I'm sorry if this is personal but I just gotta know; why did you decide to go with Emerald Gust?" Izuku blinked in confusion as Ruby pointed to Crescent Rose. "Yang went with her design because she knew she was going to be a brawler, between dad's training and her Semblance, and I went with Crescent Rose because Uncle Qrow and my mom used Scythes too... plus she's a big, beautiful gun..." Ruby cooed for a moment, the creepiness returning before she quirked an eyebrow at him. "You though... I mean... you thought you were Broken. Why go with a weapon that depended on you getting up close and personal like that?"

"Reliability, I guess. Using these weapons was a terrible choice back when I was... thought I was Broken but, well, it fit with who I wanted to be as a Huntsman. I wouldn't, and really couldn't, wear armor because the extra weight might prevent me from reaching someone in time, I couldn't be a sniper because there's no way I wouldn't compromise my position if I thought someone was in danger... even if it threatened a position, I don't think I'd be able to stop myself from helping someone. Really... it does come down to that kind of selfish decision. Like Toshinori, I wanted to use my fists to defeat my enemies and save anyone that I possibly could. Sure there were better options I could've taken considering my condition but, well, you could say that about my entire choice of being a Huntsman in the first place. I was Broken and there were other things I could've done that probably would've been better…"

"In the end, I chose my weapon based on what I wanted to do and how I wanted to fight rather than what would've been the most practical for me." Izuku couldn't help the bit of red that came to his face as he sheepishly scratched at his cheek. "And the fact that it helped me look like Toshinori certainly didn't hurt..." Izuku admitted as Ruby just chuckled a bit.

"Man, you really are dedicated to this whole thing with Toshinori, huh?" Izuku laughed a little before nodding; guilty as charged. It wasn't exactly something he could deny... Heck, Ruby didn't even know how right she was. He idly wondered what her reaction, or Heck, anyone else's reaction would be to the revelation of One For All or the fact that he was, literally, succeeding Toshinori. They'd freak out sure but... well, it'd be amusing if they just would've thought it was 'typical' for him.

"Though, I can't say I blame you or that I'm not kind of guilty of the same thing myself." Izuku watched as Ruby pulled out Crescent Rose and unfolded it, the young woman looking at the huge scythe. "Let's be frank, I'm not exactly the kind of person that's best suited to wielding a Sniper Scythe. Heck, I'm pretty sure that if I didn't have Aura I wouldn't even be able to swing the thing around. The recoil really hits me hard and, well, given my speed there's a lot of other weapons that might've been a bit more practical... but, well, I like big weapons that are also really powerful guns... and Crescent Rose is the most beautiful weapon in that category, yes she is..." Izuku watched as Ruby stared dreamily at her Sniper Scythe for a moment, before she shook her head.

"But... well, my Uncle also used a similar type of weapon... and I thought he was 'really cool' when he used it. And my mom... well, I want to be like her. As much as you want to be like Toshinori, I'd be willing to bet." Izuku smiled and nodded as Ruby ran her hand down the shaft of the scythe. "Using a weapon like Crescent Rose puts me one step closer to that... to being the sort of Huntress I want to be." Ruby gave a genuine smile as she turned her silver eyes on him. "So yeah; picking a weapon that's not exactly the absolute best you could be using for your strengths and weaknesses because of personal stuff? Can't exactly call you out for that, Deku."

"There's no harm in knowing what kind of Huntsmen or Huntress you wanna be, I think. Especially if that Hunter's a Hero. Plus, hey, it hasn't all turned out bad for you right?" Ruby pointed down to Emerald Gust. "I'd say you've pretty well grown into Emerald Gust as a weapon... hey, maybe even outgrown it if you've had to make modifications to it to fit your Semblance." An amused chuckle escaped both their lips; he certainly couldn't disagree with that logic... and it was reassuring to know that his growth as a Hunter was visible to his friends, even ones so recently made.

"Thanks Ruby."

"No problem Deku. Now, let's get back to shooting stuff! I'd like to get more shots in before we have to go back to doing Leader stuff!" Izuku nodded in agreement as the two of them lined up for the shooting range once again, the pair of them reloading their respective weapons.


	42. Birds of Different Feathers

"Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti."

She was a Aerokreet. A bird of Atlas, inhabiting the mountain ranges that dominated that area of the world. They were famed for their pure white feathers, their slight frames, and their almost uncanny ability as songbirds. Legend in her part of the world had long claimed that humanity had in fact been taught to sing by the Aerokreet, as it was all the small, too small to eat, creature could provide to mankind.

Of course, that was a fairy tale. She had actually been to parties that had stuffed Aerokreet on the menu. But...there were times she dreamed she actually lived in one of those old rhymes. That she was one of those birds, out in the crisp mountain air.

"Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti."

Luckily, this Aerokreet had been deigned too...valuable to be filled with some over prepared stuffing from her father's master chef. No, instead, she had been granted the wonderful position as Jacque Schnee's beloved song bird. Since her fifth birthday, when she had performed at a small play in the hope of pleasing her mother, her father had sent her to a wide variety of tutors, teachers and more than a few hacks, all with the express purpose of turning her into the next great performer of the Atlas Social Scene. She had learned not only the best way to use her own voice, but so much about the proper way to be a musician: she knew the Circle of Fifths backwards and forwards, she had been instructed in the classics on both piano and violin, and had become adept at general chord structure. Beyond that, she had been taught strict etiquette, not only for a member of the Schnee, but also as a star on the Atlesian Ball Circuit. That was to be her scene...and she had accepted that.

Then her sister had given up her position as heir, and Weiss had found herself moved up. It had been five years ago, long enough for her training to actively change, but there was always this small amount of doubt that had been in the back of her mind.

"Do-Re-Mi-F-"

"Oops, sorry."

Weiss felt her cheeks burn, and she turned away front the window. This had been her quiet time, her time away from her teammate who, as much as she loved the insane redhead, happened to be insane. She had found this small study room of the library tower, a great window showing off Forever Falls, a few days after classes had started, and had made the trip there at least once a week to give herself some breathing space. She finally looked up, and recognized the young man at the door.

"Oh, hello Shoto."

Shoto Todoroki. While Tenya Iida may have been the other Atlesian to have joined with her class, and his family's service had been impeachable over the years, Weiss had always thought that Shoto was her classmate who was most similar to her. Destined for greatness by a great father, clearly immensely talented, and generally rather good looking. She had been impressed by him on their first day, though they had rarely actually seen one another beyond the group sessions, and Shoto tended to be one of the least open members of their group of...friends?

It was really hard to understand how Katsuki Bakugo could ever be a friend of hers, but there you go.

"Hello Weiss," Todoroki bowed, his multi colored hair seemingly rendering his head a red white ball, "I did not know anyone else used this room. I did not mean to disturb your studying."

"Yes well," Weiss's eyes shifted back to her bag, which actually did contain her books, but she hadn't actually opened once during any of her stays in the room, "I was just getting ready to start going over Oobleck's new history assignment. I needed some time out of the room to think because" she felt the blush return, and began to twist her hand in circles, "well...you know what my partner is like."

"Ah yes, that makes sense," Todoroki nodded, and Weiss almost thought she saw him quake for just a second, "I just use this room to train a bit, but I can co-"

"Wait," Weiss knew opportunity when she saw it, and right now she was being presented a golden one. She had become...friends with her teammates over the past few weeks, but she hadn't really connected with anyone else that closely besides, ironically, the Frog Faunus Tsuyu. This gave her a shot to further expand her social connections with someone who was clearly going to be a mover and shaker in the near future. she coughed, and then continued, "I wouldn't mind you staying here and training at all. As long as it's not too loud or too distracting, I'm sure it will be fine."

"Oh," Todoroki seemed slightly perplexed, but then bowed rigidly the next instant, "Thank you very much Weiss."

Todoroki walked over to the barest corner of the room, and sat down. He crossed his legs, and placed out his hand. Weiss stared for a moment, just as she was pulling out her assignment which she did eventually have to complete for the class. Part of her hoped that no matter what kind of training that Todoroki did, it would at least be relatively quiet.

A large snowflake, nearly the size of Todoroki's palm, emerged from above his right outstretched palm, and crystallized into a intricate shape. It floated up away from his skin, and began to twirl around Todoroki's head. Weiss felt her eyebrow raise slightly at this, until a second snowflake materialized, formed, and then joined its brother in its revolution around Todoroki's head. Then a third appeared. And a fourth.

In under three minutes, Todoroki had a small blizzard circling around his body, dozens of the flakes dancing around his aura. Weiss felt her jaw remain unhinged from the rest of her skull, as she saw the storm around him. This was Todoroki's semblance, but where every other instance she had observed it had merely been a force of pure power, a mighty wall of sheer ice, here she got to see just how in control of it he was. He was a master of this more delicate state.

'He understands his semblance better than I understand mine,' her brow furrowed, 'probably better than anyone in our year...besides perhaps Bakugo.' she clenched her jaw and ground her teeth together, before letting out her anger in a short breath, 'calm down. Jealousy will only make getting better harder,' she stared at the snow storm currently surrounding Todoroki, 'Just have to let it go.'

"Weiss," the heiress snapped out of her musings, and looked directly at the young man sharing the room with her, a slight blush creeping up her face. Had she said anything out loud...no, he didn't seem angry, and his eyes seemed perfectly calm.

Those eyes, one grey and one turquoise, the reminded her of the Telit Falke. A popular pet of the Atlesian nobility for decades, it was primarily used for falconry, hunting small animals for sport... including Aerokreets now that she thought about it. They were named Split because of the weird quirk in their biology which meant that each bird had a different color in each eye. These eyes were famous disconnected, and thus allowed the eyes to scan on both sides of its head, making ideal for hunting in the mountains.

"Weiss," Todoroki continued, causing Weiss to snap out of her musings, "I have a question I have been meaning to ask you. Do you mind answering it for me?"

"Oh," Weiss returned to the room, and then nodded at her classmate, "Of course, what is it?"

"...why are you even here in Beacon?"

"Wha-well I would have thought it was obvious. It's the best place to be trained to be a huntsman in all of Remnant."

"Yes," Todoroki began to open and close his hand reflexively, "But why do you care about that. You are the current heir to the most important company in all of Atlas. There is no real reason to ever really leave Atlas."

"Well I wanted to be-"

"Even if your dream is to be a huntress, rather than just some passing hobby," he continued, "You could easily get certification from the Atlas Huntsman Academy. I certainly think that someone with the...reputation of Jacques Schnee would prefer his heir to at least be studying within his social sphere."

"...I really don't like where you're going. After all, it is rude to pry."

"I was just wondering," he paused for a second, "I just have heard from some people with close connections to the courts of Atlas that there is a small uproar about one of the most popular acts on the circuit leaving for no discernible reason," he looked her in the eye, "One does not usually expect some pampered diva to just up and disappear. It pays to pay attention to Atlesian politics at times."

"Ah yes, the rumor mill can be quite proficient there," Weiss waved her hand, "of course, you should hear some of the things I have heard," she felt a small bit of vicious glee peak up, "Such as the boy that was born of two elements."

Todoroki's blizzard froze. The two looked each other dead in the eye. Weiss placed her book, which she had just managed to get in her hands, back in her bag. She got up from her table, and walked to the door, and opened it back into the main library. She turned one look back at Todoroki, who still had not moved, but now the flakes around him were circling in a far more manic and less controlled manner.

"It was nice to speak with you," she added, "Hope we can do this again sometime soon."

She closed the door, and then she heard a creek. She pushed her hand back on the door, and could not feel it give even a tenth of an inch, as though something had slammed into it and held it in place. She rolled her eyes, and turned back to the rest of the library. Might as well head back to the room. Nora would probably be off somewhere with Ren by now, so that would give her time to think to herself. As she marched her way down between the bookshelves, she began to return to her scales.

'Do-re-me-fa-so-la-ti.'

* * *

"Alright young man! Once more, with gusto!"

"I don't know if I can keep giving this gusto, Toshinori!"

Another week, another afternoon spent training with his mentor and predecessor Toshinori Yagi. As had grown to be the norm for training with Toshinori, he was working with Izuku on his forms when it came to fighting. Tossing Izuku around to demonstrate techniques, letting him toss him around in order to get some practice in and then just some general exercises to help the younger man get his form down. This was what he was down to at the moment; Toshinori had shrunken down into his more skeletal form not too long ago, leading to him sitting off to the side and shouting words of encouragement to Izuku as he went through drill after drill after drill. Sweat was pouring down his brow as he kept the work up and, though he still worked as hard as he could, that limit was quickly plummeting as tiredness eked into his very bones.

"Nonsense Midoriya! You're a strong, young man in the prime of your youth! I'm sure you got plenty of juice in ya!" Izuku gave a short nod as he reached forward and tried to throw the Atlesian Knight that had been his training dummy again... only for the droid to collapse on top of him after he discovered, to his chagrin, that he didn't really have the strength in him to bodily toss the thing right at the moment. He heard a quick 'yeesh' from Toshinori as the older man scratched the back of his head. "Alright, maybe that youthful vigor of yours has been spent for right now. Okay Midoriya, just hold on a second." Toshinori pushed himself up off his seat as he walked over to Izuku and pressed a few buttons on the Atlesian Knight's back. Soon enough the droid whirred to life and pushed itself up off of the young man, returning to a standing position.

"Thank you Toshinori..." Izuku managed to wheeze out as you take long, deep breaths to try to capture as much oxygen as he could. The blond Huntsman just nodded slowly as he scratched his cheek.

"Alright, I think that's about all we're going to be getting out of you as far as training's concerned for today. Take a quick breather and then we'll talk about what you want these plans to be for today." He just gave a quick nod as his head collapsed back onto the ground, his sweat dripping onto the floor as Toshinori walked back to the bench.

"I do have to admit, I'm a little bit surprised." Izuku blinked slightly as he turned his head slowly to look over at Toshinori, the older Huntsman just awkwardly scratching at the back of his head as he looked off to the side. "I really didn't have any expectations that you'd want to hang out again so soon, if ever, after last time. Old man like me hanging around and cramping your style can't be too fun, right?" Izuku saw a slight grin on Toshinori's face as he said this. After so much time spent around Yang he could 'feel' that he was getting teased though, at the moment, he couldn't say for certain how. So instead he just grinned back at his mentor and shrugged.

"You're not that old Toshinori." Again a small chuckle erupted from his predecessor's throat as he continued. " Besides... I really did enjoy talking with you last time. I learned some new stuff about you and about what all this means for me and... I thought it was really interesting. Besides, you said it yourself; you don't do much for fun on your own so I gotta be there to make you have some fun, I guess." At that Toshinori barks out a particularly loud laugh... one that turned into a spout of blood as he brought his hand up to his mouth to cover up the spray of blood. After a few coughs and hacks Toshinori wiped his mouth as he gave Izuku a grin.

"Your little friends are rubbin' off on you Midoriya. That's good." It was an earnest smile on the older man's face as he said this, before he crossed his arms and shrugged his shoulder. "And heck, if that's what you want then I'm not gonna stop you." Izuku could tell that Toshinori was, himself, on some level eager and just trying to play this off as cool as he could. It was a bit uplifting for him to know that his hero was looking forward to this almost as much as he was.

"Did you ever hang out with your predecessor like this?" Izuku asked, still somewhat breathless, as he tilted his head. "I mean, you seem to find it so weird so I have to imagine..."

"Mmm... it was a weird thing. I trained with Nana a lot longer than you've trained with me, so our relation was much more deeply rooted in our the identities as master and student, predecessor and successor. She also didn't actually work as a teacher at Beacon during my time as a student here; she went off into the wilderness to work as a Huntress a lot of the time. After all, she wasn't in my position where One For All was weakening in her very quickly. Her loss of the Semblance was more gradual because her body could hold onto it a bit better than mine can right now. So she was actually still a Full-Time Huntress. Besides that she also just spent time with her own family; her... her husband and son." Izuku saw there was a moment where Toshinori's mood dropped and he looked off to the side. Before he could move to ask he just shook his head and continued. "Anyway, our relationship was a little more strictly student/teacher because we didn't have much time to spend together after I started attending Beacon. Still, whenever she was around to help complement what I was learning, I enjoyed what time I did have with her. Even if we didn't exactly 'hang out'." He put his fingers up into air quotes as he said that, he nodded in understanding as he put his hands back on his knees again.

"But that's not important right now. What is important is what your plan is young Midoriya. Can't waste all day waiting for you to catch your breath after all." Izuku saw a wide grin stretch itself across Toshinori's skeletal face and Izuku couldn't help but smile back.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"So... what was Professor Goodwitch like as a teammate?"

A couple confused blinks from Toshinori were his initial response to that question as he looked down at Izuku. "Where'd that one come from, young man?"

Izuku shrugged as the continued their walk. After taking several minutes to catch their breath and get feeling back into Izuku's arms and legs, he and Toshinori quickly got out of the arena and out of the school, doing their best to go unnoticed by the broader student body as they both made their way out onto an empty part of the campus. It was comparatively easy, a lot of people were either training, studying or hanging out somewhere either in their dorms or, for the really outgoing, the City of Vale itself. The walk started off simple enough, a little bit of small talk here and there as the two eased into their laps around Beacon, Izuku still recovering a bit and he just got into the groove of a nice walk around the School. They'd both taken to bundling up a bit; it was getting late into September and, this late into the afternoon, the chill of Autumn could begin to be felt in the air.

"Well she's been overseeing my training with One For All to make sure I don't get hurt so I've been spending a little bit of time around her myself." Toshinori nodded understandingly as Izuku placed his hands in his pockets. "She's nice, don't get me wrong, but... I dunno. She's also pretty strict sometimes... it moves like this weird scale. One moment she can seem just really calm and careful, just letting me go with the flow of my training but at other times it's like..."

"She's not taking any of your shit no matter what you try to sell her?" Toshinori responded idly as he rubbed his chin, causing Izuku to blink a few times.

"Y-Yeah, maybe not so much in those words but yeah, pretty much like that." Toshinori nodded understandingly as he gave a small grin.

"Yeah that's Glyn alright." Toshinori chuckled as he scratched the back of his head. "I may have to apologize to you on that count young man; Glyn's probably like that because she's already gotten so sick of my own shit from back in the day. Trust me young man; this isn't Glyn's first time patching up a guy who got himself a bit busted up training with One For All." Izuku tilted his head to the side inquisitively as he looked up at Toshinori.

"But... I mean, sir, you've said it yourself that you're naturally skilled with One For All. How did you get hurt from training with it?" Toshinori chuckled sheepishly as he phrased the question like that, the old man grinning down at Izuku.

"Believe me kid, I might've been naturally skilled with One For All, such that I didn't hurt myself with 'it', necessarily, but that only made me really, really, 'really' careless when I did train with it." The 8th User of One For All pointed to himself as he gave a small chuckle. "For you, pushing your limits and hurting yourself involves breaking your bones, and it did for me too... thing is, for you it's a necessity, something that comes with how your body responds to using One For All. For me? It was purely a matter of me being careless. I'd push all kinds of limits of what my body could handle with One For All, and all-too often I'd be able to handle the Semblance itself... but the training would just leave me busted up all to Hell.

"Oh Gods, I remember one time in particular; I was testing just how much power I could pack into a Beacon Smash at the time so I got up on one of the mountain ranges and just punched it as hard as I could. As you might imagine, the mountain didn't exactly give much. I broke a huge chunk off it, don't get me wrong, but in the ensuing destruction I also pretty much ended up breaking several of my own bones." Izuku's eyes pretty much bugged out of his skull as Toshinori said this, the older Huntsman just nodding. "I know, I know, that was-"

"Pretty awesome sounding..." Izuku mumbled to himself, imagining just what a 100% Beacon Smash must've looked like for Toshinori way back when.

"-that, yes, but also incredibly dangerous, especially given I was so close to the Emerald Forest and its Grimm. Stuff like this kept happening too; I was young, newly empowered with One For All and an Aura thanks to Nana and I felt like I was unstoppable. I pushed myself way past what even I was capable of again and again because I thought that was proper training. I didn't keep to an 'Valean Dream, Diet and Exercise Plan' like I probably should have... heck, my usual training regime that I had built up with Nana after so long was essentially down the drain because Aura and One For All made it all so dirt simple. So I thought, hey, instead of just ratcheting up the amount of time I train and reasonably increasing the difficulty, why not push my luck 100% of the time."

"I'd go out into the Emerald Forest just looking for the biggest, baddest Grimm that were around and I'd try to wrestle them, I'd do that really cool looking thing from the movies where I'd just keep punching stuff until my knuckles bled through my Aura and stamina, anything I could think to do that would push the limits of my new body." Toshinori brought his hands up and squeezed them. "It's amazing. Feeling that strong for the first time in your life. Growing up Broken, not even knowing what you're missing because you never had it, and then suddenly... a True Soul, Aura, a Semblance, and a Semblance as powerful as One For All to boot... I lost my damn mind."

"Yeah, I know what you mean..." Toshinori nodded his head as he placed his hands back in his own pockets.

"It's why I reacted the way I did when I found out you were over training back at Mountain Glenn. I know the kind of strain that pushing yourself in such a way can have on your body, and you didn't have Aura to help you recover yet. It isn't healthy... but I didn't recognize that back then. I just kept making a mess of myself." Then Izuku saw his mentor crack a smile. "But Gods be damned if Glyn wasn't nearly always around to help put my dumb ass back together." Izuku heard a chuckle echo in Toshinori's throat before he continued. "Gods be damned if she wasn't 'so pissed' every time I dragged myself back to Beacon like that though. 'I'm serious Toshinori, this time I'll just leave you like this. We'll see how Beacon decides to handle you if you continue to insist on being so careless with your own health. No I don't give a damn about your dream or whatever nonsense speech you have ready, I'm not budging this time'. I felt bad about it of course but... well, this is one place where you and I are pretty similar. We're both stubborn when it comes to this whole Huntsman thing." They both laughed a little at that, though a frown did form on Izuku's face.

"Did Professor Goodwitch ever give up on fixing you though?"

"Nah, she didn't... Hell, if we'd stuck together after I started the whole gig as the 'Symbol of Peace' I don't think she would have either. You'll learn this about Glyn the more time you spend with her; she puts up a good act of acting cold and indifferent and she can get frustrated when you act like an idiot... but I'll be damned if there aren't a lot of Huntsmen or Huntresses who give a damn about people quite like Glyn does." Toshinori chuckled. "In a way Naomasa was a great partner for her; he had the charisma, intuition when it came to people and likability that Glyn didn't quite have so when the two of them would go out on missions, he'd usually be able to paper over any incidents that people's reactions Glyn's seeming indifference might cause. She was always a little rough around the edges... guess she still is even after all these years, if your description is anything to go by. The more things change, I suppose." A dry chuckle escaped Toshinori's lips as Izuku nodded his head.

"So what happened with you and Glynda after you became The Symbol of Peace, then?" Izuku asked as he trudged along with Toshinori, his predecessor just shrugging as the two of them kept moving.

"It's not necessarily that something happened but that something had been happening. I'd always wanted to be a Hero that everyone in Remnant could look to and feel safe with. Even if I didn't have a name for the idea back then, being The Symbol of Peace was what I wanted to define my career as a Hunter. Meanwhile Glyn was more interested in eventually becoming a professor herself; she wanted to be able to reach out and help kids like professors and teachers had helped us. Again she can be a bit rough about it, but I'd still say she's shaken out to be a fine educator." Izuku nodded in agreement before Toshinori continued. "As you can imagine, those two career paths don't exactly line up easily. Still, before Mountain Glenn, I nor my team quite had the fame to do anything too big so, for the most part, we just stuck together and kept working as a unit... then, well, Mountain Glenn did happen. Suddenly, being The Symbol of Peace wasn't just a dream for me anymore; it was a reality.

"Suddenly there were missions that had specifically asked for my help popping up all over The Four Kingdoms... like I said before, this pretty much broke our team. Enji was furious and went off on his own to try to outmatch my reputation, Naomasa ended up retiring early to become a detective and work with the governments. It wasn't negative or anything like with Enji, like I said occasionally he gets together with Glyn and I for a drink, but well he just saw that my rise as The Symbol of Peace was as good a time as any to make good on something he'd wanted to do for a while. Glyn and I stuck it out the longest but, in the end, Beacon was calling her and the Four Kingdoms were calling me. Every time I passed through Vale I'd visit of course but, well, Team EGNT was pretty much done at that point."

"Did you ever try to convince her to come with you, or did she try to get you to stay at Beacon?" Izuku saw that Toshinori's smile dropped slightly at his question, the man's black and blue eyes narrowing slightly as it seemed like old memories danced through his mind.

"Yeah, she did... but no, I didn't. There were... circumstances that I knew would be part and parcel to the whole Symbol of Peace thing." It was an unconscious move on Toshinori's part, Izuku reckoned, as Toshinori's hand drifted up to hover over the wound on his torso. "Glyn wanted to be a teacher and, well Hell, I'd have ended up being a pretty big hypocrite if I tried to convince her to not follow her own dreams. Wasn't acrimonious or anything it was just... well, it was just a thing that happened." Toshinori shrugged his shoulders as he placed his hand back in his pocket. "Sorry if it isn't as dramatic as you were imagining but it is what it is."

Izuku shook his head as he smiled up at his mentor. "No, thanks for telling me." He grinned back at Izuku as the two of them continued walking along. Eventually Izuku turned back to face him, a curious tilt to his head.

"So, what kind of food do you like? I've gotten pretty good at cooking so I might be able to whip some stuff up for ya." Izuku saw a grin stretch across Toshinori's face as the old man stroked his chin.

"What, you mean like that mountain of pancakes you've been making every morning for the past month?" Izuku's face went a bit red though before he could defend himself Toshinori just waved it off. "Relax young man... nice as it is for you to offer that to me, I'm afraid I probably wouldn't be able to eat much of anything you'd be able to make." Izuku flinched a bit, wondering if his cooking skill wasn't good enough for Toshinori's pallet or if he just didn't want to risk his cooking... up until Toshinori raised his shirt to, again, show off his wound...

His...

 _"Pretty gross right? I got this in a big fight five years back. My respiratory system was basically destroyed and I lost my whole stomach."_

"Oh... right..." Toshinori nodded, his own face slightly downcast as he dropped his shirt.

"Have to be really careful these days about what I put in me. Anything that doesn't go down and through my system easy is bound to upset what's left of my digestive system pretty badly. I'd be able to shove down what you give me young man but I can't guarantee that it'd stay down... don't think that'd be all that appetizing of a sight, I have to imagine." Izuku nodded in understanding. Sometimes, with all the things Toshinori could still do, it was hard to imagine that he was as badly injured as he was. Sure, Izuku reminded every time he practically vomited blood or with how frail he generally looked... but then there was his time as a Hero, the moments when The All Mighty Huntsman showed through and Toshinori lived up to his name as The Symbol of Peace.

"Hey come on kid don't look so down. It's fine; you get used to this kind of stuff over five years. So don't worry too much about me alright, I'm doing fine." Izuku looked up at Toshinori again and nodded as the two of them continued on their walk, their discussion dying down into short bursts of conversation here and there.

Still, he couldn't help but feel some slight unease that sat in the back of his mind.

* * *

Fighting teammates wasn't all that unusual at Beacon when it came to combat practice. Bakugo had fought Ruby essentially to see how the team dynamic work end up working out, to see if she 'could' lead him, Izuku guessed, and other members of other teams used the spar as an opportunity to just test each other's growth or to have fun. Izuku really didn't have such dire reasons as Bakugo for challenging who he did that time around, though they weren't quite as relaxed as some other people's either. No, Izuku had a reason...

He wanted to show Weiss she was right to put her faith in him.

As Izuku slipped on his gauntlets and boots, securing them with a 'click' as he got ready for another week's fight, Izuku considered this fact. Weiss had made it clear that, at the beginning of all this, that she had reservations. Reservations that she disliked having, but reservations nonetheless. However, she had wanted to give Izuku a chance, she had wanted the team to work. Izuku promised her that it'd be okay. That he didn't hold any ill will, that he understood her position perfectly and that he was going to try his absolute best to show that he was worthy of leading Team MNVW, that it was okay for those three, who had all been so much stronger and better than Izuku, to put their faith in him. To believe that he could lead them.

It might've been a little soon for such a hard test of that promise, but he couldn't miss the opportunity. He wanted to show Weiss that he'd grown, that he'd improved, that he knew what he was doing. That he was going to keep getting stronger and that she could have faith in his ability to lead and protect her, Nora and Pyrrha. It was his chance to prove that he could be trusted...

Now, all he had to do was give a good fight. It'd be hard; Izuku knew what Weiss was capable of and he knew that the only reason he so easily won his practice bouts with her was because she didn't get to use the armaments and skills that made her a powerful Huntress in her own right. It wouldn't be fisticuffs where Weiss tried to fight back against him and he showed her how it was done. No, Weiss would be bringing her A game to the fight. After all, she wouldn't let Izuku show his stuff with anything less than her own best, that was just how she was.

So it was that Izuku and Weiss entered the arena at the same time. Unlike with Bakugo there wasn't any overly violent or threatening overtones to his journey here but, unlike Yang, there wasn't anything chummy or friendly about it. Weiss took her life as a Huntress quite seriously and, he could tell, that she was taking 'him' quite seriously. She was going to throw everything she could at Izuku so long as it wouldn't permanently hurt Izuku. She wanted to win as a part of proving that she had what it took to be a Huntress.

It wasn't anything personal, she just wanted to win as much as Izuku did.

So they both reached the center of the arena, Weiss finishing some quick flourishes with Myrtenaster as she did so, as she stood opposite to Izuku, her rapier at the ready, while Izuku just brought his fists up into a defensive stance.

"Our next match: Weiss Schnee vs. Izuku Midoriya. Are both combatants ready?" A quick nod from both of them was all the answer Glynda needed. "Then begin!"

Izuku was stronger and faster than Weiss. That much Izuku already knew; even without Aura and even without One For All, both of these things were true. It was something he'd taken notes about in his Notebook entries on Weiss. He didn't want to insult her, but it was just the plain old fact of the matter. Weiss' strengths weren't in direct combat, save for maybe with her Rapier.

However, on the other hand, she was 'exceedingly' skilled with her Glyphs and her Dust. If Izuku allowed her the opportunity to use them, if she could activate her various abilities then, wow, Izuku was in for a bad time. He didn't even want to imagine what would happen if she used her Lightning Dust with a Glyph to boost her own speed to those ludicrous degrees she was capable of. He'd be screwed. So there was only one option; he had to get in there and just 'stay on top of her'. Izuku couldn't let her get away, he couldn't let her just run off, he couldn't let her avoid him or activate a meaningful Glyph. He needed to stay in her face. He needed to stay right on top of her. So that's what he decide to do; he was going to take advantage of his strength over Weiss and he was going to keep her pinned down until he could win.

So with that plan settled in his mind, once the battle began, he just made a B-Line for Weiss. No tactics, no dancing around, no waiting for her to make the first move. He just ran right in and got in her face. He was aware she was capable with that Rapier, however, and knew that he'd need to keep her off her game if he was going to have any hope of actually grabbing her. So he reared back and threw a punch, meant only to distract her. It was a feint, meant to leave her thinking that he was 'only' interested in trying to fight her man-to-woman. There's a certain light of recognition in Weiss eyes; she bought into it, wholesale. After all, she'd thought that it'd make sense. He was being hyper-aggressive in order to keep her off her game. It was just that, in this case, it was clear she hadn't seen to what end he were going for.

There was a brief moment as she avoided Izuku's feint where he saw Myrtenaster's cartridges swivel about to some of the Ice Dust she had on hand. Izuku could see her other hand practice its motions as she got ready to raise a Glyph. Izuku gritted his teeth, expecting her to just back up and let him have the ground...

But then Izuku watched as her light blue eyes transfix themselves on his fingers. There was a certain unease there, a worry. It wasn't so much worry for Izuku though; a worry that he might hurt himself or that he'd be willing to shatter his fingers in order to break through one of her barriers. No. No, it was worry for her. A worry for her own position in that fight. Worry that Izuku'd just blast away any barrier she'd raise up if she tried. She'd seen his fight with Yang, she knew what just his fingers were capable of and, in her mind, she thought he'd do it too.

She wasn't wrong either. She was also probably just as aware as Izuku was that she couldn't take nearly as much punishment on that front as Yang could. Her fighting style revolved around the use of Dust and Aura. If she had to expend vast amounts of it trying to tank hits from Glenn Smash, then she'd run out of options sooner rather than later. Yang was a brawler with a Semblance that benefited from his use of Glenn Smash. Weiss was most certainly not Yang. So instead Izuku watched as Weiss settled down into a fencing position, her eyes locked with his as she swished her rapier about.

Her movements were lightning fast. With practiced grace Weiss thrust her rapier forward at him and he moved out of the way... but he also saw something. Weiss had taken aim at a weird spot...

She was trying to psyche Izuku out. To draw his defenses one way so she could send her attack another way. Izuku gritted his teeth in preparation and, furthermore, grunted in frustration as Weiss took the opportunity to step back and away from him. He didn't let it deter him, however; instead he bolted forward and, with shock on Weiss' face, instead of bringing his arms up to punch her he flared them wide open to grab her. Izuku's attempt was met with an Aura-Empowered jab to his chest, causing Izuku to grunt slightly as the pressure from the tip of Weiss' Rapier ended up sending him off to the side, away from her as she took a few corrective steps. Weiss herself frowned as she brought her rapier up and sent multiple jabs of it Izuku's way. Having expended her Aura on her own defense, it was clear that she didn't have it ready yet again; a couple of her strikes were off their marks. Fine by Izuku as he managed to quickly parry the last one away from him. It took a bit of his own Aura but he managed it all the same.

That's when he forced himself back up and just 'threw' himself at Weiss. The Heiress' eyes went wide as he immediately launch his hands forward, trying to get a good grab on her somewhere on her torso. The excitement of battle kept her from blushing as she batted one of his attempts away with her rapier but, then, he ducked underneath another rapier slash and he practically tackled her as he threw his arms around her torso.

He got her.

"IZUKU, GET OFF OF ME YOU BRUTE!" As Izuku settled into a grapple he wound up catching one of her arms slightly, leaving her unable to swing or thrust her sword around, as planned. Izuku watched her light blue eyes scan around, trying to look for some weakness. It seemed she'd came to the same realization as he did; she couldn't break out of his grip, not with what he was capable of. So he was treated to something he'd never thought he'd have had to do before.

Izuku quickly shimmied his hips out of the way as he felt Weiss try to... knee him.

Okay, that would 'definitely' hurt if he let her do that. Izuku took a deep breath as he swung his body around Weiss, coming in right behind her as he forced her into a full nelson.

"IZUKU, I SAID GET OOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Port probably would've had tears in his eyes if he saw Izuku then. As he reared forward for a moment and then, pulling his entire body back, he drove Weiss into the ground with a textbook suplex. "GET OFF OF ME!" It was surprising how dexterous Weiss was and, at the same time, he was feeling quite unnerved as he barely avoided the heel of Weiss' high heels heading towards him. Izuku swallowed another lump in his throat as he maneuvered around again, pulling Weiss with him until he'd trapped her, head pinned up to her knee with one arm wrapped around both, freeing up his other arm.

Weiss had stopped with the kicks and was just trying to punch him. He'd decided he better get it over with quick, not sure how long he could keep dodging.

So Izuku just start swinging. After the second swing Emerald Gust's grip, somehow, went a bit loose in his hand, forcing Izuku to shake it off so he could just keep throwing punches in an attempt to get Weiss to quit. Weiss on the other hand just started snarling, getting progressively angrier as she thrashed about in his grip. It's almost comical, judging by how a lot of the crowd was either in one combination laughing, another hooting and hollering and, for some of the girls in the audience, thoroughly red faced at the display. Izuku had to admit, he himself was pretty much just forcing himself to go through with punching the daylights out of Weiss while so close to her, ignoring the fact that he had a girl pinned, just trying to keep his mind on the fight.

In the end, it was as he thought; Weiss just wasn't strong enough to break his grip once he got it on her and, soon enough, her Aura dipped into the red.

"That's enough, fight's over. Izuku Midoriya wins." He could not get off of Weiss fast enough as he practically leapt up off of her, said reaction causing more chuckles in the crowd as Weiss forced herself back up onto her feat, stumbling around a bit from all the punches he drilled into her as she tried to regain her bearings.

'Holy woah she looks 'livid'.' Like, angrier than Izuku thought he'd ever seen her. Yet, as she approached Glynda, he saw he school her features into that even, calm expression that Weiss seemed to put forward whenever she was trying to look 'professional'. As Glynda took some notes, she gave the both of them some nods.

"Very good Mr. Midoriya. You recognized your opponent's strengths and weaknesses and sought to avoid one while exploiting the other. You've come a long way from waiting for your opponent to get off a shot on you." Izuku nodded, still feeling nervous as he saw Weiss' right eye twitch at Glynda's words. "Miss Schnee, you were up against an opponent who exploited your form's holes. You did your best to counter under the circumstances of what your opponent was capable of, but I think doing what you can to polish the holes in your form is the obvious step from here." Weiss dipped her head reverently as she nodded in agreement.

"Of course Professor Goodwitch. This is a rather... glaring weakness in my form that I shall need to ensure can't be abused again in the future. Thank you... Izuku."

'Oh Gods' he thought 'she's trying to set me on fire with her gaze.'

"Very good. The both of you are excused." With that they both gave a quick nod to Glynda. Izuku turned to try to speak with Weiss only to find that she had 'immediately' headed off for the locker rooms, not even stopping to look at him as she stalks off, her entire body language tense.

'Hoo boy...'

There's a part of him that said that he needed to get over there and just 'beg' Weiss to forgive him. She was pissed, that was clear as day, and, well, Izuku's standard reaction for the longest time to people being so angry at him was to meekly submit and/or to try his best to get them to forgive him for whatever transgression had caused her foul mood. After all, he didn't want Weiss to be angry with him. As he picked up the pace to try and catch Weiss before they both reached the locker room, his mind ran with the ways he would apologize to her. So, there'd probably be a lot of bowing involved and trying to say he didn't mean to do what he had done...

Except he kind of did. Izuku knew Weiss' strengths and weaknesses and, like her, Izuku wanted to win that fight. The only reasonable way he saw to beat her without leaving her open to abuse him with her Glyphs was to get in close and grapple with her, as embarrassed as he now felt about it. To that extent, he did mean to do what he did. He was sorry that it caused her such embarrassment, but that didn't mean he had done it by accident. Okay so maybe starting off with that wasn't a good idea at all. Maybe just groveling, just some base begging for Weiss to forgive him... for winning a fight he had every intention of winning and that she had every intention of winning.

'Would that come off as patronizing?' It was weird to think that, wasn't that half the point of asking someone to forgive you, but the thought stuck in his mind as his pace slowed and he took a moment to consider the idea. Honestly, thinking things through, he really didn't have a lot of opportunities to apologize to Weiss... he was sorry for embarrassing her but that was about it. He wasn't going to patronize her by saying he was sorry for winning when, really, he wasn't. His frown deepened as he looked at Weiss' back as she continued to stiffly stalk away from him. Maybe... maybe he shouldn't get in her hair right now, while she was angry. If he knew anything about Weiss it was that she could be stubborn... if he tried to talk to her and tripped up, then she might end up doubling down…

...

'Maybe... maybe it is just better to leave this one alone for now?'

Izuku resigned himself to decision as he and Weiss put their weapons away, a stiff silence in the locker room hanging over their head before the two of them departed. Weiss was still tense as they both walked back to the seats that overlook the arena but Izuku watched as Weiss, again, did her best to school her expression and posture as they both entered the public eye again, Weiss decidedly ahead of him. If it weren't for the fact that he had watched her steaming not seconds ago, he'd have probably been fooled too.

Or at least he would have been fooled for a bit as a few stray jokes end up catching in Izuku's and, presumably, Weiss' ears, causing the Heiress to stiffen up and shoot a slight glare in the directions of said jokes. He was just grateful when their friends greet them and congratulate them both on the fight... sure the congratulations were pretty stiff, especially from Yang who seemed to be doing her best to hold back from teasing Weiss, thank the Gods, but it seemed like their friends had taken note of their plight and had taken steps to 'try' to not worsen it.

"Wow Fearless Leader, guess you've really taken to Port's lessons after all!"

At least not on purpose, as Nora went about congratulating Izuku in such a way that he watched Weiss stiffen as she stared a hole into the back of her partner's head.

'This weekend is going to be awkward…'

* * *

 **E/N: Starting us off we have Birds of Different Feathers by Wind-Waker.**

 **-Shovern**

 **This one is a bit of a beginning of a longer set of outtakes, so I will just say I tried to work with some characters I hadn't before with an idea exploring a relationship type I hadn't seen done before in this story. Little did I know that GF would take it, and offer it up as an option for the quest takers to explore, and the whole story arc would get away from what I originally planned.**

 **-Wind-Waker**

 **I Just thought it'd help make this a not so happy chapter.**

 **-Shovern**

 **A/N: In my defense, Birds of Different Feathers seemed like a rather complete one shot on its own. I hadn't expected that you had further plans so I just reacted to it on its own merit. I'd like to think that what came out of it was still grand, though, all things considered.**

 **-gorilla_fingers**


	43. Test Against The Best

Izuku took a deep, steadying breath as he stood outside the door to one of the larger training halls in the school. He'd finally gotten an opening in his schedule where he felt like there was just enough time to go and visit with Juu Atama, The Battle Huntsman. He hadn't wanted to try to visit him during the past several weeks because, well, as Toshinori had said the guy was a teacher. He'd either be in the middle of class or he'd be fresh off a day of classes, when he'd likely be tired or exhausted... which probably wouldn't help Izuku in convincing him to give the younger man some extra training to help with his martial arts. The weekend seemed like the opportune time, however, it seemed like Juu Atama was quite dedicated to his job as a teacher: when he'd asked around for where he was, the answer given was a bit of a surprise. Turned out he had been teaching a group of third and fourth years in some weekend lessons to help them brush up on their combat skills, something that apparently hadn't been uncommon for Juu to do with the older years.

So while that fact had made him nervous, stepping into the man's arena while others were present, Izuku knew that he needed help with his martial arts sooner rather than later. If Izuku could get Juu to train him then Izuku'd have another way forward for becoming a better Huntsman. To becoming worthy of the title of Symbol of Peace. With that determination filling his heart Izuku took a deep breath as he pushed the door open and walked inside...

Only to be immediately flummoxed when he could practically 'feel' the energy in the air. Izuku watched in some amazement as a whole group of students readily went about various training exercises and spars, with the spars themselves being what primarily drew Izuku's attention; high energy and high impact duels between students of the older years, all of whom crashing against each other with a force that he was fairly certain would knock him on his ass and, perhaps, even halfway across the room. At the center of it all stood a very tall, very muscular man wearing dark grey shoulder pads that also protected his neck, a black vest, brown pants and combat boots. A swept back mane of grey hair topped his head and... well, even if he was not wearing his signature helmet or bracers, it would be easy enough to tell who, in that room at least, was Juu Atama.

"Very good everyone Now, remember, don't just go through the motions, make sure you're focusing on each individual move and really putting your all into it. Aura will empower you in any given circumstance, of course, but your basic physical strength is even more important than it." While Juu Atama started off with a rather ordinary stance and pose as he spoke, as he went on... well... it's kind of weird. He started posing like an excited young girl which was... out of place for a guy who, otherwise, looked so macho. Izuku saw that most of the other guys in the room seemed to share his own bizarre sense for this guy's sudden shift in attitude, though most just ignored it and continued with their spars. The girls, on the other hand, all seemed to blush for a moment before continuing on with their workouts. Izuku himself was pretty much frozen in place as he watched though, eventually, a girl with blue hair and blue eyes seemed to take notice of him.

"Professor Atama, sir, someone's here!" She shouted out over the din of the arena as Juu Atama took a quick moment to turn his head to look over his shoulder, meeting Izuku's gaze as they young man just continued to stare at him in that pose.

"Well would you look at that, so there is!" With that Juu clapped his hands and, quite miraculously for how loud the sounds of the various training in the room is, it seemed to catch most everyone's attention. "Alright everyone, take five. It seems I might just have some business to attend to... or someone else. Hmmm..." The man cutely posed again, bringing up a finger to delicately tap against his cheek in thought. Izuku blanched slightly as he tilted his head. "Are you here to speak with me, or is there someone else you're looking for, young man?"

"U-Uh, I'm here to talk to you, Professor Atama!" Izuku quickly answered, as Atama nodded with some vigor.

"Very good! In that case, yes, five minute break everyone!" With that Atama turned away from his students and walked on over, most of the rest of the room gasping for breath as they all slid to various seated positions. Only a handful of students remained standing, doing various stretches and small exercises to keep them warmed up. "Now then young man, what can I do for you? Are you here on behalf of another professor?" Juu Atama asked, hands on his hips, as he looked down at Izuku, his entire demeanor screaming 'friendly' despite his macho appearance.

"Uh, no sir, I'm actually here to speak to you myself." Izuku said with a firm nod as Juu Atama gave a short 'oh'. "You see sir, my name's Izuku Midoriya, and I'm actually-"

"A junior student, right? First or second year?" Juu asked, tilting his head to the side as Izuku just blinked in surprise.

"Errr... yeah, actually, I am. First year at that. How did you know?" Juu dramatically raised finger into the air as he readied his explanation.

"Well, if you were a third or fourth year student here at Beacon, I would've seen you on the register and, no offense, but the name 'Izuku Midoriya' doesn't precisely ring a bell. I could've guessed first year off of your height or demeanor but, well, students here at Beacon come in all shapes, sizes and behaviors, I've found, so that makes it quite difficult to use any of those as a good means of guessing." Izuku nodded; it seemed reasonable enough. "So, how can I help you Mr. Midoriya?"

"Well sir, you couldn't have picked a better question; what I'm looking for 'is' help from you." Atama gave a small 'ah' as he continued. "You see sir, I'm a close combat specialist when it comes to fighting. My weapon revolves around it, my practice up until this point revolves around it and even my Semblance pretty well works best with a close combat expertise... but I'm not exactly a natural talent. I've been looking for someone who could teach me how to be better... and I heard that you were the best in the school." Izuku saw Atama's face light up, the man's hands placed on his hips as he nodded.

"It's true; while there are teachers here in Beacon who're passable at various fighting styles, most of them like to focus on some kind of weapon or gun in order to get their point across. Aside from the Symbol of Peace himself, you'd be hard pressed to find someone in Beacon who'd be able to teach you the martial arts quite like I could... and even then, between you and me, most of what Professor Yagi knows is boxing..." There was a cute conspiratorial whisper at the end of his statement as Juu Atama, dramatically, leaned in close to Izuku, his hand cupping his mouth so that only Izuku could hear him, as he gave the young man a quick wink. "So, you want me to teach you martial arts? Alright then, allow me to ask you a few questions; what Combat School did you go too? It'd be nice to know what I'm working with."

...

Izuku paled a bit as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head.

"Err... Birch Academy, sir."

"The one in Mountain Glenn?"

"The same."

"Ouch." Izuku nodded as Juu stroked his chin slightly; it was no surprise that a Huntsman of such caliber in so many fighting styles and ways of combat would know about Birch Academy and its failings when it came to close combat. "Great school for survival and engineering Birch, but not such a great Combat School. I can see why you'd look for some outside expertise. Alright, have you taken lessons before? Has anyone taught you any martial arts before you've come here to Beacon?" He placed a hand on his hip and wagged a finger as he asked this and, again, Izuku couldn't help but sweat a bit. Toshinori had been teaching Izuku Judo but it was probably best to not go blabbing about that.

"I'm... actually pretty much entirely self-taught sir. I haven't had much in the way of lessons." Izuku saw Juu Atama frown slightly as he nodded, bringing his hand up to cup his cheek.

"I see, so your current level is quite... basic, I guess?"

"... Karate for dummies basic, yeah..."

"Yeesh." Izuku frowned a bit as he look up at Atama.

"I've trained really hard though. I know the various texts and books on how to use the fighting style inside and out. I've taken notes on a lot of Huntsmen who use martial arts, like you, and I've tried to integrate that into my own fighting as best I could! I know that I don't have a lot of the skill right now, but that's what I'm here for! To try and 'get' the skill." Juu nodded as he took that in.

"I appreciate your energy young man, but do recognize that it's a very difficult position you put me into. I take my job as a teacher of older students quite seriously; at any given moment, any of my pupils' lives could be in danger during a mission or an assignment. They come to me in order to help train and get stronger so that they might be prepared for what may come to them. My training could end up being the difference between then surviving and them not surviving... and young man, don't think I'm doubting your hard work, but if your skill level is as you've described it, then you might not be ready to train 'with' them. I'd have to take time out of my schedule in order to train you personally, which takes time away from them. Time, as we've established, is precious."

Izuku bowed his head slightly as he nodded. "I understand sir... but, please, it'd mean the world to me if you just gave me a chance, if you could-"

"Now hold on there young man, I didn't say I wouldn't give you a chance." Izuku blinked slightly as Juu Atama spoke up, the man giving a slight chuckle that edged on being a cute giggle. "I am a bit of a sucker for someone with such determination to get better... but as a Huntsman, and a Teacher, I have to take my duties 'very' seriously. I can't afford to spend time training up a first year with only basic capabilities. If I'm going to train you, you'll have to be ready to endure what my other students endure... which means..."

"Mr. Togata, a moment of your time, my dear boy?" Juu called out over his shoulder and Izuku watched as one of the students who had been stretching and jogging around suddenly took full notice of what was going on. Soon enough the student ran up and... wow okay. The student who ran up was not only quite a bit taller than Izuku but also quite muscular in his own right. He was wearing a training outfit at the moment, drenched with sweat and, although Izuku'd think someone who'd done so much work would look exhausted or put out, the guy just had a big old smile on his face as he turned his black eyes on both Izuku and Juu Atama.

"Yes Professor Atama, what do you need?" The upbeat and overall pleasant tone of the young man's voice put Izuku at ease as Juu just turned back to look at Izuku.

"So here's the deal Mr. Midoriya: you will fight in a spar against Mr. Togata. You will only use your more advanced forms and styles so that I can see how skilled you are with them and I will measure out your performance. If it seems like your hard work has readied you for training under me with these other older students then I'll gladly welcome you aboard. If not... well, I think it would be a good learning experience either way, wouldn't you agree?" Both Izuku and Togata end up blanching just a little bit, though Togata didn't lose his smile, as Juu Atama once again cutely posed. Izuku, on the other hand, immediately felt nervous.

Spar against someone two, or potentially three, years his senior with just his karate? That... that sounded like a tall order.

Izuku swallowed as he considered it but, finally, he ended up just giving Togata a polite smile as he offered a bow. "If that's what it'll take, then I'll give it my best! Pleasure to meet you, Togata! I'll be glad to be your opponent." Izuku saw the young man smile nice and wide, the older pupil himself returning the gesture.

"Ah, my pleasure as well! I'm sorry for what you're about to go through, but I'm glad you have such high spirits about it!" Izuku blanched a bit; it was clear he didn't mean anything about it, it just seemed like he's the decidedly honest and frank type.

"Mr. Togata will be holding himself back at first; I need to see your forms after all and it wouldn't do anyone any good to see you just randomly tossed about the arena floor with no chance to show your stuff. However, I did mean what I said; you'll need to show that you have the skill and grit necessary to work at the levels my students currently do. I will be allowing Mr. Togata off the leash after a period of time where I'm satisfied that I've seen your baseline skill..." Juu Atama posed as he turned to look at Togata. "That being said, Mr. Togata, 'please' don't seriously injure our friend here? It wouldn't do if he were injured during what's supposed to be a friendly spar." Togata just nodded as he offered a quick salute.

"I'll be sure not to go all out when you call for me to go in, sir!" It seemed like that might not be a terribly uncommon occurrence, judging not only by how in stride Togata was taking things but also the reactions of the other First Years as they all gather around. Juu Atama quickly offered Izuku some tape to wrap around his hands, to ensure that he wouldn't injure himself with his punches, while Izuku listened to the other students speak.

"Another one trying to jump years for Professor Atama's training huh? Well... I mean, it isn't unheard of, I guess." Izuku heard a voice whisper in the crowd as another just tiredly sighed.

"Didn't you hear? This one's from Birch Academy. Don't expect too much out of his performance." Izuku swallowed a nervous breath as he and Togata squared off, taking steps away from each other before they turned to look each other in the eye. Izuku took a long, deep breath as Togata just seemed very... calm and even, that smile of his not even flinching for a moment. The two of set themselves into stances and, even from Izuku's relatively inexperienced gaze, he could tell that Togata had put a lot of training and effort into his forms; they were pretty solid and, though his body language remained relaxed, it was pretty clear that he was not taking things lightly; his body was still ready to spring into motion at any given time. He was not overly worried about the match... in fact, considering what Juu Atama asked of him, it might even be the opposite. It might be that he was worried he'd hurt Izuku if he took the younger student too seriously and so was trying to keep himself as relaxed as possible.

Judging by how precise his stance still was, though, it's clear he couldn't quite shake off years of practice and habit.

"Alright, Mr. Midoriya, whenever you're ready, go ahead and feel free to go on the attack." Juu Atama called out, momentarily snapping Izuku from his thoughts.

Izuku shook his head as he looked back at Togata; he was not sure what his deal was quite yet. It was obviously some form of martial art, clearly he was being taught by Juu Atama so he was 'learning' something but the way he got his stance out right then it just looked... generic. Not aggressive, not defensive, just a regular old stance. There wasn't much Izuku could gleam from that so he look at his physique... and it was an athlete's physique if he'd ever seen one. He was very much muscled, it was clear he was not just 'Aura Strong' but physically powerful as well, his body's limits having been pushed well beyond a normal person's thanks to his Aura. But it wasn't like he's bulky or bulging from every fiber of muscle; it was also quite lean and sleek, it being clear that he was not just some slow lumbering hulk of a beast... he also looked pretty fast. The guy looked hearty too; there was a healthy glow to his skin and he seemed to be 'full' of energy. The guy looked like he could tank a hit from a truck and keep moving which, Izuku honestly wouldn't be surprised if that were the case. Still, if he was told to take it easy on Izuku then surely he wouldn't be bringing 'all' that force to the table...

'Question is, how much was he bringing forward if Juu Atama still wanted to see if I'm worth admitting to his program?'

Izuku surprised when no one interrupted his thoughts to holler for Izuku to move on; everyone's watching he and Togata, sure, but it was clear that they weren't bored. They were perfectly willing to wait for Izuku to finish... did they know what Izuku was doing? Togata seemed to, at least, as there was an amused look to his eyes. Professor Atama also gave a nod as he watched Izuku watch his opponent. Still... it was not like he could just sit there forever. Juu Atama wanted to see what he could do and, well, he had try and land a hit.

Izuku took a deep breath and, with his self-taught forms, he rushed right on at Togata. His first attempt was a running punch but, for a moment, it felt like he was off-balance. It was not just that he felt like it, he could see it happening before him; as it stood, Togata would have to barely dodge in order to avoid his fist. Izuku bit his lip; he really didn't want to have to pull out One For All so early, but he really do need to show Juu Atama what he could do... and missing the first punch he'd thrown wouldn't exactly be helpful. So he took a deep breath as he focused in on the power that dwelled deep within his soul, pulling on that little sliver of One For All he could control. There was a slight hum of surprise, and even a slight glint in Togata's eyes, as Izuku's skin began to glow radiantly; Izuku pushed One For All throughout his torso and his legs, using it to help right his body and to push him on even faster.

Izuku threw his punch and it looked like it was on the mark... however, like Izuku thought, Togata's relaxed body language had been hiding a guy tense and ready to fight. In the end, it was easily slapped away by Togata, the blow flying off to the side as he kept his eyes on Izuku, making sure not to let the younger man out of his sight even as Izuku doubled back. For a moment Izuku was expecting an immediate counter attack, but he was quickly brought back to reality by the nature of the exercise; Juu Atama wanted to see what Izuku could do and he asked Togata to hold back while he showed off. Izuku ground his teeth as he pushed his feet into the ground, centering himself. Alright so maybe that hadn't been an amazing start, but he was far from out yet. Taking a long breath he slackened his left arm while tensing his right, he body positioned just so that it looked like he was getting ready for a mean right swing of his arm.

Izuku gave a quick shout as he rushed forward, fist primed as he got ready to swing in... but Togata didn't bite the bait. Quite the contrary, it seemed like he already knew what Izuku was doing and his eyes and his body moved accordingly. Izuku gritted his teeth as he pushed on forward desperately and, by some miracle, it seemed like his lack of hesitation surprised Togata. Surprised him just long enough for Izuku to slip a hit in between his guard, right into his stomach! Izuku smiled to himself, exuberant that he'd landed a hit... up until Togata just blinked and looks him right in the eye, that even smile still on his face.

"Hey, nice punch! I wasn't sure if you'd land that hit, so that was pretty good!"

He hadn't felt it at all. Izuku realized that as he pulled his fist back and forced One For All into his shoulders and upper body. His Aura had tanked the entirety of the hit, Izuku hadn't even left a mark on him, he bet. With a quick shout he used One For All to speed up the movements of his upper body, sending a flurry of punches Togata's way in an attempt to just completely overwhelm him. The effort, it seemed, was all for naught as Togata easily batted away each hit, his gaze still locked on Izuku's body's movements as it followed them rather easily. Izuku eventually switched One For All's focused into his legs as he immediately turned to trying to hit him with one of two kicks though, again, he just batted them away with a practiced ease that seemed to come second nature to him.

With another yell Izuku switched again, throwing another flurry of punches only to, again, come up short as he batted each hit away.

"Mr. Togata!" Izuku heard Juu Atama shout as the man placed his left hand onto his hip. "Go ahead and give it a slow start. See how his defenses are. Try not to slip right in, I want to see how well he can defend." Izuku swallowed a lump in his throat as he realized Togata was about to go on the offense.

The entire rhythm of the fight changed once Togata began attacking. What was Izuku just throwing himself at him, constantly, as a means of trying to get him to fold or for his guard to be 'legitimately' broken so that he could land a hit turned into a back and forth between the two of them... though the back and forth is clearly more heavily stacked in Togata's favor. Especially with how nonplussed he was in his assault. He wasn't trying anything fancy, or trying to fool Izuku, he's just throwing punches at the younger man and testing his defenses. The sad thing was that, even that was enough to slip through the holes in Izuku's defenses; amid the first two punches, one caught Izuku solidly in the chest as he failed to turn his arms fast enough to catch the punch in his grip. It caught him in the chest 'hard' nearly knocking the wind out of Izuku for the force that it was bringing. One punch hurt about as much as one of Kacchan's explosions or a shotgun blast from Ember Celica.

And he was supposed to be holding back.

Upperclassmen really were just on another level.

Izuku winced slightly as he nearly stumbled back, but managed to keep his footing. Izuku went back in for an assault himself, doing his best to just try and land a hit on him... two of the punches went wide and missed wildly and the one that was aimed straight for him was just tossed to the side like it was nothing. Following that was another couple blows from him and, he was proud to say, neither ended up hitting Izuku. Sure, Izuku ended up having to summon forth his Aura in order to force himself out of the way of one of Togata's blows but it sure as heck beat actually taking the hit to the chest. What was more important is the fact that, thanks to his successful parry, Izuku had a grip on him, a grip he'd do his best to try to turn into a firm toss.

One that he broke quickly just by slamming a fist into Izuku's hand, forcing him to let go, while slapping Izuku's other hand way. Izuku grit his teeth; he didn't figure it'd be that easy, but he had to try. With that out of the way he readied his next two punches. For a moment, Izuku's eyes went wide in panic as he realized that one of his blows had managed to find a slip up in Izuku's defenses, an opening he hadn't even been aware of. Even as Izuku successfully slap one blow away, Izuku was certain this next one is going to hit him...

But he hesitated, just long enough for Izuku to gain his bearings. There was no mistaking the smile on his face as still deeply kind as he dodged out of the way of his punch; he wasn't trying to insult Izuku. His instructions were to let Izuku show his stuff and, well, if he took an advantage of an opening like that... it could've very well ended the match.

On the one hand Izuku was grateful... but on the other, he was also deeply frustrated. In the end he went for an arm lock following yet another successful grab with his Judo and for a moment, for a 'brief' moment he thought he'd got it. Izuku's grip was firm, he held is solidifying and Izuku thought he had him right where Izuku wanted him... up until Izuku felt the side of a fist slam right into his armpit. The blow, while not heavy enough to actually hurt Izuku, was enough to loosen his grip up enough so that he could slip out of Izuku's hold and even as Izuku attempted to put him in another he just slapped Izuku's hands away.

All of which ended up leaving Izuku more than a little wide open. In fairness to Izuku, he was on point with his Judo as he grabbed at his hand again and pulled it away from his torso, getting ready for another attempt at tossing him or taking him for a ride. Still, that was somewhat dampened as, so focused he was on his next move, Izuku failed to notice his second punch as it crashed into his gut, driving the air from his lungs again.

Izuku couldn't take another hit like that... and it seemed like everyone was deeply aware of that. The students all seem about ready to get up and walk away from the fight; he'd given it his best shot, in their eyes, but no one expected Izuku to win. Not many looked terribly impressed and others just shrugged, a vague whisper of 'well he tried, and it 'is' Mirio' hushed in the crowd. Even Juu Atama seemed about ready to call the fight, though he was being far more reserved in showing or voicing any opinion.

If he didn't do something now, then that really was it. The end of the fight. He wouldn't have proven anything, his only hit having been a lucky slip past Togata's guard that amounted to 'nothing' while just a couple of his punches ended up knocking the air out of Izuku both times. Was that really how he was going to go down? Was this going to be all of his attempts to show that he was ready for Professor Atama's training?

...

'No.'

'You clench your butt cheeks and grind your teeth as you reach deep down into yourself again, reaching for that little part of One For All that's within your power to control…'

'And you **pull.'**

Izuku's muscles ached... no, more than that, they were screaming at Izuku. As if they were being pulled to the very limits of their elasticity and then pulled even further beyond that. Izuku's bones groaned under the pressure he was putting them under, feeling like they were going to buckle at any second. His skin burned, Izuku felt like he was practically on fire despite all the sweat trickling down his skin as his body tried, in vain, to cool himself down. All the while he felt like his Soul itself was being overtaxed, as if in response to all this pain he was feeling that his Aura was spreading itself thin just so that he didn't end up breaking completely, just so that his body didn't fall completely apart.

Yet...

Yet Izuku felt **strong**.

Izuku felt strong whenever he'd pulled on One For All before, he'd felt its power coursing through him in its short bursts... but that time just 'felt' different. He couldn't put a finger on it, but the power running through him consistently, constantly, it felt so different from what he'd been used to. Izuku couldn't see himself in Togata's eyes... but as his arms reached out to try and grasp him firmly to pull him into a throw, Izuku could see his arms peeking out from his sleeves and his hands peeking out from underneath his bandages.

He was glowing gold. Not a trace of red to be found.

But Izuku couldn't focus on that right now; he literally could not. His mind right was dedicated to two things. Commanding his Aura to hold his body together as it cried out in pain... and trying to lay one good hit on Togata before Juu Atama called this fight.

Nothing else mattered.

Izuku ground his teeth again as Togata effectively forced himself out of the younger man's grip, ensuring that Izuku couldn't toss him around like a rag doll. Izuku's fists tightened as he got ready for his counter assault, Izuku's body already coiling into the practiced motions he practiced from books for so many years now. Izuku momentarily distracted his Aura as he pulled on it to boost his legs, allowing Izuku to duck out of the way of a punch even as he slapped another away. It was a close call, but Izuku managed it. With a roar he immediately went on the offensive, trying to just do 'SOMETHING' to Togata before the fight ended. Izuku brought his arm back into a clothesline like position, trying to strike him by his upper shoulders to send him head over ass and onto the ground. He ducked just underneath it, but Izuku didn't stop, he turned to face Togata as Izuku send a quick flurry of hits his way. Yet, again, he batted them away with a practiced ease before sending two more punches Izuku's way. Izuku dodged out of the way of one, it just barely grazing his cheek... but the other hit him, square in the gut...

But it wasn't as hard as the others. Not by a long shot. Izuku felt the impact, sure, and the pressure caused him to gasp, absolutely, but... it was not the same as the others. Looking at Togata... Izuku could see that although his smile was still beaming reassuringly at him, that there's a slight concern in his eyes...

What state must he had looked to be in?

"That's enough, spar's over."

Those four words... it's as if they let the air out of Izuku immediately. As soon as Juu Atama said those words and his battle trance broke, One For All left him... and he practically 'collapsed' onto the ground. His only saving grace from landing flat on his back was Togata as he reached up to catch him, keeping him on his feet as he took deep, gasping breaths.

'Holy woah...' everything 'hurt'. From his skin right down to his bones he 'hurt'. It wasn't as bad as when he used One For All at 100%, by any means, but still, it felt like he'd worked out literally every last inch of his body and now it was all screaming, crying out, as if asking, 'What the Hell was that? Why did you put us through that?'

"Easy there kid, just take some breaths, you're fine." Juu Atama spoke calmly to Izuku as the younger man took his breaths, the man turning to the rest of the class as he waved them off. "Nothing to see here boys and girls, time for you all to get back to your workouts. You've slacked off more than enough." The other students seemed to snap to attention as they all immediately stood up and made their way back to various areas of the training arena, many sporting a variety of sheepish expressions as they did so. "Same goes for you Mr. Togata, I'll be speaking to Mr. Midoriya here on his own." Togata just nodded in understanding as he left him to Juu's grip, the professor making sure that Izuku wasn't about to fall on the floor. The young man risked a glance back before walking off to somewhere in the arena, leaving him with just the professor.

"... Hmmm... let's start with the bad news, shall we?" Izuku looked over at him, taking a moment to try to gain his bearings before he just nodded. "... You're pretty new to all this, aren't you kid?" Izuku just winced slightly at his tone; up until now he had always been quite friendly and upbeat, but here and now, Izuku heard a bit more of the Huntsman in Juu Atama. He just nodded, figuring that he wasn't going to be able to disguise that face. "I figure. You're right about your skill level; you reflect the quality of someone who's mostly taught themselves over the past few years. You've got some basics but... well, they're sloppy. Books and videos and guides on the CCT don't have a thing on actual teaching, I think you'll find." Izuku figured as much but it was the best he could've done...

Perhaps it was that thought that ended up getting him ready for what Juu had to say next. "It's not just that you're lacking in any kind of formal training either. You're new in all kinds of ways... that was your Semblance, right? That glow that made your body go faster, act quicker?" Izuku nodded again as he finally managed to catch his breath.

"Y-Yeah... that's... that's my Semblance." Juu Atama nodded as he gave a small frown.

"Gave me a bit of a fright there kid. You looked like you were about ready to pop like a balloon with all that power you were pulling into you." He didn't know the half of it. "A good Semblance, mind, but still, one that it seems like you don't quite got a firm grasp on." Juu Atama scratched his cheek as he looked around. "Especially compared to these kids; while their Semblances will continue to grow and evolve, most of them have the art of using theirs down pat. Your display was impressive young man... but it was also pretty unnervin'." With that, Juu Atama sighed as he looked down at Izuku. "Gonna have to say no dice son. You're too green right now; too green with the martial arts, too green with your Semblance. My training regimen, heck, these kids, would break you in half. Even when you were threatenin' to pop yourself like a balloon you weren't a match for Togata... and I told him to take it easy on you." Izuku just nodded again as Juu Atama crossed his arms. "I'm sorry to say it like that, but I feel like I gotta be honest. You're not quite ready for this, young man."

"I-I understand..." Almost as if he'd flipped a switch, Juu Atama's expression and demeanor changed, going back to his more positive, more cutesy attitude.

"But young man that's just the negatives? The positives? Hoo-boy, you're brimmin' with potential! A green little bean sprout like yourself being able to pull that much power sends all the right kinds of signals for your future potential." Izuku couldn't help but blush at Juu Atama's praise, raising a hand to scratch his cheek as he was slapped on the back, which threatened to send him falling as he did so. "For someone whose self-taught, you're not too bad either. I've seen a lot worse 1st Years try to strut their stuff into my Arena and get me to train them because they thought that watching a few vids or reading a few books got them ready. You've got yourself a real mind for this if you've picked up what you have. You just need a little time to let that potential be polished. There's no shame in shooting for the stars kid, heck, I encourage it, but the fundamentals are called the fundamentals for a reason. You need a good foundation before you start trying to pick up the sorts of things I'd be teaching you. You're too rough right now but... with the right amount of polish, I'd say you'd take to this like a fish to water. Come by in your Second Year and I'm sure I'll have a spot open for you then." Juu Atama adopted the pose of an excited young school girl for a moment, again slightly disturbing Izuku and other guys out while girls mutter about it being 'cute'.

"Thanks sir... but, well, you said yourself that you were the best... so who do I..."

"Beacon's got a lot more resources than just me young man. It won't be as specialized, but it'll be good for your level. Just keep at it for now; no need to rush. Trust me, you've got most of a year before Beacon'll send you out on your first mission." Izuku nodded slightly, still feeling quite disappointed, as Juu Atama patted him on the shoulder. "Sorry about this young man; I know this isn't the sort of stuff people your age like to hear but, well, I have to be responsible for my students as well."

Izuku was disappointed but... well, he readily understood Juu's point. It wasn't like he was wrong... it was just a shame that Izuku hadn't managed to convince him.

"No, I get it. It's like you said, your time's precious and you can't exactly spend it polishing my fundamentals... I understand, sir."

"Very good young man. Don't fret; just keep at it and soon this'll just be another moment in your growth as a Huntsman you'll be able to look back on and smile about."

It really didn't feel like that was true but, for the moment, Izuku just nodded his head as he gathered his stuff up and exited Juu's arena.

Ah well, at least the fight was fun.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

As Izuku walked down the halls of the school, he couldn't help but still feel a little put out. He tried his best and, for once, it hadn't been quite enough to get to where he wanted to be... to where he needed to be. Well... maybe 'needed' was a strong word but... well, training under Juu Atama would've helped immensely in pushing his progress along, he thought. He knew there was no use in dwelling on it but... well, it's hard not to be disappointed when being met with failure. It reminded Izuku of his first spar, the one against Owari. Even if he had learned from it, it didn't change the fact that he'd wasted an opportunity, or did something that sure as Heck felt like it. Izuku sighed as he scratched the back of his head... yeah, not much had come of all that.

"Shame about that. You did pretty well, if you ask me."

Izuku blinked slightly, unaware that someone had been so near him this entire time, as he turned to look behind him... only to find no one there. He blinked in confusion as he looked around, trying to find the source of the voice that had just spoken to him... it was very familiar too. After all, he'd just heard it minutes ago. It sounded just like-

"Over here!" Izuku flinched a bit as he turned his head to the source of the voice and...

Face.

Face in the wall.

"... Huh?"

"I said, it was a shame about Professor Atama's judgment. I thought you did well, considering the gap in our skills." The face in the wall, one belonging to that Togata guy, said to Izuku again.

He'd seen a lot of strange things in his time here at Beacon. Sure, some were weirder than others; seeing Ruby be able to instantly move locations as if she were teleporting was a sight to behold, Nora's beastly strength when augmented by lightning scared Izuku half to death and the sight of his own power destroying an Elder Grimm with 'one punch' had knocked him for a loop. Beacon had been a parade of surprises, one after the other, as Izuku got used to this brave new world of being a Huntsman, a Hero.

However, that before him right now, seeing Togata's head jutting out of the wall... that was a new level of weird that he 'definitely' hadn't been prepared for. So he, Izuku Midoriya, did the one thing that most immediately came to mind.

"AAAAAAH!"

He practically jumped a foot in the air in surprise as he finally took in the fact that, yes, that was Togata's face just randomly sticking out of a wall looking at him. Izuku immediately fell on his ass as he came back down to the ground, a small laugh escaping Togata's lips as he nodded from his position in the wall.

"Yeah, that tends to be people's first reaction. Sorry about that but I was just in such a rush to catch up with you that I decided to skip the wall entirely. One moment." Izuku saw Togata's face focus for a moment and, before he knew it, he phased straight through the wall and, toward the end, a small 'pop' was heard as he stepped out and got a firm footing on the floor. "Oh nice I put on the right clothes this time too, I'm on a roll today..." Izuku heard him whisper to himself before he turned to help him up off the floor, offering his hand to Izuku. "Nice to see you again. We didn't get the chance to fully introduce ourselves while in Professor Atama's arena so allow me to start us off; the name's Mirio Togata, Third Year here at Beacon, pleased to meet you!"

There was a momentary pause in Izuku's thoughts as he considered grabbing Mirio's offered hand. The fact that he just phased through a wall kind of made him worried for a second, as if his own hand might just phase straight through his in the middle of trying to get up on your feet. Still, Mirio hadn't seemed like a bad guy in the arena and he was being polite. So, shaking off his surprise, he grabbed Mirio's hand and pulled himself up to his feet.

"Yeah, it's good to meet you too Mirio... again." Izuku sheepishly scratched the back of his head as Mirio just nodded, a small smile growing on his face as Mirio's own beaming grin gave him some small comfort. "I guess you know my last name, but my name is-"

"Izuku Midoriya, right?" Izuku blinked in surprise as Mirio caught his name before he even say it, a numb nod of his head being the answer as Mirio just nodded and brought his hand to his chin in a rough pose. "I thought so! First year kid with the last name Midoriya, seemed like a bit of a coincidence for you to not be the same person! It's actually really nice to meet you, I appreciate what you've done!"

Oh woah, a Third Year was thanking Izuku for... for...

"What I've done...?" Izuku tilted his head as Mirio just laughed.

"Well, you're the guy who figured out who was blowing up the restrooms across school, right?"

Oh! That!

"Well I had some help but yeah, that was mostly my team that figured that out, yeah." Mirio just nodded as he gave Izuku a quick thumbs up.

"Yeah, I figured. Thanks for that! It was getting a little bothersome having to go out of our way to actually get to some of these places. I had considered trying to figure out what was going on myself... but, well..." Izuku actually saw a sheepish look appear on Mirio's face as the young man gave a slightly awkward laugh. "Let's just say that anything I could've done to figure out what was going on wouldn't have been very... 'fun'." Thinking about what he just did, Izuku could imagine. "But hey, thanks to you and your team I didn't have to do any of that, so thanks!" Izuku just nodded and returned his grin.

"Yeah sure no problem. A-" Friend, acquaintance, bully, "-guy I know was being set up for them so it just seemed like the right thing to do to look into it and try to figure out what was actually going on." Mirio's eyes took a brighter shine at that.

"I'd heard that some First Year was rumored to be behind it, but I didn't think too much of it. You'd be surprised what kind of gossip can pass through Beacon." Mirio offered an amused expression. "Still, going up to bat for someone to prove their innocence, that's some fine Huntsman-ing there Izuku!" Izuku wasn't entirely sure if 'Huntsman-ing' was actually a word but the compliment wasn't lost on him.

"T-Thanks! I really appreciate that!" Izuku looked off to the side before turning his gaze back to Mirio. "So you just wanted to say thanks or..."

"Well not just that. It came to mind when I remembered your last name but that was just kind of a cool coincidence." It was a cool coincidence for him to meet Izuku based off his last name. Was he dreaming? Was this a dream? "But like I started off with, I also wanted to apologize for your rough time with Professor Atama." Izuku nodded slightly as he looked down and off to the side, scratching at the back of his head.

"Yeah well... he wasn't wrong. I am pretty unskilled, and I really don't understand a lot about martial arts... his judgment wasn't wrong, I probably would've had a really rough time as part of his training."

"Oh yeah, it wasn't wrong, you're definitely really rough around the edges." It's weird. The way he said it with that upbeat tone and smile made it hard to feel too put out by it but, at the same time, it was a really blunt assessment of the situation when he might've otherwise expected someone to soft ball it. Mirio was an odd guy, he supposed.

"Y-Yeah, thanks for being honest..." Izuku muttered Mirio just nodded vigorously.

"No problem! Anyway, he wasn't wrong about his assessment but like I said, I still thought you did well given the circumstances. I'm two years ahead of you after all and you manages to push away a lot of my punches and even managed to slip one in! That isn't exactly an easy feat!" Izuku couldn't help but get tossed up in his excitement and cheer as he spoke. In a distant way it actually reminded Izuku of Toshinori and how his own smile and cheer made him feel whenever he was scared or nervous. "Yeah you probably would have had a really rough time in training but, hey, you have boat loads of potential if you ask me. Like with that Semblance of yours!" Izuku nodded slightly; he had used One For All quite a bit in that fight in order to try to do his best to impress, it hadn't been a surprise that he'd taken notice.

"What is it anyway? I've seen a lot of Semblances in my time here so if I had to guess it looks like some kind of power boosting Semblance? Like, makes you stronger and faster and all that good stuff... though I guess it looked like it did a little more for you than just that!" Hmm, no one really ever 'asked' Izuku about what One For All was before. Most of his friends seemed to accept it as just some kind of power boosting Semblance that got super ridiculous. It was really the first time he'd been directly asked about 'what' his Semblance did.

"Uuuh, yeah, it's a power... boosting Semblance." He nearly tripped up and said 'stacking', having gotten so used to referring to One For All in such a way in his head. It'd be more difficult to explain exactly 'how' his Semblance stacked power, and how Izuku knew it did, given his supposedly brief exposure to it, so it was probably better to just go with a standard power Semblance. "I get stronger, faster or hardier when I use it... but I'm not very good at controlling it yet..." That was an understatement Izuku was pretty sure, but still, it was the truth nonetheless.

"Oh yeah, I could tell that much. Not for nothing but you looked like you were fit to burst with all that power you were sending my way toward the end there. Pretty neat, don't get me wrong, but a bit spooky." Izuku nodded understandingly at Mirio's point and, despite the way he described Izuku's Semblance, the young man still had a rather carefree smile on his face. "Still, that's a pretty knock-out Semblance regardless. You get a little bit of control over it and I'm sure you'll go places! That's how it ended up working out for me." Izuku smiled slightly as he looked back to the wall.

"I assume you're talking about how you phased through the wall, right?" Mirio nodded enthusiastically as he placed his hands, proudly, on his hips.

"Sure am! That was my Semblance 'Permeation', and yeah, it allows me to 'phase' through material, though that's just a simplified version of it." Mirio laughed a little as he shook his head. "Trust me, if I had to sit down and explain the long version we'd be here all day. Suffice it to say... hmmm... I guess it's kind of like a video game where I can glitch through solid material and then 'glitch' myself back out when I turn off my Semblance... though if I'm halfway through something solid like that wall I can control what parts of my body I'm making able to phase through and... no, no, like I said, if I got into the long version, we'd be sitting here all day, and I have to assume that we've both got more to do with our times as students than sit around and listen to me ramble." The good natured way Mirio laughed himself off caused Izuku to chuckle as well.

"Well if it's any consolation, even with what little you've said, it sounds like a really awesome Semblance Mirio. Sounds like it has a lot more going for it than my own." Mirio shrugged slightly as he put his hands behind his head.

"Eh, maybe, but just cause it's more complicated doesn't make it more awesome. In fact, how complicated my Semblance was made me a bit of a poor student way back in the day. It was only when I got some help that I managed to get to where I am with it." Izuku nodded understandingly; if it hadn't been for Professor Goodwitch helping with his wounds while training with One For All, all the work that he got through thanks to Pyrrha helping him with training his Semblance and Toshinori's physical training that he managed to get as far as he had. Izuku could relate to needing help to improve. "So I have to imagine that you'll do well if you master yours. It might be a basic power boosting Semblance, but I could think of 'a lot' of things to do one that was that powerful." Izuku nodded; his own imagination had often gone off the rails when he considered what he could possibly do with One For All.

"Yeah... I just wish I didn't have so much to work on. Between my combat skills, studying, my Team, my Aura, my Semblance, my friends... it's a lot to take in." Izuku said with a slight bit of exhaustion tingeing his voice as Mirio just nodded in understanding.

"Yeah, I feel ya. First Year is always the hardest in Beacon; you're still struggling to try to figure out exactly what you're doing and what you should be improving in." Mirio's smile stayed on his face as he brought his hand to his chin, rubbing it slightly as he smiled. "But that's why you've got the teachers here and the older years; we've all got a little experience coming in here and so we can share a bit of that." Izuku blinked a bit as Mirio said this, his jaw dropping slightly.

"Wait, does this mean-"

"Anyway!" Mirio made a big show of clapping his hands together, the young man trying his best to come off as nonchalant as possible as he just kept up that smile of his. "I should get back to Professor Atama's class; I just said I was taking a quick run across the school to get to one of the co-ed bathrooms, so he'd 'probably' expect me back pretty soon." Mirio slapped him on the back slightly, threatening to send Izuku toppling over head over heel as he nodded at his underclassman. "It was really nice meeting you Izuku Midoriya. I've got a mission coming up with my team but, hey, maybe sometime after that we can hang out." Izuku blinked confusedly as Mirio just nodded and, turning on his heels, and immediately phased through a nearby wall.

...

'Uh, did I just become acquaintances with a Third Year?'


	44. The Quiet Ones

Emerald Gust in hand, Izuku walked his way through the halls of Beacon on his way to the shooting range. Izuku whistled slightly as he went, slipping his gauntlets on, after having already done so for his boots back in the locker room, as he made his merry way to the range. He had intended to use the time in order to practice with his Shotguns, his skill with the weapons having gotten somewhat stagnant given 'everything else' going on in his life and the practical avalanche of things he'd needed to train in order to get his career as a Huntsman going. Still, he'd finally managed to crack out a little time and now he was going to use that time to-

 ***BANG BANG BANG***

-wonder who was using the shooting range right now? Izuku slowed his step as he approached the shooting range, peeking his head in through the entrance as he tilted it to the side. To his surprise he saw Ren in there, the young man quickly reloading his two pistols before aiming at various moving targets that skimmed across the shooting range's gallery. Izuku had to admit, watching him take several shots, that he was not half bad; scoring several hits to the head on various Grimm cutouts as he fired his pistols about as quick as he could. Again Izuku watched as he emptied and reloads clips with a practiced grace as he continued firing. After having spent time with Ren, and after having met Shoto, Izuku could safely say he understood why the partner pair got along so well; they really were kind of scarily synchronized with each other as far as their personalities are concerned. They were focused, clearly intelligent, taking a while to think and generally communicate by not communicating, using expressions or a... 'feeling' they gave off in order to get a point across.

That was the best way Izuku could put it, anyway.

Having met both boys, Izuku'd learned that despite their rough exterior, they were both pretty good guys... admittedly Shoto still seemed much rougher than Ren, judging by his interactions with the two of them, but the point still remained.

The hinges of the door creaked as Izuku leaned on it a little bit more, causing him to jump a bit as Ren turned to see who was coming in. Upon spotting Izuku Ren's magenta eyes just relaxed slightly, losing the hard focus of the young man who was firing upon Grimm targets and returning to Ren's usual, even stare.

"Ah, Izuku. Good to see you again. Have you been well this past week?" Izuku nodded as he stepped out from behind the door, effectively busted.

"Yeah, yeah. Been getting a little more attention than before thanks to us solving the bathroom fiasco but, well, you know." Ren just offered Izuku a nod of affirmation as he, slowly, changed out the clips in his pistols. Ren not having added much, Izuku found himself having to drive the conversation.

"Speaking of, how is your team doing?" Ren actually smiled a little bit as he turned on, giving Izuku an appreciative look.

"Quite well, actually. Katsuki is, of course, still annoyed at your interjection but he hasn't been grumbling much recently... except for the detention he earned by actually blowing up a toilet, though that's been more grumbling at himself for making such a mistake. It's progress at Katsuki's rate, anyway." Ren aimed at a few targets flying across the shooting range. "More than that though is that Ruby and Shoto were quite relieved, though Ruby quite more so. I don't think she would've liked having her partner suspected of doing something he didn't do, while Shoto's just glad that our team and Katsuki won't suffer in our esteem with our classmates." Izuku nodded; it was all put out logically and soundly and, from Ren's way of putting it, it really was all pretty much a win. "So I have to thank you again Izuku, your aid helped clear Katsuki's name."

Now that caused Izuku to blush and sheepishly shake his head.

"Oh no, you don't need to thank me! Heck, it was your abilities that let us catch Cardin red-handed! If it wasn't for you, who knows if we would've been able to convince Ozpin." Ren shrugged at that as he took several shots.

"I'm not going to sit here and pretend that isn't true. However, even without my own video evidence, you built a pretty strong case Izuku and argued it well. I might have given you a tool but, if you ask me, you put it to better use than I may have." The two of them descended into a bit of silence after that; Ren because he had nothing more to say and Izuku just because he felt so embarrassed at that esteem Ren give him. Eventually he walked up to watch Ren take some shots with his pistols and... well, Izuku couldn't help but feel an old curiosity creep up on Izuku.

Ren's guns. Now, he'd seen the effects that his own shotguns had on Grim when aimed at their core... it wasn't much. A punch to the head followed up by a shotgun might've been good but, well, Izuku wasn't quite skilled enough to nail those consistently enough by his reckoning. Still, a shotgun was a shotgun and it did a lot... or at least, it would, theoretically, do comparatively more than a pair of pistols.

In all honesty, Izuku couldn't remember a single Hunter who'd ever just used plain old pistols before. So seeing Ren's weapons, even if they had daggers attached and could serve that purpose as well, always seemed a little odd to him, something he'd wanted to ask about... he'd just never really felt like he'd known the guy well enough to ask something like that. Besides, how would Izuku even go about brokering that subject out of the blue?

"Say, Ren?" The young, magenta eyed man turned to face Izuku as he spoke up. Izuku scratched at his chin slightly as he took a quick second to put his thoughts in order before he just barreled on into the conversation. "I've been wondering; do you use a kind of special ammunition for your pistols? I've been trying to tackle Grimm with Emerald Gust, but the shotguns just don't seem to do much beyond annoying them, especially the big ones. I'd imagine small caliber bullets would struggle too, but you seem to manage just fine, so... yeah, I thought they might be jacketed or hardened or the like." Ren took a moment to consider Izuku's question before nodding.

"Part of it is just foreknowledge: my father actually used a bow and arrow when he hunted Grimm which, you can imagine, made for an even more difficult weapon to use against them. However, my father's accuracy with the weapon was uncanny and so he passed on the knowledge that firing on a Grimm's head was a good go around for this particular issue. Of course, one has to be accurate enough with it and there's always the chance that the Grimm might avoid fire but... well, my father was rather quick with a bow." Ren said all of this steadily, as he produced his two handguns. "Similarly, StormFlower would be quite... ineffective if I were taking shots at a Grimm's gut, true, but with proper aim it can tear through their heads just fine."

"I actually don't use special ammunition... Nora and I... well, let's just say that we didn't exactly have a lot of wide access and leave it at that." Ren's eyes quirked to the side as he placed a hand on his chin. "Although, now that I'm teammates with Ruby, Shoto and Katsuki, perhaps that wouldn't be a bad thing to look into." Izuku looked at him, somewhat surprised, as he tilted his head to the side.

"Wait, so if that's the case then you've just been using normal bullets up to this point?" Ren nodded in confirmation, causing Izuku to flinch a bit. "I mean, I understand you might not have had access, but... well, at some point you had to get your hands on your weapon, right? Why choose something like StormFlower instead of something with a bit more punch?" Ren smiled a bit as he twirled his guns around slightly.

"Well, when you're traveling on the road and you aren't 'quite' as strong as Nora... it helps to pack light. StormFlower here, before the redesigns, was a pretty simple weapon: a pistol with a knife's edge guard. They seemed like the practical choice for me... Magnhild didn't used to be what it is now. Used to be it was just a giant hammer. When we were finally in a position to be considered for Hunters Academies is when they took the shape you see today." Ren looked up at Izuku as he closed his eyes. "I have to imagine Nora's told you about my Semblance, yes?" Izuku nodded, allowing Ren to continue. "Then it can't be hard to imagine that the Grimm, growing up, weren't much of a problem for Nora and I. Even if they got close, by the time Nora really got going, she was able to handle most of the small ones that snuck up on us."

"Okay, but I don't really see why-"

"So, I didn't pick pistols as my weapon because I thought I'd use them to deal with Grimm."

...

Oh. Nora and Ren had been pretty vague about their past, though Izuku and the others had gotten a very 'general' picture. That seemed to be all Ren was ready to say in specific as he turned back to the firing range.

"When we got old enough, I was so skilled with these pistols that it seemed like a waste to drop everything and start all over again. So I just took my skill with the weapon, took after my father's example, and just perfected my use of it. With my Semblance it's pretty easy for me to skirt around a fight, or even distract a Grimm I'm right in the middle of fighting, so that I can position myself just right and either stab it somewhere it'll feel it... or-" Ren cut himself off as he took a shot at one of the moving targets and, no surprise, landed a head shot. Izuku just nodded, getting what Ren meant. He figured that would be that... but then Ren chuckled.

"Though to be honest, I was tempted way back when to pick up the bow and arrow instead during my time training to be a Hunter. It's terribly outdated and no one's 'really' interested in doing dangerous stuff like carving Dust into arrowheads, but... well, I guess you could say I was a might bit attached to the idea." Izuku watched as Ren turned to look back at Izuku and Emerald Gust.

"I have to imagine you're more than familiar with sentimentality when it comes to picking something, right?" Izuku blushed slightly as he scratched at the back of his head, Ren just turning back to the firing range. "Still, there are times where I do wonder about if I should've gone ahead with it. As outdated as the bow and arrow are, I've seen men like my father make it work. Perhaps if I'd put in the time and effort, I could've seen it rise to similar effect." Ren took another few shots and scored several more core hits before he got to reloading his pistols.

"What do you think Izuku?" Izuku tilted his head, amazed that he was asking something like- "I'm not set to change my mind. I'm far too far along now and, besides, I know the decision I made was the right one. Bows and arrows have given ways to guns and bullets for a reason. I'm just curious as to what your state of mind would've been." Ah, that made much more sense.

Izuku took a long moment to think it over, placing his hand on his chin and stroking it as he allowed his thoughts on the matter to coalesce. Once they had, Izuku looked up to the magenta eyed young man and give a slight nod.

"Personally speaking, I think you made the right choice Ren. The bow's too outdated to be an effective weapon, especially in a day and age where Dust Rounds are common place, pack a lot more, and a lot more diverse, punch and are more intimidating to other people. Sure, StormFlower might not have that old-fashion sort of charm that a bow has, nor might it be really sentimental, but it's practical and has its own sort of flair." Izuku saw Ren nod in agreement as he twirled StormFlower around a few times, holstering the guns as he did so. It was a pretty neat trick.

"Well I'm glad you agree Izuku... though I will admit to being somewhat surprised." Izuku blinked as Ren nodded towards Emerald Gust. "Your own weapons... well, considering your history, they don't seem all that practical for someone who thought he didn't have Aura. I don't mean to make assumptions either, but all things considered..." Izuku saw that Ren was grasping for a polite way to put it, but Izuku smiled as he figured out what Ren meant.

"Whatever you're thinking, you're probably right. I'm 'very' sure that if I were in your place I wouldn't have made the practical decision... because I didn't. Like you said, for someone who figures themselves Broken, Emerald Gust isn't practical in the slightest. It's not visually impressive, it's just a pair of gauntlets and boots that don't even have the stylish flair of Yang's bracelets, it isn't good against anything but the smallest Grimm, unlike Crescent Rose and Miló and it never 'could' have taken my Semblance into account because I didn't have it back then... heck, I've had to modify it just so that I didn't end up destroying it when I used my Semblance."

"That being said... I wouldn't trade it away now either, even if something could be better. Emerald Gust is 'mine'... it's served me faithfully while I was struggling through Combat School and... well, I designed it to copy Toshinori... and everything he embodies. Throwing yourself into the fray in order to save innocent people... that's my ideal image of a Huntsman." Izuku looked up to Ren, a slightly melancholic smile on his face. "In your place? I'd have probably picked the bow. It sounds like you admired your father's skill as a Huntsman a lot... probably differently to how I admire Toshinori, given he's your father, but... well, all things staying the same, I think that means I definitely would've picked up the bow. The wrong choice? For sure... but even now, with Emerald Gust, I don't regret it, so I probably wouldn't in your case either."

Ren nodded as Izuku spoke, the young man just taking in what was said bit by bit. Eventually, cracking a smile. "It's big of you to admit that your choice might've been wrong in a practical sense Izuku... but I do appreciate what you mean. Who knows, if I had the means and opportunity before coming to Beacon... well, who knows. Nora might've tried to push me toward it back in the day." Izuku nodded at that. It wouldn't have even been about Nora thinking bows were necessarily cool... after these weeks around her, he had become aware that Nora had a certain sense for people's emotions. She might've just pushed Ren towards the bow because she'd felt how much the idea meant to him.

"Heck, she probably would if she thought you thought much about it." Ren chuckled at that, shaking his head.

"I don't think about it too much... so if you wouldn't bring that up, I'd appreciate it." Izuku gave a nod: no point in siccing Nora on Ren over it if the young man felt so secure in his decision. "At any rate, speaking of Nora, this is a pretty opportune time for us to hang out, given that it's the weekend and all. I'll talk to you later Izuku; it's good to actually have a conversation with you." Izuku nodded in agreement, feeling much the same way about conversing with Ren, as the young man walked past Izuku and left the gun range. Alright, now that Ren's gone Izuku could... cou...

'Huh... why did I come here in the first place?' he'd gotten so wrapped up in his conversation with Ren that he honestly completely forgotten. Huh, that was kind of unlike him. Well if he couldn't remember why he came here, maybe he could do something else that he had in mind? Ren was right; it is the weekend, after all. So with a shrug Izuku turned on his heels and walk out of the shooting range, having forgotten to train with Emerald Gust.

* * *

"Mr. Midoriya. I have to say, you're making quite the impression when it comes to timeliness. It seems like anytime my schedule opens up for us to have one of these little meetings, you're able to make an available space in your own schedule to make it happen. Most adults manage to lack that skill after years of practice and attempts at mastering it; I have to give you a small round of applause for that." Izuku couldn't help but smile and blush fiercely at Ozpin's praise. Sheepishly scratching at the back of his head, walking into his office from his elevator as he did so.

"Well... I mean, it's such a huge honor to be able to spend any amount of time with a Huntsman of your name and recognition, Headmaster Ozpin. How could I not make time for a meeting like this?" Ozpin nodded appreciatively at Izuku's answer as he waved at an open seat, a cup placed on one end of the table next to it and a cup next to his own seat. Between the two seats on the table lay out a game board; one for the game 'Go' if Izuku's memory served him right. Izuku hadn't played as much Go as he had other games, Go and Shogi having been more popular in Mistral than they were in Vale, but Izuku was always open to trying new things when it came to board games.

"As before Mr. Midoriya, feel free to ask for any beverage of your choosing. Once we have our glasses pours, we can begin with our game and with our," Ozpin chuckled as he readjusted his glasses, "-small talk, as it were." Izuku smiled a bit as well; given the past two topics Izuku and Ozpin had discussed, it barely qualified as small talk, especially with the heady things Ozpin had usually asked him about. Still, Izuku looked down at the two cups placed before him and tapped his chin, thinking about just what he was in the mood to have while he and the Headmaster played a rousing game of Go.

"Well Headmaster, I'd actually be pretty interesting in trying some coffee." Izuku saw Ozpin nod his head as he prepared to pull something out but, before he did, Izuku spoke up. "As for what kind... I dunno, I haven't really ever tried any kind of coffee before so I don't really know what would be any good. So... surprise me, I guess?"

There was a quiet moment between Izuku and Ozpin as the Headmaster of the Academy just took a long moment to look Izuku straight in the eyes. It was as if he was searching Izuku's very soul, digging deep into the very boundaries of 'who you are' in order to fully understand what was in Izuku, how strong of a person he was. Finally, Ozpin slipped his hand over toward a small button on his desk and pressed it. "Miss May?"

"Yes Headmaster Ozpin?" Miss May, the young woman who was basically Ozpin secretary at the 'front desk' at the bottom of the elevator, responded through a small intercom connected to Ozpin's desk.

"Would you be a dear and bring up the Coffee Machine from the teacher's lounge?"

... Why was he talking about this as if it were some big deal...

And why was Miss May so silent on the other end of the line? These questions went unanswered as Ozpin brought his hands in front of him and entwined his fingers, steepling them in front of his face as he just looked at Izuku dead on in the eye. Izuku was almost too afraid to say anything the entire time when, suddenly, the elevator door rang and Miss May walked into the room. In her hands is a 'very old' Mr. Coffee that, to Izuku's gaze, most definitely had seen better days. She walked up and placed it on the desk, bowing her head as she did so before going back to the elevator.

"... Mr. Midoriya. One day, perhaps sooner than we all might think, you'll be part of a select group of men whom are aware of a very special set of secrets. This? This is not one of those secrets, no... but it is a start. I am letting you in on one of Beacon's oldest living traditions. Headmaster Nezu, my mentor, had carefully crafted this machine himself way back in the day. He was more of a tea sort, of course, but he knew his beverages in general and he knew how to brew them... and this machine is the last legacy of that skill." At that point the ridiculousness of the situation had far outstripped Izuku's fear as he just blinked incredulously at Ozpin, a confused expression on his face as he watched Ozpin pour in some coffee beans and water into the machine.

"Headmaster... are we just having fun here, because you really do seem like you're taking this way too seriously. I mean... I'm just kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop here." Ozpin said nothing as he continued to work on the machine which, in the end, just caused Izuku to shake his head. "I mean, it's just an old Mr. Coffee, right? You're kind of pulling my leg here, right?" Izuku watched as the coffee filtered down into the pot and watch as Ozpin, with reverence, removed it from the machine to prepared to pour it. "I mean, how good can one cup of coffee-"

Izuku's heresy was silenced when the top of the coffee pot is flipped open. Immediately his eyes were assaulted by, what seemed to him, to be a heavenly, radiant glow of light in an experience that he could only describe as spiritual.

"My Gods... IT'S BEAUTIFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUL!"

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"Ooooooooh~..." The two pleased sighs that exited Izuku's and Ozpin's lips almost simultaneously echoed slightly in his office, the game of Go momentarily paused as the two of them took a moment to finish their respective cups of coffee before pouring new ones.

'This... this was some 'really' good coffee.' That itself seemed like an understatement but... well, Izuku honestly didn't have words for how good it was. It was just 'really' good.

"So Mr. Midoriya, have you come to a decision about your Leadership Club's finances?" Ozpin asked as he took another sip of his coffee... Izuku just kind of blinked for a moment, trying to clear the haze of wonder and amazement from his mind that had come from this coffee.

"Huh? Oh! Yeah, right, that!" Izuku coughed into his fist as he leaned forward, Ozpin chuckling at the display.

"Yes, 'that'. If I'm not mistaken you were quite curious about it and... well, this is the fifth week of your little club meeting. You are up for consideration now, if you have a report to submit." Izuku nodded as he took another sip of the coffee, a pleased grunt echoing in his throat as he quickly swished it down.

"I'm aware Headmaster, and we actually had a discussion about this in our meeting for this week, considering the timing and all." Ozpin nodded, seemingly pleased with his preparedness, as Izuku just scratched at the back of his head. "Sad to say, but I don't think the Leadership Club can very reasonably ask for funding at this time Headmaster. Most of what we do during the week involves a lot of talking and a lot of sharing of experience... stuff that comes free because it 'comes' from us. We help each other in ways that don't really require money right now. Sure, maybe sometime in the future it might be nice to have money to feed more people who join or to hire guest speakers like experienced Huntsmen to come in and talk to the group but... well, for now, we're content to just wait and work on recruiting more people before we make any big decisions about funding. We just don't need it yet."

Ozpin took a moment to smile before taking a sip of his coffee.

"I must say, I'm actually quite proud Mr. Midoriya. It's a very responsible and well-reasoned conclusion you've come to, especially considering what you may have stood to gain if you were a little more morally scrupulous. While I wasn't about to discount the possibility that your club 'could' have resource requirements that might need funding, I couldn't think of them myself at the time and, assumed, that this would be the conclusion we'd work towards. I was open to being surprised, but I was just as open to being right." Ozpin took a drink of his coffee again as he gave a satisfied sigh. "Needless to say, I'm quite happy that, coming to the same conclusion, that you and your club have taken the responsible route and declined to ask for funding. A lot of people your age wouldn't." Izuku nodded in understanding before taking a drink of coffee.

"Yeah, Coco told me about the Fashion Club. I figured if we tried to do anything untoward like that it might end up sullying the reputation of the club... I'd be a pretty poor treasurer if I allowed something like that to happen." Ozpin chuckled slightly as the older man seemed nostalgic.

"Ah the Fashion Club. I suppose Miss Adel 'would' bring that up as an example of what a club shouldn't do or shouldn't be." Izuku tilted his head to the side, curious, as Ozpin smiled a bit. "The Fashion Club was an idea that was proposed last year and failed spectacularly because it turned out to 'just' be a club to try and get clothes for free with the school's money... and Miss Adel was the Head of it."

...

"Huh?"Izuku blinked in confusion, somewhat blown back by Ozpin's amused expression. "What? I mean, I thought it was weird that Coco knew so much about it, but it really doesn't seem like something she'd do." Ozpin chuckled slightly as he took another drink of coffee.

"Indeed. Miss Adel, these days, wouldn't dream of it. Back last year though... well, this is more a matter you can discuss with the various members of Team CFVY." Izuku pouted slightly, hooked into the start of his story and now left bereft of a resolution to it. "Point is though that, during her First Year, this was... one thing that Miss Adel tried. It definitely looked bad and there were a 'lot' of Professors who didn't quite like Miss Adel's actions or her attitude. A handful even called for her expulsion; such an attempt to cheat the school wasn't fitting of being a Huntress. I have to admit, they weren't wrong; a Hunter shouldn't be going around doing those sorts of things. The reason why people are so supportive of us, why we're given such a spot in the light these days, is that people trust Hunters to do what's best for them, to be the Heroes they can depend on. Such actions... well, they run contrary to that image."

"Yet if I had expelled Miss Adel as they suggested, then the young woman who currently stands at the very Top of the current crop of Second Year Students wouldn't be here. An exemplary Huntress and a caring Team Leader would've been booted out if the people who thought so ill of her had their way. If I hadn't given her a chance to show what she was capable of, then... well, it would've not only been a loss for Miss Adel, but also a loss for the Hunter's profession." Izuku nodded his head as he got the idea that he understood what lesson that Ozpin was getting around to.

"That's why you always give people second chances, right? An opportunity to prove themselves." Ozpin took a drink of his coffee and smacked his lips for a moment before he smiled at the young man.

"An opportunity to prove themselves, yes... but second chances, well, not always." Izuku blinked in confusion as Ozpin took another drink. "There have been several people that I have let go of over the years for various reasons, Mr. Midoriya. People that I formerly trusted that I've let slip out of my circle or who had my confidence that I removed from it. Some of them had all the potential in the world, just like Miss Adel... but that hadn't been enough to keep me from pushing them out when I judged it necessary." Ozpin took another drink of his coffee as he looked down at you, a twinkle in his eye.

"Confidence is an odd thing, Mr. Midoriya. Sometimes, it can hold out even against the most brash and offensive behaviors... but other times it's easy to shatter for good. Even with all the good intentions in all the world, sometimes the actions a person takes, even a close friend, cannot be ignored or looked over. Likewise even truly terrible things must be overlooked in the name of taking a chance, in making a bet, in bargaining for something, potentially, better in the long term... it's a very complex thing, Mr. Midoriya. All wrapped up in perhaps the most difficult thing that we as humans have to manage... Trust."

"Tell me, Mr. Midoriya..." Izuku watched as Ozpin took a long, deep sip of his cup of coffee as he looked down at him. "Cardin Winchester. He's attempted to frame a childhood friend in the name of socializing ostracizing him and his team and getting him in trouble with my School, the boy's attitude toward the Faunus is... repugnant, to say the least and rather than face a punishment on his own, he dragged his own team down with him in the hopes that a punishment shared would be less of a burden on himself." Izuku nodded his head as Ozpin quirked an eyebrow at Izuku.

"Let's say that you were occupying my seat, Mr. Midoriya... what would you do with Mr. Winchester and why would you do it?"

"Honestly, Headmaster? I can't find fault with the current arrangements. Cardin has to do time for his misgivings, and repay the faculty and student body in such a way to remedy what he did. It might help educate him, make him think more clearly about the consequences of his actions, and help push his character forward towards being a better person. God knows, he's been... well, a bully towards many of the first years and even a second year." Ozpin nodded at the start of Izuku's assessment, the Headmaster calmly taking a drink of his coffee as the younger man placed a hand on his chin. "The janitorial work also lets you get an idea of how much he regrets his actions. If he does the punishment without complaint, then he acknowledges that he did wrong and must make up for it. On the other hand, if the teachers have to chase after him to get him to do his punishment, then he's likely to go back to his old ways."

"One thing I would have considered is perhaps getting him a counselor. My own... history has made me realize something: bullying doesn't just pop into existence. It can signify that the bully has a different way of thinking than everyone else or might have a serious root cause, like lack of self esteem, parental abuse or neglect, things like that. I don't profess to be an expert, far from it, I haven't exactly bullied people myself, but it's definitely something I'd think about. Knowing the cause of a problem is the best way to resolve it, after all." There was another nod from Ozpin as he looked off to the side, a concerned look on his face. "But... considering all he's done so far? I'd put him on a last warning. He's betrayed a lot of the trust people had in him at the start of the year, dragged his teammates under the bus with him, and his racism is counter-intuitive to the concept of a Hunter."

"That all said, Professor, it's all just my opinion, and my connection to Kacchan... err, Katsuki might make me biased." With that Ozpin gave a firm nod as he set his cup of coffee to the side.

"That's a fine assessment Mr. Midoriya, and your recognition of your bias is appreciated... however, I did ask for what 'you' would do given the opportunity, however biased your opinion may be. Indeed, it might prove difficult to exclude bias from your decision given how much Cardin Winchester has meddled in the affairs of your own circle of friends. If I'm not mistaken, there was an incident in the cafeteria earlier on in the semester where he attempted to bully Miss Asui, correct?"

Izuku just nodded, it wasn't like he could deny it.

"We all have our biases Mr. Midoriya, and they all drive our decisions... it isn't necessarily that we must be aware of our biases however. It's that we must be aware that we have... well, overwhelming power to exact our thoughts and opinions on others." Izuku blink slightly as Ozpin took a long sip of his cup of coffee. "What you described Mr. Midoriya are similar to my own thoughts as it concerns Mr. Winchester. While I can't be sure that there is a serious root cause behind his behavior in place of a superiority complex, most of these other assessments I'd find quite valid. It's why I put Mr. Winchester to work, after all. However; in making my decisions I must be careful that I'm not simply acting out of a desire to... exact my vision upon Mr. Winchester. That I am acting for the right reason. Because my word, my position... my power, gives me a great deal of influence over where Mr. Winchester's life will go from here.

"Mr. Midoriya... if the teachers who had called for Miss Adel's expulsion had won the day last year, Miss Adel's career as a Huntress would be over. No lesser Academy would take her in if she were expelled from Beacon for reasons broadly labeled to be 'behavioral problems' or 'criminal activities'. Because I am the Headmaster of Beacon Academy, my word carries weight far and wide as the Headmaster of the most Prestigious Hunter's Academy on Remnant. My word carries power that far outweighs most others... power that people the likes of Miss Adel and Mr. Winchester, regardless of how well off the latter's family may be, would not be able to recover from should I use that power to destroy them."

"Mr. Winchester and Miss Adel could have all the potential in the world... but that potential would be rendered moot the second I put my foot down." Ozpin took a long sip of his drink as he took a moment to sigh. "Indeed, such a perspective goes far beyond mere ideas of school and professional existence. The idea that the powerful need to be aware of their biases, need to be aware of how 'they' feel can affect their choices... it goes far beyond that. It can weigh on the very scales of whether a man lives or dies, Mr. Midoriya."

"Why do you think Toshinori doesn't kill any of the criminals or terrorists he comes across, Mr. Midoriya?" The question knocked Izuku for an honest loop as Ozpin looked down at the Go board, making his move. "It isn't that he's powerless to. Gods know, Toshinori could very well crush most men's heads like a grape if he put even 50% of his power into it. It isn't because he'd be in trouble for it: he's earned his reputation as The Symbol of Peace and Hope. If Toshinori Yagi said that 'someone' needed to die for Peace to continue, most people would believe him in a heartbeat. It isn't because the Governing Council could stop him; Gods know, they're more riding his coattails these days than they are active inhibitors on what Toshinori does or where he goes.

"No... Toshinori Yagi doesn't kill a criminal on the street, a terrorist threatening lives or a rogue Hunter because he believes, deep in his soul, that people can be brought over to his way of thinking. That however far into darkness they've gone, that if he can just shine as bright as he can, shine on as a bright Beacon on a Hill, as a Symbol of Peace, that they can find their way out. That people 'deserve' it." Ozpin took a long drink of his coffee as he sighed. "That is Toshinori's bias... and it's one that he's only been challenged on once. It isn't necessarily a bias I share either. As I've said, I've taken away my trust in men in my time for various things, Mr. Midoriya. I couldn't afford to have the same belief in people that Toshinori Yagi has. Toshinori realizes that his idea might come off as quaint... but he holds to his belief firmly. The man has never regretted allowing someone to live..." Ozpin cut off from speaking further as he took a drink of coffee, his voice calm and even as ever.

"And you. Mr. Midoriya, 9th User of One For All... are set to be the successor to that legacy. Claim to hold the same ideals as Toshinori Yagi, to be inspired by him, to wish to follow in his footsteps as a Symbol of Peace and Hope... yet you are your own man. Izuku Midoriya 'is' a different person from Toshinori Yagi... with different biases hidden underneath."

"It's easy to be magnanimous and to look at things through an even perspective when it's just someone like Mr. Winchester. Someone who, in the grand scheme of things, isn't a terrible person. Violent, racist, abusive, sure... but not to degrees that we would find monstrous... but there are people out there like that, Mr. Midoriya. Men whose abuses go beyond mere disrespect, men whose racism drives them not to insult or to harassment but to murder... and men who build their very identities around 'that' murder. Men and Faunus who more resemble monsters than even the Grimm themselves."

"Mr. Midoriya. If Adam Taurus stood before you right here and right now... would you hesitate? Would you hold back your power, hoping to bring him in alive... or knowing that the power of One For All lay deep and strong within you... would you seek to snuff his flame out?"

Izuku's breath caught in his throat as Ozpin threw out this hypothetical, rhetorically throwing out a gauntlet in order to challenge him. His eyes were very clearly measuring Izuku, trying to see where his resolve landed. Even to someone who wasn't necessarily 'great' at reading people, like Izuku, could tell that much. Izuku tilted his head down as his mind and heart raged against each other as this situation as this was placed before him.

It wasn't right to just kill someone. It wasn't Just, it wasn't Heroic and it wasn't _Right_. It was not what being a Huntsman was about, what being a Symbol of Peace meant.

But at the same time... could he just watch if Adam Taurus were trying to harm innocents? He wanted to be a Huntsman who saved people, he'd told Ruby that much... how could he live up to that ideal, how could he think yourself worthy of such a title, if he just stood by and let the innocents be slaughtered... even if it was to uphold a Just and Heroic ideal.

Izuku's two halves, his mind and his soul, his reason and his emotion, his id and ego, waged a miniature war... and Izuku realized something in the middle of it. He let loose a small sigh as he looked up at Ozpin, his emerald eyes shining slightly.

"Headmaster... you aren't asking me something that's easy to answer. I mean... under the best scenario? Absolutely, I'd do my best to take in Adam Taurus alive." Izuku shook his head as he sat up straighter to look at Ozpin in the eye. "It isn't just because that's what Toshinori thinks is right... it's because being a Huntsman 'means'. Being a Hunter, it means protecting people from the Grimm and then turning around and killing those monsters. Sure, you might be right... people like Adam Taurus might be as terrible as the Grimm... but they 'aren't Grimm. They're people, they're human beings and Faunus with souls. As horrific as they might be... they're 'us'... and they deserve justice the same as everyone. If I were to hold no regard for that, if I decided to act as Judge, Jury and Executioner... when we decide that we can just destroy lives because we view them as being 'like' the Grimm, then we've stepped out of what we've sworn ourselves to be as Hunters. From that moment on, we're not the protectors we've sworn to be."

"People are governed by the law Headmaster, and that's part of what separates us from our enemies... to ignore the law when it inconveniences us, to cast it aside and, more than that, to take away life, which was meant for 'living', just for expedience? Where does that train of thought end?" Still, the burning resolve falters slightly as you glance off to the side. "Still... if I were put into a situation where Adam Taurus was going to take lives... if he were going to murder the innocent? I'd want to do my best still but... I wouldn't let innocent people die. Like I said, life is meant for living... and just standing to the side, letting other people take it just because you're hesitating? I can't imagine that it's any better than doing it yourself. I always want to think that I'll do what I do in order to protect people, Headmaster... but 'never' because I view villains and people like Adam Taurus as being less than they are, as being less than the Grimm." Izuku heaved a sigh as he returned his gaze to Ozpin.

"It's not even like it'd be an easy thing to do regardless. Not just because he'd put up a good fight... but because of what 'Adam Taurus' means to people." Ozpin arched a brow as he allowed Izuku to continue. "Symbols aren't always positive things Ozpin. We view Adam as a Symbol of a noble ideal turned to violence, of being debased... of peace turned on its head, compared to Toshinori... but to people who view Adam Taurus as their leader... the situation must look backwards. To them 'Adam' is the symbol of good and justice, while Toshinori... well, I can only imagine what some people in the Fang must think." Izuku took a heavy sigh, one that shook his entire body as chills ran down his spine. "Could you imagine what would happen if I, a Human Hunter, killed Adam Taurus in cold blood, Ozpin? What kind of message that would send to people who might be on Adam's side or even those who might be on the fence? Forget about building bridges... that might just inspire people to think like Adam does. That, whatever Symbol of Peace that humanity puts forward... that violence remains the only answer."

"I'm going to be the Symbol of Peace... and no one said that would be easy. But... I have to try my best." He looked down at the board again and make a move, eyes scanning across it... 'huh... you know, from this position, I'd swear that-'

"And I believe 'that' is game, Mr. Midoriya."

'Crap.'

Ozpin smiled politely as he took one last sip of his cup of coffee, smacking his lips slightly as the Godly brew passed them. "I'm not going to lie Mr. Midoriya as inspired as your words are, I have heard them before... and I can't say that I'm entirely moved by them." Ozpin chuckled slightly as Izuku's expression became downcast; and why not? After all, he figured he'd failed that little discussion of Ozpin's. "However... I will grant you, that I do feel slightly nostalgic hearing them. It's been a while since I've heard such a line of logic coming from a User of One For All, after all." Izuku blinked slightly as he looked up at Ozpin, tilting his head.

"Huh? Have you and Toshinori not talked about this recently?" Ozpin, Headmaster Ozpin, actually chortled slightly at this.

"Mr. Midoriya, believe you and me, Toshinori's been a very confident man for a very long time. In his view, to save people while also winning a battle without the enemy dying... all he's ever needed to accomplish it, in his mind, was to push himself. To 'Go Beyond' as it were and to stretch the absolute limits of One For All's Power. He's never quite accepted the idea of a no-win scenario like the one you've proposed. Don't mistake me, he's accepted that he can't be in all places at all times for all people, Toshinori is a confident man but not delusional. However... he has always felt that, so long as he was present and able to fight, that there would always be a way for good, True Good, to win out in the end."

"No Mr. Midoriya, while your ideals ring true to Toshinori's and mark you, quite well, as his successor... it's another User that you've reminded me of in this particular moment." Izuku blinked and tilted his head to the side as Ozpin just waved him off. "It's gotten quite late Mr. Midoriya. I believe that this is as good a place as any to end our discussion." Izuku hesitated for a moment, his curiosity threatening to override his good manners, but he nodded in understanding as he stood up. "Good night Mr. Midoriya... and thank you for coming by. This was quite pleasant."

Izuku... didn't know entirely where Ozpin was coming from on that one. Not only did he lose the game again, but the topics he brought up that time were... quite heavy, in Izuku's opinion. Still, he supposed that coffee 'was' really amazing and the game was fun enough. So he just nodded politely and offered Ozpin his goodbyes before he quickly boarded the elevator, descending back down to Beacon Academy.

* * *

 **A/N: Due to my own clumsiness this came out a day late. The normal update pattern will resume and the next will come out on the 24th as normal, apologies.**

 **-gorilla_fingers**


	45. Home and Family

' _Your dad sent a message home, call me whenever you want and I'll share it.'_

Izuku had to admit, the message caught him a bit off guard when his mom had sent it. It was a rare and uncommon thing for his dad to get in touch with him at all. Usually whenever his dad made contact it wasn't through a direct message or a call; most of the time it was in the form of bank statements, his father depositing money into his parent's shared account so that his mom could take care of some bills or get them something they needed. It was a pretty regular thing, his dad was no deadbeat after all, but it was usually the only way he and his mom usually knew he was still alive and working. His dad's work, not for nothing, was pretty good; he spent most of his time traveling the Four Kingdoms on behalf of some construction companies in Mountain Glenn. His job title was as negotiator and most of his work involved making deals with various governments and businesses across Remnant to sell out skilled labor or leadership from Mountain Glenn to help with construction jobs of large importance, walls, defensive fortifications and the like, across Mountain Glenn.

Izuku couldn't say one way or the other himself but, based on his paycheck, it seemed like his dad was good at his job, he guessed? He sent money home every two weeks on the dot and never missed out. He was a provider if nothing else... and the above wasn't an exaggeration, though. Izuku really rarely ever heard one word from his dad for large spans of time, most of the time weeks upon weeks and, too often, months at a time. No calls or messages, just money sent home to help pay for him and to pay for bills. Izuku hadn't even seen his dad in a long, 'long' time; heck, he was fairly certain that if he did see him, he'd barely be able to recognize him from the photos that were around his house. He was bound to get older and change his appearance, right? Izuku knew he looked a lot different from the last time he'd seen Izuku, so the opposite might've also been true.

Heck, it was barely an exaggeration to say that if Izuku hadn't had his photos of him, he'd have probably forgotten what he looked like all-together. Now, Izuku wasn't ungrateful for what he did. He wasn't an ingrate who was about to curse his own dad for doing his hardest to provide for him and his mom. Izuku knew other kids who were way less lucky in that regard, with parents who were just outright non-entities in their lives entirely and not taking care of them at all. Sure, his dad wasn't around, but it wasn't like he didn't take care of Izuku. Heck, it wasn't even like his mom was ever too upset. She just seemed more... resigned and quiet when it came to dad's direct messages or contacts and, most of the rest of the time, barely mentioned him if Izuku didn't. It was a weird thing to see parents act that way, especially since Izuku had seen other parental relations that were a lot more loving, but... well, as long as HIS mom wasn't sad, did it really matter?

Maybe... hey, he thought it'd be nice. Heck, Izuku knew Bakugo's parents; not only were they both together, but they both seemed happy together and...

...

Okay, maybe he shouldn't think so much about Bakugo's mother.

He was still pretty scared of her.

Anyway, point was, it would've been nice if his dad was at least around sometimes, or at the very least was around more often than he was... which was rarely if ever. Still, when all was said and done, his feelings about your father more or less fell on...

In all honesty? Izuku wished he knew his dad more. Maybe it was a bit of an odd thing for a son to say; wishing that he knew his dad more than demanding it, than being angry that he hadn't gotten that chance already. However... it wasn't like Izuku didn't understand why he did it. He was supporting Izuku and Izuku's mom with his work. Really, if it wasn't for him, Izuku thought it was pretty likely that his mom wouldn't have been able to support Izuku going to a Combat School without an Aura. Izuku owed him a great deal... but he barely had a single memory of him. It hurt more than it made him angry... and there was a not inconsiderable part of him that hoped that maybe he'd get to know his father, and the work he'd so dearly dedicated himself to, more in the future.

For now Izuku just took a breath, sighed and dialed up his mom, the line having been busy for a moment before the visage of Inko Midoriya came up on his screen. Izuku could see his mother giving him a smile as she saw his face, though it was clearly a little exhausted, whether by work or something else it was unclear.

"Oh Izuku, my baby! It's good to see you again!" She spoke so enthusiastically as she smiled at him and, well, his day was already brightened up a little bit.

"Hey mom, it's good to see you too." Inko nodded as her smile softened a bit.

"You're calling about your father's message, right?" Izuku nodded in affirmation as Inko reached around a bit, looking for something. "Now I know I wrote it down here... ah, here we go."

"' _Inko, deal went through with Haven Academy, company's going to get a solid windfall. Can't say why, but Haven will be bringing some experts in from Mountain Glenn to do some work over some Atlesian competitors. Going to celebrate with co-workers and business partners. Boss is being coy but it's pretty clear that I've got the promotion I've been working for. Izuku got into Beacon? Tell him I said congratulations. Guess you're going to be fine with that apartment if he's going to live at the Academy. Probably going to be in Mistral for the duration of the deal to handle it. -Hisashi'_ "

Oh. Well hey, that was good news, right? Indeed, Izuku's mother had a bit of a tried smile as she looked at him through the Scroll screen.

"This news might've been a bit more impactful before you went to Beacon but... well, I can't say that it's not good news. Your father's been angling for this promotion for years now and it'll bring a lot more money home every couple weeks when he gets it. Hmmm, what should I do with it then..." Inko placed her hand on her cheek as she took a moment to think. "He's right that the apartment's going to be fine now. If you ever visit you'd be comfortable staying in your old room, right? I don't know what your plans are after graduating but I'm sure if you intended to move back home to work as a Huntsmen here in Glenn that I could save up some money to help you out..." It wasn't hard for Izuku to notice that his mother seemed to have moved right along from the fact that his dad, for the first time in a while, has sent home a message and now seemed to be fretting about him.

A bolt of inspiration struck him almost as soon as his mom finished talking. His smile was nice and wide as he looked at his mom, Inko Midoriya seemingly surprised by the sudden upswing in his mood.

"Hey I have an idea mom! Why don't you go on a vacation?" His mother seemed absolutely flabbergasted by his suggestion, the woman practically shifting into a minor panic at the energy he was exerting and the, to her, downright craziness of the idea.

"A-A-A vacation! Izuku, honey, I appreciate it but I really can't just go off and leave on a vacation, I mean, who will take care of-"

"I'm sure that the apartment will be fine mom, the neighborhood's really safe! Even if you're worried, you could probably ask someone to check in every now and then or pay them to clean it up while you're gone." Izuku saw Inko hesitated for a moment as he spoke up, her panic subsiding slightly as she brought a hand to her chin.

"Hmmm... yes, I suppose 'that's' true... it wouldn't be hard to hire someone to just check in every week to clean things up..." Izuku saw Inko shake her head. "But Izuku, what about you, if I just leave-"

"Mom, I'm okay, I have a place to stay that isn't home." Izuku smiled at her. "Heck, even if I wanted to stay while you were gone, I do still have my key so I'd be able to get in just fine! And you know me, I wouldn't leave the place a mess... heck, if it'd make you feel better, 'I' could take a trip to Mountain Glenn once a week to clean things up at the apartment." Again, Izuku saw some of the hesitation melt in Inko's eyes.

"... You are an adult now, I suppose I don't have to worry about the apartment being in perfect order... especially if you're going to spend most of your time at Beacon..." Inko's tongue darted out to lick her lips slightly as she glanced off to the side. "But I don't know Izuku, it seems like such a waste. A vacation for me, that doesn't seem-"

"Mom, you totally deserve it! After everything we've talked about and everything you've done to help my dream, there's no way you don't deserve some time to yourself to just relax!" Izuku actually saw Inko smile back at him with this declaration. "Hey, who knows, maybe you could even travel to Mistral to see dad!" His mother didn't really react to the idea one way or the other, instead just seeming to give the entire picture more thought as he spoke to her. Compared to her initial reaction, it was clear that his mom was giving this a lot of thought.

"... I haven't really been out of Mountain Glenn for a long time... it might be fun to get out and travel a bit with your father getting this promotion... and the bonus he's sending home..." Izuku saw his mom's emerald eyes almost shine for a moment before a smile, not so dissimilar to his own determined one, finally broke out. "You know... you've convinced me Izuku. I'll look into taking a little vacation. Hmmm, maybe Mitsuki would be interested in coming along... but she's usually so busy with her modeling... hmmm, I'll have to ask and then make plans..." Inko shook her head as she looked back at Izuku. "I can make some plans later. For now, I did call to see how you were doing and pass that on... so, how has my baby boy been?"

"Oh you know, I've been alright. Things are still going great at Beacon! I'm making more new friends, including this senior of mine who's a pretty nice guy. Things with my team are going great, well, for the most part I think. My grades are good and I'm making a lot of progress." He saw his mother pridefully nodding along as he laid all this out. She seemed to be bursting with pride and happiness as he laid all this out and he couldn't help but feel good himself. Still, he remembered how... distraught his mom had started off this phone call. "So what about you mom? How are you doing? Is everything fine at home? Do you want me to come back and visit soon?" It had been a while since he'd been home and, even he'd admit, he was starting to feel a little homesick.

"Oh Izuku, I'm doing just fine, and I do even better whenever I get the chance to talk to you. Things have been a little quiet since you've gone out to Beacon, but I've tried to make up for that by having some guests over every now and then, plus I've been busy with work." Inko smiled gently as she looked at him. "But yes, the apartment and I are doing just fine Izuku, you don't need to worry about it or me." As she considered his last question he watched as his mom furrowed her brow a bit, bringing a finger to her lips as she considered something. "Well, now that you've mentioned it, I guess I was wondering what your plans for Color Week were." Izuku blinked in surprise as she brought this up.

"Color Week? Mom, don't be crazy, Color Week isn't until-"

Week after next.

'HOLY WOAH THAT SNUCK UP ON ME!'

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot!" Izuku slapped his forehead in embarrassment as Inko just chuckled.

"I know that you always went to the festival toward the end of the week every year, but... well, now that you're a student in Beacon, and almost a man grown, I wasn't sure if you still planned on doing so. I could make sure that your room is ready for you if you do come in though!"

"Well, I guess now that you mention it, I do have a couple ideas." Izuku sheepishly scratched at his cheek as he admitted this, his mother just smiling as she nodded expectantly. Honestly, it was a bit of a change of pace for him; he'd never really 'done' much of anything for Color Week before. Yeah he went to Toshinori's Festival and left a letter at his statue every year before meeting him, but to him Color Week had always just been a week off of school that he used to get some extra studying and work in while also taking time off from school. The idea of having friends, lots of friends, to hang out with over the week... it was kind of new and unnerving, but exciting.

That did raise the question though; who would he ask along? There was his team, obviously, but he had no idea if they'd have other plans. Izuku didn't know if anyone would go home over the week; Izuku knew it was something people did over long holidays, but... well, Color Week was only one week, so Izuku couldn't be sure if the same would apply here. So he'd just assume that everyone he counted as a friend as possibly staying. So that was Weiss, Pyrrha and Nora, Team RSBR, Team TABY, Coco, Velvet and, Izuku guessed at this point, Mirio. He blinked slightly as he realized that's 14 people that he'd potentially ask along to join him for Color Week, if all things went well and they didn't have plans of their own.

When the Heck did he make so many friends?

"I was thinking of maybe asking my friends if they'd like to come to see Mountain Glenn, considering most of them have probably never been... maybe take in the Festival when Toshinori's holiday hits?"

"That sounds wonderful. I'd be more than willing to make some room, maybe get some futons and bedrolls out to help. How many were you thinking of asking, darling?"

"... Well, there's potentially 14..."

"... That's a lot of friends, Izuku." Izuku's mom sounded stunned and he could only nod in agreement... that's when he noticed the panic in her eyes. "It isn't like with your team, right?! It's not all girls that are your friends, right?! My baby isn't running around with over a dozen young women-"

"Mom, no, it's okay! Not 'all' of them are girls!" Izuku quickly rushed to reassure Inko, his mother just sighing in relief as he stepped in to put a stop to her panic attack. He did a quick count in his head... "I mean... it's only like... 9 of them are girls..." Izuku saw his mother nearly choked but, thankfully, she didn't go into a full on panic. Instead she just seemed very nervous as she looked at Izuku through the Scroll.

"W-Well... I can certainly put up your guy friends. 5 people will be a bit of a squeeze but I would be able to put enough bedrolls around for them, plus the couch. Your... female friends-" Izuku noted that your mother very purposefully avoided using the word 'girl friends', "-well, there's that hotel that's not too far off from our apartment. It isn't ritzy, which might be a problem for your Schnee friend, but it could easily put them up if you're all in town." He took note that this isn't a request or a suggestion... well, it was a suggestion, but more in the 'I'm suggesting you 'don't' arrange a sleepover with 6 young men and 9 young women, Izuku' than a 'I wouldn't advise' suggestion.

"Well, I mean, a lot of them might have their own plans so I wouldn't worry about it too much. We'll see how it shakes out." Inko nodded as he tap his finger to his chin. "Hey mom, do you know what Mountain Glenn's gonna be doing for Color Week? Anything new or out of the ordinary?" Inko just thought for a moment before she shook her head.

"No, sorry honey, it's looking like a pretty typical week. Most businesses and hang outs will probably arrange little themed events for each of the days and then everyone's gonna be closed while the Festival kicks off with all those vendors and street attractions opening up. It'll be a pretty typical week up until the festival, as usual." Izuku nodded, having figured that, as he give his mom a smile.

"Well thanks mom. I'll give this some thought; I guess I have plenty of time before I really have to knuckle down and make plans. Thanks for talking, mom." Izuku watched as Inko's face lit up, his mother just giving him a kind smile.

"Of course Izuku, I'm always ready to talk to you darling. It'll probably be a few weeks before I go anywhere so if you want to visit or talk, don't hesitate okay?"Izuku nodded, though his mother just waved before he closed his Scroll. "One last thing Izuku; given your father's promotion and how well you've been doing at school... well, I think I'll go ahead and start depositing a little more money in your account at the end of each week." You flinch a bit, surprised, as you quickly raise your hands.

"Hey mom, you don't have to do that, I mean, your vacation-"

"Izuku, darling, I'll have plenty of money for a vacation even if I kick a little extra into your account every week. It'll be fine; you're part of this family Izuku and... well, you deserve to get something from your father's work." Izuku smiled slightly as his mother said this, nodding his head in agreement.

"Okay mom, if you insist."

"I do insist." She said with a bright smile as she waved. "Take care honey, I'll talk to you later." With that the call ended and Izuku pocketed his Scroll. Around a half hour later, he got a message confirming that his mother has deposited the money in his account.

* * *

"Oh, I'm sorry! I hope I'm not interrupting!" Izuku looked up slightly as he turned his Scroll off and put it to the side, having concluded his discussion with his mother just a moment before. Pyrrha had just walked into the dorm, Izuku's partner looking a little worn out as she had a towel wrapped around her shoulders and dabbed it at her forehead. It was clear she had just come back from some exercise or another and hadn't expected anyone to be in the dorm room; honestly, that had been his reason for taking the call with his mother here as well. It seemed like a reasonable spot that would've stayed relatively secluded and quiet on the weekend. Still, Izuku just smiled at Pyrrha as he shook his head, placing his Scroll back in his pocket.

"No, it's fine. I actually just got done with my call. You didn't interrupt anything Pyrrha." Pyrrha gave a slight sigh of relief as she smiled, walking into the dorm room as she continued to dry off her forehead with her towel.

"That's good. You don't seem to take these calls too often so I didn't want to step in and stop you. I'm guessing it was your mother, right?" Izuku chuckled slightly as he sheepishly scratched at the back of his head. Her guess was right on, though that wasn't much of a surprise; about the only person he really talked to over a Scroll at this point in time was his mom, so it had become a bit of an expected thing for the rest of Team MNVW.

"Yeah, that's right. Got a bit of an update from home that she wanted to share so I thought I'd take my call here. Figured no one would be in this time of day, right?" Pyrrha chuckled in time with him, sheepish as she nodded her agreement.

"Indeed, seems we both figured wrong this time around." With that Pyrrha set her towel into a bag of dirty clothes that the girls set aside; one of them would probably take them out for cleaning sometime soon. Izuku's were kept separate and he was expected to do his own. Frankly, he was more than happy with that arrangement, all things considered. "So how are things back home in Mountain Glenn? Everything going alright?" Izuku smile as he nodded.

"Oh yeah, things are going fine. Mom wasn't so much calling about home as she was our home. You know, wanting to talk about a few things going on." Friendly as Izuku's was with his team, his dad seemed like a bit of an awkward topic to bring up with them at this point. Plus he wasn't sure how great his mom would feel having other people know about 'that' particular kettle of fish so he decided to just keep it to the side. Pyrrha hummed slightly as she nodded, the young woman preparing herself some clean clothes.

"That's good, that's good. You know, as much as you talk about your background, you don't really bring up Mountain Glenn itself that often." Izuku blinked slightly as Pyrrha said this. "You talk about its history but I don't think I've ever heard you talk about what your home was actually like or anything like that." He nodded slightly as he thoughtfully placed his hand on his chin. Well she wasn't wrong; Mountain Glenn itself hadn't really come up a lot as a topic of conversation. It seemed like most people were more interested in what Mountain Glenn represented than what the actual city was like. In all honesty, talking with his mom had gotten him a might bit nostalgic over Mountain Glenn...

"Is that something you're curious about, Pyrrha?" Pyrrha seemed to jump a bit as he suggested this, the young woman just chuckling nervously.

"Oh? W-Well I suppose I have thought about it a bit. Like I've said, I haven't traveled much outside of Mistral so I don't really know what a lot of the world is like. I've seen a bit of Vale but, from what I've been told, Mountain Glenn itself is quite interesting too." Pyrrha blushed as she shook her hands. "Not that you'd need to talk about it if you wouldn't want to."

"I wouldn't mind Pyrrha. If you're really interested I'd be more than glad to tell you some stuff about Mountain Glenn." There was a genuine smile and a light of excitement that came over Pyrrha's face as she quickly took a seat on her bed, causing Izuku to chuckle a bit as he scratched his chin. "Well, let me think here..."

Izuku nodded to himself, before beginning with, "Well I guess there's no better place to start than with Mountain Glenn itself."

Pyrrha nodded along as Izuku stroked his chin. "Well alright so let's start with the obvious; while Mountain Glenn used to be a lot bigger because so many people were being moved out of Vale in order to populate it, the attack kind of knocked the population down a bit and we haven't quite gotten back to where it used to be. Still, 49,000 people isn't much to sneeze at..." Pyrrha's continued to move up and down, though it isn't enthusiastic. Izuku could only imagine; between her having seen Vale and living in Mistral, she was more used to populations closer to the hundreds of thousands, if not the millions. "Mountain Glenn was built for 'a lot' more people, so with the numbers being so low we've all just kind of spread out, at least in so far as we didn't go beyond the new wall. Generally that means that a lot of people in Glenn live in these... well, it's kind of hard to call them suburbs but, pretty cozy neighborhoods, I guess."

"Then there's the... I 'guess' downtown area? That's where my mom and I live. That's where most of the tall buildings still are, where most of the business is still done and where the rail system ends up ending. Don't get me wrong, it's 'nothing' like Vale, Mountain Glenn proper would fit inside of Vale a few times over and if we all squeezed in together as tightly as the people of Vale do, we'd fit inside of Vale at least a dozen times over." Pyrrha's brow furrowed slightly in concentration, it was clear she was doing her best to imagine a town that small. She had been born in a city and that's where she lived most of her life, so it was no surprise. "It's a nice place... most of the destroyed buildings were either fixed up, if they were standing well enough to be fixed, or knocked down and replaced with new ones. There's actually been a lot of emphasis on renewal in Mountain Glenn these past few years: now that most of the hardcore engineering's been taken care of as far as defense goes, a lot of people in Mountain Glenn have been turning their eyes towards making the city look nice again. At this point it's pretty clear where work's been done and where work hasn't, it's been making for a bit of a patchwork system where really old buildings that survived the initial Grimm Assault and the new, 'renovated' ones are standing next to each other... but it's lifting people's spirits to see that we're finally moving beyond just trying to play catch up in case another attack ever happens."

"That sounds nice." Pyrrha offered, smiling slightly as she seemed to have found an in to actually converse about all this. "I can't say I understand it entirely though; Mistral actually makes a big deal of 'not' knocking down old building. A lot of upper class people, especially artists, want to preserve... hmmm, I guess what they'd call 'Mistral's Historical Charm'. The city's beautiful for it but it can make it a bit of a pain to get around." Izuku nodded in understanding as he offered a slight smile.

"Well, I can understand why people would want to preserve a place like Mistral but... well, there's really only two ways most people in Mountain Glenn want to preserve memories about our history. The defensive works that have been going up or going down these past few decades and by honoring Toshinori for saving the city. As far as everyone's concerned... the old buildings and, eventually, a place we call No Man's Land is... well, it's just kind of unpleasant to look at day in and day out."

"I can imagine."

"Anyway, the city expands out until the... suburbs, I guess? Hit the wall. Unlike here in Vale with the recent expansions, our living space doesn't reach outside the Wall. After the Wall it's No Man's Land and then the wilderness." Izuku crossed his arms as he racked his brains. "So that's Mountain Glenn itself... what else can I tell you about..."

"You said you lived in the downtown area, right?" Izuku nodded as Pyrrha folded her legs up slightly. "Well... tell me about where you live? What's it like?" Izuku blinked a couple times as he laughed somewhat nervously.

"I dunno, I don't think it'd be 'that' interesting..." Pyrrha shrugged as she gave an earnest smile.

"I think it would be. My family's either lived in the lower rungs of Mistral or we've been riding high on my celebrity. I've never really lived in what some people might consider a 'normal' house or apartment. So I'd be interested in hearing about it." Izuku, still feeling slightly sheepish, scratched his cheek.

"W-Well, okay, I guess that's fair." Izuku offered with a slight cough into his fist as he looked to his corner of the room. "Well, my mom and I live in this apartment complex in the city. My father actually does pretty good work so we make a good amount of money, so the apartment is really nice; it's on the top floor too so we get a good view of Mountain Glenn." Izuku counted out the rooms in his head. "So... there's my room, my parent's room, the kitchen and a living/dining room, plus two bathrooms for each bedroom, so it isn't lavish or huge or anything. It's pretty simple and kind of just meant to house... us." Izuku coughed a bit as he looked off to the side. "As far as furnishings go... well, I'd say it's pretty nice. We've got no fancy art or anything hanging off the wall, but we've got some good furniture, some nice appliances... a big TV in the living room and I even have a computer in my room.

Izuku just shook his head, "That's really all there is to it. I mean, you're looking at how I decorate my part of our dorm room so you pretty much have a good idea of how I decorated my room. Yeah, it's just... nothing too special." Pyrrha nodded and, though couldn't imagine why, she did seem interested in what he described. Either that or she was faking it tremendously well.

"You know, now that you've brought it up, you've talked a lot about your mom but not a lot about your dad... it sounds like he makes pretty good money for you all if you live in a nice sounding place like that though. What's he like?"

Izuku involuntarily sweated a bit as this came up, scratching at the back of his head as he took a moment to think this through.

Izuku blanched a bit and, for a moment, but he thought about dancing around this...but Pyrrha had always been honest with him, so...

"My father... well... my dad isn't exactly around much." Pyrrha blinked for a moment... before her face went pale, as if thinking she'd inadvertently stepped on some kind of land mine. "No, no, not like that! My mom and dad aren't divorced or anything!" Immediately color flowed back into Pyrrha's face as she breathed a sigh of relief, causing him to chuckle as he sheepishly scratch the back of his head. "No, it's nothing bad like that. You see, my dad's a salary man for one of the larger construction companies based in Mountain Glenn. After I was born my dad's work started taking him further and further away from home and for longer periods of time... it's kind of gotten to the point where I barely see him at all, if ever. I honestly think the last time he and I were in direct contact was a couple years ago... maybe longer now, actually." Pyrrha developed a frown.

"He sends home money to take care of me and our apartment too, so don't think he's being negligent or anything. He just... thinks his job is very important and does what he can to get ahead in the corporation. So... it's kind of hard to answer your question because I don't really see him that much."

The pause after he finished just sat, a sort awkward fog, as Pyrrha's frown seemed, if not to grow, deepened.

"Well... I'm sorry to hear that, but it does sound like your dad is doing his best to work hard and take care of you, so... that's good."

Izuku often had to remind himself that, despite Pyrrha's celebrity, that she could be just as awkward intense social situations as he was. She seemed to realize her situation, and pulled the tips of her frown upward, which slowly developed into a real warm smile, as she continued, "I... can't really say I know the feeling myself. It's been a long time since either of my parents had to work. Not like 'first memories' long time but years at least; when I entered Combat School when I was young it was pretty clear that I was going to be a good fighter, after all. Before that both my mom and my dad worked hard to make ends meet. After my career took off though? They both quit their jobs and spent more time with my siblings and I... or, well, they did when I wasn't busy with work myself."

"They were always pretty thrilled about the money I was able to bring in, and they took good advantage of it; we moved to a more upscale neighborhood in Mistral, my parents started going to these art exhibits and chatting with other Mistrali Upper class citizens... they just really took to the lifestyle." Izuku smiled, this sounds like it was a really good thing for Pyrrha and her family. Pyrrha actually even chuckled as she scratched her cheek, almost a complete mirror to his earlier action. "Haha... sometimes, it even feels like they might enjoy my celebrity more than I do..."

...

If this was such a feel good situation, then why did this pause feel so awkward?

"Anyway!" Pyrrha suddenly exclaimed, drawing Izuku out of his thoughts. "Anything else about home you'd like to talk about?" Eager to move on from this topic as Pyrrha was, Izuku nodded as he stroked his chin.

"Well... there is Birch Academy, the Combat School I went to." Pyrrha nodded somewhat enthusiastically as she listened in. "It's actually a pretty nice campus, Birch, so long as you're looking at it from the right perspective. It's one of the few fully operating buildings outside of the Wall and it's right near the edge of the forest, so from one angle you've got this really nice look at it placed against the backdrop of the Wilderness around Mountain Glenn..."

"But from other angles?" Izuku nodded as he sheepishly scratched his cheek.

"It can be pretty bleak; looking at from other angles puts Birch in the same line of sight as No Man's Land, which means that a lot of the rubble and broken down buildings that haven't been reclaimed, knocked down or whatever pretty much dominate your line of sight when looking at Birch. Training there, and training to be a Huntsman... it's pretty much a constant reminder of why the profession is so important and how much Mountain Glenn actually owes to people like Toshinori. You grow up in the shadows of what could've been, I guess you could say."

"It sounds... pretty dreary, yes." Pyrrha admitted as she placed her chin in her hand. "Sanctum Academy was built in one of the more historic districts of Mistral, so the area around it looks pretty nice. Grimm training isn't as common there because it isn't so close to our forests, but given that Sanctum really pushes for Tournament participation, being 'in' the city made that easier." Izuku looked off in the direction, vaguely, of where Mountain Glenn would be.

"Yeah, it's not like Birch was a great school for every category either. You've probably heard by now that Birch isn't necessarily a great fighting school, the sorts of Huntsmen who would've specialized in that who lived in Mountain Glenn previously... well, they gave their lives in the assault before Toshinori could arrive. That doesn't mean that Birch is bad all around; if you're looking to learn about Grimm patterns and biology or looking to really get into a field of engineering to construct better walls, traps or anything really, you really can't go too wrong with Birch at this point. Heck, the school's reputation for engineering's been so great that Ken Ishiyama, The Cement Hunter, decided to take up a teaching position in Birch rather than Haven." Pyrrha nodded understandingly.

"I don't know much but I had heard that; it was the talk of the town in Mistral back when it happened."

From there the conversation just turned into a little bit of small talk here and there about their respective homes. They hadn't intended to go on too long, they had wanted to do some other training... but just spending time talking with his partner, it was pretty nice all things considered.


	46. Forward Locomotion

"Hey Fearless Leader."

"Hey Nora."

Izuku continued to write down some notes from a book he'd gotten out of the library. It was on Aura development and how to focus it, and he'd wanted to brush up on said topics to help with his own growth latter. As much help as Pyrrha was, he couldn't quite slack off when they weren't training together. He'd expected to have some quiet time to do work in the dorm room, having expected everyone to be out.

'Still, it isn't so bad to have company, especially company that's just being quiet. Just the presence of Nora…'

'Nora…'

'Quiet…'

"Nora…"

Izuku immediately swiveled in his chair to turn to where he'd heard Nora's voice and, sure enough, the bubbly bomber was sitting on the edge of her bed, watching him at his desk as she casually kicked her legs in the air. Her lips were drawn thin as her turquoise eyes took him in, her tongue peeking out of the corner of her lips as she seemed to be in deep thought about something. Izuku knew that Nora did think about things, as air-headed as she could sometimes act and as people could claim she was there were those moments of extreme insight of hers. Still, to see her thinking so deeply, apropos of nothing, was a bit disconcerting.

"Nora, is everything okay?" Izuku's question seemed to knock Nora out of her trance-like state as she looked him in the eyes. The bubbly bomber just gave one of her signature smiles as she nodded.

"Well of course I am Fearless Leader! How can I 'not' be? We've got a totally exciting training exercise and field trip to help add a little bit of spice to the school year coming up, not that I've thought Beacon's been boring, far from it, we got to play detectives one week and fight a bunch of robots another, it's been a crazy ride, but it'll be nice to see something that's 'not' Beacon Academy after so many weeks, I mean, I've gone down to Vale but like you can still see Beacon from Vale so I feel like that still counts, you know?"

"Uh... yeah, totally." In all honesty Izuku hadn't exactly thought of the upcoming trip like that; after all, The Tunnels were in his hometown, so it wouldn't be a new sight for Izuku. Still, he could definitely see why Nora would be excited by something like that. "So, that's it, huh? That's all you're thinking about?" A bit of uncertainty developed on Nora's face, though it's quickly gone as she blew her cheeks out.

"Of course, silly, I mean, what else could I possibly be thinking about right now? I mean, just thinking about this trip, I don't know what this could 'possibly' be making me think about or be curious of!"

...

"Okay." Izuku gave Nora a nod as he turned to look back at his desk. It seemed like it was just going to be one of Nora's 'Nora' moments, much like her being 'not together-together' with Ren. Best to leave it alone and-

"Izuku, what are your folks like?" Izuku's pencil went flying and threatened to stab him in the eye.

"Uh, what?" Izuku was so completely stunned by this seeming non sequitur and it seemed like even Nora realized how out of left field that particular question was.

"Oh! Sorry, that's probably like really personal but you know I've just been thinking about this field trip so much and while I was thinking about it I realized that we'd all be going to Mountain Glenn together and when I thought about that I was like 'Oh my Gosh, Izuku's FROM Mountain Glenn, this'll totally be like some kind of homecoming for him, I bet he'll be thrilled'! I was thinking about how you could tell us all kinds of crazy things about Mountain Glenn and how cool your home is and that made me think about stuff about my home but I really 'couldn't' think much about it cause, well, I know I live in Mistral but that's about it and so I was thinking about all the cool stuff you must know like your home's history, where you fit in all of it and your house! With your parents in it! Like, woah, we have a chance of meeting your folks on this field trip, which is totally crazy and so I had to wonder what kinds of people could've raised someone who could be so twitchy but so totally fearless and awesome and that made me think about just having parents in general... also I'm not saying that being twitchy is necessarily bad, I mean, I get twitchy whenever I have too much caffeine but I usually only really start drinking too much caffeine when I get nervous about something and you can tell when I've had too much of it because I'm nervous because I start having these run on sentences that go on for, like, ever and they don't ever seem to stop and it gets really awkward because I don't know how to cut this off and stop talking, I mean, what kind of person just gets curious about what another friend's parents are like out of nowhere, that's totally weird isn't it, it sounds like it should be weird, but you know with Ren and I it's just something I've always wandered about and because of the field trip and-"

"NORA!"

"Yes Izuku?"

It was amazing how, by the end of all of that, he was the one doing deep, heavy breathing and Nora was just sitting there, pretty as a painting, as if she hadn't just gone on the longest rant he thought he'd heard in his entire life.

"Let me see if I got you straight; you realized that the field trip would be taking us back to my home town... and that made you curious about things from my own life, up to and including my parents?" Nora gave the explanation some thought.

"Yeah, that actually about sums it up, Fearless Leader!" She said with a firm nod as Izuku just sighed.

"Nora... you could've just said that. It's okay for you to ask about that. Heck, Pyrrha asked me about my own dad not too long ago, and it wasn't weird-"

"Well... I mean, Pyrrha..." Izuku watch as Nora frowned slightly, the bubbly girl shimmying in her seat slightly as she looked off to the side. "Pyrrha has a way of understanding what you're talking about though. All of our friends do... heck, even Ren does. So... it's not quite as weird when they ask because, well, they can understand."

...

Oh.

"Well... why ask me Nora? Why not any of our other friends? Heck, why not Ren?" Izuku saw Nora frown slightly.

"... I don't like to ask Ren too much about his folks. He smiles when he brings them up, but... he's still really sad about it." Izuku then saw that Nora beamed genuinely at it. "Besides, you're my Fearless Leader. If anyone can think of a way to talk about all this and help me understand it, it'd be you!"

Izuku crossed his arms as he took some time to think. Honestly, while he'd given a lot of thought to how supportive his mother was, and how hard his father worked to support his family, he hadn't necessarily thought about it on the level that Nora seemed to be asking about. About 'having' parents in the first place and how that impacted his life. How their presence shaped his experience and how they treated him. For her, someone he'd been more and more sure grew up as an orphan even before meeting Ren, that probably was just an entirely unheard of experience.

And here she was, putting her faith in his ability to explain it as a way of communicating the idea to her, to help her understand it. Because he was her leader.

Izuku was…

Touched...

But also kind of nervous. He didn't want to mess it up. So with some careful consideration, Izuku looked up at Nora and smiled.

"Well Nora... to me, family's about supporting each other and helping each other through difficult times. That's... what I've gathered from spending time with my mom and my dad... that's what they've pressed that family's about through their actions." Nora nodded as she leaned her head on her hand, listening intently. "I mean... let's just start with my mom. My mom's support for me and my dream has been unconditional over all these years... despite, well, 'everything'. Despite everything the doctors said and how worried she was, my mom always stuck by my side and did what she could to encourage me or cheer me up. There was a financial aspect to that, sure, but there was also the little things she did..." One of his most treasured memories from his childhood with his mom was a little game they'd play together. Even after they'd found out he was Broken, his mom would still work to indulge him with it; she'd hide under a sheet in some room in the house and call out for him to save her... and he would in that little Toshinori onesie he owned, crying out his hero's catch phrase.

It was silly, and would 'really' embarrass Izuku if anyone ever found out about it... but he couldn't help but smile while recalling it. Even when he knew she was afraid for him and his dream, there were those moments he remembered that put into perspective just how much she was willing to go through to help support Izuku, emotionally or financially.

"She always did her best to encourage me to keep on going. To not give up... even if she might've wanted me to. It put a lot of stress on her, and it's something I can never pay back... but she doesn't even consider that possibility. To her, it was her job as a mother to believe in me... and if she couldn't, then she could just do her best to support me regardless. Honestly, if it hadn't been for her, I don't know how I could've ever met... the guy who eventually helped me unlock my Aura." Izuku scratched the back of his head at that, as Nora just smiled. "Then there's my dad... well, my dad worked his best to make sure that we'd have our house and that we'd be able to pay for my schooling. He's worked really hard to support us and he does his best to show that he loves my mom and I."

"Oh, like how?" Nora practically leaned forward at that, a smile on her face as she waited to listen to something as equally saccharine as how Izuku had described his relation with his mom.

"Well... there's the messages he sends home and the calls he's made to mom that I've seen and overheard. From what I've been able to gather, he still loves her a lot and does his best to help her when she's stressed about something." Izuku saw Nora's face screw up a bit in confusion as she tilted her head.

"Well, I mean, what about when he's around? Like, he sounds like he's pretty lovey dovey, right?" Izuku blanched a bit. The honest truth was that he'd never actually 'seen' his parents act lovey dovey. But, like with Pyrrha, he just decided to put it out there.

"Well... the truth is that my dad hasn't been around much. I haven't seen him through a lot of my life because he's so busy with work. Still, that doesn't change the fact that I still do care about him, even if he and I are a bit distant; he's done his best to support my mom financially and help with my schooling by working hard and sacrificing his time, so... I don't begrudge him for being away for so long. To me, it's still clear that my mom and I are family to him, and he's part of my family." Nora slowly nodded in understanding as she looked off to the side.

"I see... it sounds nice." Izuku smiled slightly; despite her hesitation, Nora did sound genuine in that opinion. "... Do you think you'd make a good parent, with them as an example?" Izuku blinked slightly at that, a little surprised even as he rolled with it.

"Well... I'd like to think so. That I could take from the good and bad of my parent's efforts over the years and do right by it." Before Izuku could move into asking why she asked, Nora quirked her lips to the side as she hummed. She looked off in the direction of Team RSBR's dorm room for a moment and shrugged slightly as her curious eyes returned to Izuku.

"Do you think I'd make a good mom?"

Now that question 'really' floored Izuku. He was not sure what knocked him off his proverbial footing more; the question itself or how Nora asked it. She didn't seem downcast or sad, like most people he'd imagine asking this question. She really just seemed more curious as she shifted into sitting cross-legged.

"I mean, everyone here has something like that; Pyrrha talks about growing up with her folks, Weiss has her sister, you got your mom and dad, Ruby and Yang gush about their mom when they get the chance, and Ren really does seem happy when he thinks of his parents. They all have these examples to take after and... well, I just don't know how a lot of stuff's supposed to work. Being a mom, handling myself as an adult... getting 'into' a relationship in the first place..." Nora frowned slightly, though it was more the comical, puffed cheek frustration than a sad one.

"I just wonder sometimes if I'd ever be good enough with any of that stuff. I know Weiss says I can be scatterbrained sometimes, and Heck, Weiss really has her stuff put together."

It was weird; most people would consider that a super heavy question and be uncomfortable talking about it, or at least seem extremely weighed down or hesitant... yet Nora was just talking about it as if it were talking about the weather. A weird thing, to be sure, but as Izuku took in Nora's words, he took time to consider his own. Just because Nora didn't seem to be distraught, didn't mean he could afford to be lax with his own respond. It was a big adult question that Nora was asking... and as much as he might not have been qualified to answer that question himself, he could at least give her the best advice that he could.

"Well... I don't really think it's about any one thing in particular, like being super organized or acting like how you think an adult might act. I mean, if you stack my mom up against Ruby and Yang's mom, I bet they'd come off as very different people; my mom's kinda like me... overflowing tears, kind of nervous, a little reserved but... pretty strong when it comes down to what's important, I think." That was what he thought of his mom at least; it's still weird to attribute such a trait to himself. "While Summer Rose sounds like she was just completely put together and did everything with an air of calm and ease that made things look easy. I wouldn't say her way is right and that my mom's way is wrong, heck no... because I don't think being a great mom is about the things a mom does in specific, but about their attitude. Great moms are great because... well, they love us, without reservation, and do their best to help support and care for us."

"Nora, when you become a mom I'm really sure you'll find your way... because the only advice I could really give to you is to love your children with all your heart. Considering how kind you act to everyone and how understanding you are... I doubt that's going to be a hard thing for you to do. Pretty sure everything else you'll just pick up along the way." Izuku saw Nora smile warmly, the young woman scratching the back of her head sheepishly as she chuckled.

"Eh, I dunno about that Fearless Leader. I'm great at stuff I can already do but, well, picking up new stuff, or explaining the stuff I already know." Izuku shook his head a bit as he looked at her.

"Honestly? I don't really think that's true. You're really clever when it comes to handling situations on the fly and while you can talk a little fast when explaining stuff, it always follows a logic that makes sense when you catch up to it or have it explained. I really don't think you're scatterbrained Nora... you're just Nora. Besides all that, you're great when it comes to considering people's feelings and you're nothing if not caring and supportive which, hey, is pretty important for a parent." Izuku placed his hands on his hips as he spoke confidently. "Nora, I think you'll be a great mom and whoever you end up in a relationship with will be lucky to have you." Izuku still spoke the last part vaguely, knowing Nora's... predilections when it came to talking about that particular subject.

"... You think so, at least." Izuku blinked as Nora muttered under her breath, before the girl gave him a brilliant smile. "Thanks Izuku! I really appreciate all the kind words and, coming from you, I think I can take 'em pretty well to heart." Nora grinned as she pumped her fist. "Yeah! I'll be a great mom, and I'll figure this adult thing out sooner or later! I'll learn how to be responsible! I'll learn how to take care of stuff! I'll learn how to get into relationships... not that I have anything like that in mind, of course!" And like that, despite how even-keeled and upbeat Nora had been throughout this entire conversation, 'that' was the moment where her cheeks flushed as she chuckled nervously. "Because I don't! Why would I have someone in mind! I mean, you're a good guy and all Izuku, but I've only known you for, like a month and a half! I don't even know if you like pancakes as much as you say you do... you could just be a sleeper agent still..."

...

'Is it weird that I actually got chills up and down my spine right then?'

In any case, that feeling of dread immediately left as she went back to acting nervous.

"I mean, the only guy I've really known long enough to be certain of stuff like that would be Ren! And it can't be Ren; he and I are just the best of friends! We've been together for waaaay too long for something like that to be possible!"

"Yeah, just together, not together-together." Izuku nervously choked out as he felt his nerves settle, Nora giving him a big old thumbs up in response.

"You've really caught on Fearless Leader!" Nora said with an awkward, forced laugh as she scratched the back of her head. "Anyway, I think I'll go ahead and make me some lunch! See ya around Izuku!" Nora seemed to be in a bit of a hurry to depart as she did so, and he couldn't help but chuckle. As fearless as Nora seemed about talking about such adult problems, she seemed pretty much exactly her age when talking about... whatever the heck it was that was going on with her and Ren.

Maybe it was just a Nora thing.

But Izuku finally turn back to his desk to focus in, ready to continue on with the homework he had been working on before Nora interrupted. The silence would be good and, on some level, he was glad that Nora... was... going to... cook things. In the kitchen.

Presumably with fire.

...

"NORA NO!"

* * *

"Ah, Midoriya!" Izuku flinched slightly, having been called out by his last name of all things in the middle of the hallway. While years of attending school had trained him to reflexively think that sort of thing meant he was in a huge amount of trouble, a thought occurred: he actually recognized the voice calling out to greet him. Izuku turned on his heels to look behind him and, lo and behold, Tenya Iida was running up to him, his hand raised in greeting as he stopped short of running into his shorter classmate.

"Ah, Tenya! Hello, you kind of startled me for a moment." Izuku heaved a slight sigh of relief as Tenya arched a brow. "You really can call me Izuku if you'd like Tenya, I'd be perfectly fine with that... heck, I might even find it preferable." Izuku commented idly as Tenya nodded, his hands rapidly flinging out into several gestures.

"Ah, my apologies... Izuku, I'm afraid that when it comes to our circle of friends that it can be hard for me to break my normal habits when it comes to addressing people!" Izuku knew for a fact that Ruby could attest to that. Still, that Tenya was willing to make an adjustment on Izuku's behalf as well spoke well to the fact that he respected Izuku. "My apologies for startling you as well; with class coming up I knew I might not have such an opportune time to speak with you on your own, so I thought I might seize it. Perhaps I had been a bit hasty... if that hall monitor had spotted me, there'd have been no end to my trouble for today." Tenya adjusted his stance as he thoughtfully stroked his chin, though Izuku gave a small smile. He hadn't really talked to Tenya too much outside of Beacon Leadership Council meetings and, while those were fun, productive and really gave Izuku a lot of insight into the sort of guy Tenya was, it hadn't been quite enough to develop the sort of friendship Izuku had wanted.

If his eagerness was anything to go by, it was something he was keenly interested in too.

"Ah, no worries Tenya. I just spook easily is all." Izuku sought to ease Tenya's worries as he sheepishly scratched as the back of his head, the young, blue haired man just smiling slightly as he looked down at Izuku.

"Save for when it comes to being thrown towards Elder Grimm, it seems. Then all traces of fear seems to abandon you."

"Aw shucks, you really shouldn't keep bringing that up. I've said that it was-"

"Your responsibility, and it was. In that moment you had elected to advise and guide the four of us in our attack. When the plan failed it fell to you to solve the issue... this reality doesn't negate the fact that you did and without hesitation." Izuku again chuckled, embarrassed, as he looked off to the side.

"S-So was there something you wanted to talk about Tenya? You came up pretty suddenly and you looked like you were in a hurry." As if realizing that the two of them had gotten off track from what he had initially wanted to discuss, Tenya slammed his fist into his hand as he gave an energetic nod.

"Ah yes, of course, thank you for reminding me Izuku!" Izuku blanched a bit as Tenya began swinging his arms about, gesturing rapidly. "I'm sure you're aware of our field trip to Mountain Glenn this weekend, more specifically the underground training facility." Izuku nodded before Tenya continued. "Seeing as how you're from Mountain Glenn, I thought I might gleam some information from you about our trip before going, so that I might be better informed on the matter at hand." Izuku blinked curiously as he tilted his head to the side.

"You want to know about The Tunnels?"

"Well, yes, but not just them in specific." Tenya coughed into his fist. "While my family might specialize more in the construction of arms and armor, that hasn't meant we haven't come across Mountain Glenn engineering competing not just broadly with Atlesian construction and mechanical engineering but our own. It's been quite remarkable; for the longest time, Atlas had prided itself on its cities, its defenses and its designs being unchallenged by anyone or anyplace in the Four Kingdoms. It is my pride as a citizen of Atlas that our society has been so advanced and shared those advances... but I'm also keenly aware that the spotlight isn't totally on Atlas anymore. Mountain Glenn has made quite a few waves over the years; its focus on engineering has been bringing it into direct competition with my homeland."

Izuku grimaced a bit as Tenya said that. "Oh, I'm sorry Tenya, I didn't-"

"Don't apologize Izuku, I don't take offense to this fact! Quite the contrary, I've been quite fascinated by what I've read about Mountain Glenn's engineering in what papers the... upper class in Atlas bothers to have printed. While I might not be specialized in architectural engineering myself, I can still very much appreciate it. While it's true that combat and skill in it are vital for Huntsmen to be as good as they are, I would be quite the fool if I didn't acknowledge that myself, what with my family's expertise in making armors that help to increase our capabilities as fighters and defenders... they aren't all-encompassing parts of how humanity defends itself or manages to carve out a living. The train line which connects Mountain Glenn to Vale, the Walls of Vale which not only protect the city proper but offer safe haven to those now living into growing urban areas outside of its walls, the structure of Mistral which encourages a more vertical concentration of population rather than risking spreading people out over a wide area, Vacuo's poor water infrastructure helping to push forward its own desertification…"

"Goodness, one only need look at the differences between 'Mantle' and 'Atlas' to know how important a well designed city or good engineering are towards securing yourself against the Grimm. The fact that Mountain Glenn had seen its own deficiencies and made strides to correct them, such that they've slowly began to out compete Atlesian companies for construction work around Remnant, speaks greatly to Mountain Glenn's progress in this field." With that, Tenya pointed between the two of them.

"Since you and Bakugo are from Mountain Glenn and, well, Bakugo being Bakugo, I thought I might ask you about it. See if I could get some information straight from the horse's mouth so that I might know what to expect." Izuku nodded slowly at Tenya's logic as he consider how best to answer his question.

"I mean, it's kind of hard to put into words for someone who has never been to Mountain Glenn... and it's also hard to put into words because I'm not exactly the expert you or a lot of other people are. I can only speak as someone who grew up there and watched the city grow... but, from that perspective, I really can't help but feel proud that you've got such good things to say about my hometown Tenya." The taller man smiled as he nodded, whereupon Izuku finally transitioned into his main point. "I also can't help but feel proud when I see my home's been doing so well. I was born a while after the entire affair, so I didn't see Mountain Glenn at its worst with my own eyes... but, well, there's been plenty of videos left behind and uploaded onto the CCT that I got a good idea of just how destroyed Mountain Glenn was... and, yeah, it looked about as bad as you could imagine it."

"It's not even that hard to imagine really; even after all these years, Mountain Glenn hasn't fully bounced back. There's still some old buildings, even inside of the walls, that haven't been quite taken care of yet and... well, work outside the wall hasn't even really kicked into gear except for a few things here and there like Birch Academy. Mountain Glenn's been kind of drowning in that shadow for a while... but it's like you said, recently it's turned things around. As much as I might think it's necessary for Huntsmen to focus on actually going out and dealing with Grimm rather than hiding behind walls and waiting on the defense for reinforcements, I can't deny that these years of pouring our time, effort and talent into trying to make the defenses of our home city even better have paid off tremendously, and that we've covered a lot of ground."

"If you're not going out specifically looking for them, the old buildings that haven't been renovated kind of disappear into a sea of the new construction that's been going on ever since the new defenses were finished. No one's quite eager to rebuild Mountain Glenn up as a mini-Vale metropolis because of how few people are living there now compared to before the Grimm attack, so... well, Mountain Glenn's ended up feeling like some kind of middle-ground between the tiny, un-walled villages you sometimes see on the news or in portraits and Grimm. There's some really tall buildings downtown, but they aren't the norm. So it's all actually kind of pretty, provided you don't mind the looming Wall that cuts down on some of the time the city has for natural light. More recently a lot of buildings have been getting redone or renovated again to bring them up to speed with the new practices that have been developed and... well, they look impressive."

"I'm really sorry if this is all sounding a lot more vague than you might've expected; like I said, I'm no expert." Tenya shook his head as he rapidly gestured.

"Nonsense Izuku, even an outside opinion on the matter is appreciated, please continue."

"Alright, well... hmmm... it's been pretty interesting. Grimm attacks have been pretty much non-existent within the city for the past several years when everything got set up. Sure, some slip through the cracks here and there-" Like the one that almost killed Bakugo and him, "-but overall the new defenses really have made living in Mountain Glenn not just feel safe but, well, actually 'be' safe." Izuku stroked his chin. "A lot of Huntsmen and Huntresses usually end up working for construction firms once they leave Birch, because of a lot of them lack the skills necessary to qualify for more Combat Oriented places like Beacon, or they go off to The Atlesian Hunter's Academy to try and ply their education there." Tenya nodded while he just looked back up to the ceiling.

"Oh! The Rail System!" Izuku saw a slight shine across the lens of Tenya's eyeglasses as Izuku pointed to him. "A lot of this is a lot more apparent because it isn't held quite so close to the chest, but they've made a lot of improvements to the Rail System as far as defenses. First off, locked doors, 'everywhere' and in layers. Between the surface of Mountain Glenn and getting down to the actual Rail System there's about five different vault doors. The metal's 'really' thick, like half a foot I think I heard a Huntsman say. The idea is that if things go sour on the surface Mountain Glenn can evacuate down to the Rail System and evacuate while the doors hold off the Grimm." Izuku started making his own hand gestures to try to denote directions. "There's also entrances in between each of the vaulted doors that lead into the place where we're taking our field trip. While The Tunnels are meant to be a training ground, they also double as one gigantic trap; a series of looping, winding halls that end in dozens and dozens of dead ends and open areas. The idea is that Hunters who might be inhabiting the area will set of these little explosives in each of the tunnels so that, once a good number of Grimm just vault in, they'll collapse in on them and deal with them like that."

"Is that safe?" Tenya asked, crossing his arms as he tilted his head to the side. "I mean, these tunnels do run underneath the city, don't they? Surely collapsing some of them would end up leading to structural damage up top in Mountain Glenn?" Izuku shrugged his shoulders; that was one of the details he wasn't sure about... though it did make a certain amount of sense.

"I think the idea is that if Mountain Glenn ever got to the point where it felt it was necessary to collapse The Tunnels to help clear out some Grimm then worrying about stuff up top might not be too much of an overriding concern." Izuku saw Tenya blink a couple times as he brought his gesturing hands to his chin.

"... I suppose I didn't think of it like that. Yes, I do suppose if things ever got that desperate then it would surely mean that your home's surface was compromised."

"Yeah. I don't know much about our surface defenses, mostly because there's a lot of stuff they keep under wraps even from students who're specializing in engineering at Birch, but I have... heard that No Man's Land, the area just outside The Wall, is heavily booby trapped." Izuku 'heard' about it from Toshinori when he took Izuku out to train in No Man's Land for those ten months. While dangerous, and Toshinori had taken him specifically to areas he knew were safe pockets, it was also the only place the two could really hope to train in private where people wouldn't know that Izuku of all people was being trained by the Symbol of Peace and Hope.

Still, Tenya didn't need to know that little detail.

"I don't know the specifics, but every now and then you can hear small explosions going off on the other side of the wall. It's part of the reason Grimm attacks have been so rare; most of them never make it to The Wall these days even if they do get past those who end up scouting the Wilderness for them... and those that do get past those two levels are usually then rounded up by Huntsmen or Huntresses who man The Wall." Izuku crossed his arms as he finally nodded his head. "All with the idea that people will be given time to evacuate on the Rails 'or' that reinforcements will arrive on the Rails and end up pushing the Grimm thread back. Especially if Toshinori Yagi ends up being part of those reinforcements... heck, if he's in the city in the first place, things probably won't wind up getting that bad." That wasn't just Izuku speaking up as a Toshinori fan boy; it was a the official stance of Mountain Glenn. That if Toshinori was in the city at the time of a Grimm attack, most Hunters' duties would revolve around protecting civilians from threats rather than outright evacuation while Toshinori handled the danger...

Only Izuku and a select group of people knew what a dangerous gamble that was with Toshinori's current conditions.

"So... do you 'feel' safe with all this?" Izuku blinked slightly as Tenya asked the question, the blue haired man looking down at his shorter compatriot, "Coming from a family of some of the best engineers that Atlas has to offer 'and' a family with a long and storied tradition of being Hunters, we know above all else that engineering simply can't just 'be' safe in this age of Grimm. If people don't 'feel' safe, don't 'feel' protected, then their negative emotions can inspire the Grimm to mass on their location; even the Walls of Atlas would be strained under a sustained attack by a great host of Grimm, after all. It's part of the reason why my family stresses the knightly aesthetic in our own armor's design; it's something that makes people feel safe and secure, and that idea of being protected and feeling hopeful about your protectors is what makes Toshinori the Symbol of Peace and Hope, after all."

"So... I have to ask. With all of these protections you've listed out for me, did you feel safe, living day to day in Mountain Glenn?"

"Yeah, I guess I did. I think we'd have moved away if either myself or my mother felt we were in danger. Between Toshinori and Mountain Glenn's defenses... even should the worst come to happen, we'd be okay. We had evacuation drills, we had the vault doors, we had Toshinori himself. I can understand if some people would be pretty hesitant about living there, but personally? I felt fine."

Even knowing what Izuku did now, he didn't feel necessarily 'scared' about ever going back to Mountain Glenn. The truth was rough, sure, Toshinori Yagi wasn't able to go Hero all day and there were times where he'd have to push himself to dangerous limits in order to do so... but Toshinori was willing to push those limits. If it was necessary, he'd do what he'd need to in order to save people. That's the man Izuku knew his mentor as. The same held true for all the Hunters of Mountain Glenn; skilled in combat or no, they'd lay their lives on the line and do what they could to see to the defenses, no matter the cost.

And now, with The Governing Council on notice, reinforcements wouldn't be refused for Mountain Glenn.

So... yes. Was it rough knowing the truth? Of course. But... the truth didn't scare him. Because Izuku knew the kind of resolve his protectors had. Heck, he was one of them now; his resolve was that of a Hunter's.

It was a pretty simple answer all told but one that seemed to satisfy Tenya nonetheless. "Well, given your nature for analyzing most things Hunter and in giving your honest opinions on capabilities, skills and what they might mean, I don't have any reason to doubt you Izuku. I'd like to thank you for giving me this opportunity to sate my curiosity; it was quite informative." Izuku smiled and moved to speak to his friend, though as he opened his mouth the bells for the next class suddenly rang. "Oh dear! We've been talking for far too long! We have to hurry!"

"What? What's the rush Tenya, we'll be fine if we're only a little-"

"No, no, no, Mr. Midoriya! We must be on our way! I'd rather not chance an encounter with the... hall monitors while we're out and about, late for our classes!" Before Izuku could question the near panic that seemed to overtake Tenya, the two of them were speeding off to their next class. They didn't end up running into any hall monitors on the way, which at least seemed to make Tenya happy.

* * *

Weiss fumed as she sat on her bed. The recent loss to her leader still fresh on her mind. _'How dare he! Not only did he not give me a proper fight, but he had the gall to manhandle me like that! The pervert probably enjoyed getting to rub his hands all over me like that.'_

The Heiress was pulled from her thoughts as she was suddenly tackled by one of her teammates.

"Hey, Partner!" Nora greeted from her position on top of Weiss. "How's it going?"

"How do you think!" Weiss snapped as she shoved her partner off of her. Honestly, Nora was probably the clingiest person...

Weiss blinked as an idea occurred to her. She immediately recognized it as one of the worst idea's she ever had, but it was an idea nonetheless.

"Uh, you okay, Partner?" Nora asked as she waved a hand in front of her partner's face.

"Do that again." was all Weiss said as she got up.

"Do what again?" Nora asked as she tilted her head in confusion.

"Tackle me." Weiss replied instantly, not giving herself a chance to change her mind.

"Okay." the hyper girl said before slamming into the Heiress.

"Again." Weiss demanded as she shoved her partner off of her.

"Uh, not that this isn't fun, because it really really is, but what's going on?" Nora asked as she stood up.

Weiss let out a sigh. "As I'm sure you're aware, our leader recently highlighted a... flaw in my fighting style. To prevent such an embarrassment from happening again, I've decided that I need as much experience removing myself from such holds as I possibly can."

The white haired girl felt a shiver move down her spine as her partner looked at her with a wicked grin on her face.

"If you insist!" Nora yelled as she wrapped her arms around Weiss and lifted the smaller girl off of her bed.

"Nora!" Weiss screamed in panic as her partner squeezed her in a bear hug.

"You asked for this, Partner!" Nora cheered as she began to twirl and swing her partner around like an oversized doll.

"I've changed my mind! I've changed my mind!"

* * *

 **E/N: Ending us off we have Meanwhile by NMS**

 **-Shovern**


	47. Head to Head, Heart to Heart

Pyrrha steeled herself for a moment before knocking on the door. This wasn't gonna be easy. After hearing Weiss answer, the redhead opened the door and entered the room Weiss had secluded herself into, apparently studying some class material.

"Hello Weiss. If you have some time, could we maybe talk a little?

Weiss only looked up for but a moment, but it was enough to tell Pyrrha her assessment had been right. The girl was clearly annoyed by the interruption.

"I can see where this is going and I'm not in the mood to talk about Izuku, Pyrrha. He shouldn't have sent you, as there really isn't anything to talk about in the first place. We fought and I lost and that is all that happened."

Pyrrha smiled a saccharine smile. One of those her manager would have been rather proud of. She couldn't help be glad about the fact Weiss just handed her the momentum of the conversation. While Pyrrha felt conflicted about it, she also felt she had something to say that Weiss needed to hear.

Pyrrha Nikos treasured her new friends and she wouldn't stand idly aside if something was so obviously amiss between them. Even if it meant she had to resort to doing something she disliked in order to say what was necessary. Time for the opening shots.

"Well... I assure you, Weiss, I'm very much my own person and no-one _asked_ me to come here. If there is nothing to talk about, would you be willing to just listen to me for a moment? It shouldn't take long."

Weiss Schnee chided herself for blurting out a suspicion like that without clear evidence. Even if she was right, and given Pyrrha's caring nature Weiss wasn't entirely sure about that, it would have been a mistake to put it that way regardless. She had been taught better. Weiss Schnee had much experience in the art of talking politely regardless of any actual feelings, like her current state of irritation. It wasn't as if she had any problem with Pyrrha in the first place and she didn't want to come off as rude to a teammate without any real reason. Especially not one that she respected a good deal.

She still planned to get this talk over with soon though. Weiss Schnee prepared all her social expertise to cut the talk as short as possible, but without making herself look like some uncultured buffoon, obviously.

"I apologize. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. I'll gladly listen to you, Pyrrha. Why, won't you take a seat while we talk?"

Pyrrha sat down, collecting her thoughts for a moment. While she had gone through what she wanted to say, it wasn't easy for her opening up like that.

"During my time as a tournament fighter... there was a point people took notice of me winning again and again. I went from an underrated fighter to a mid-level card, making my way through the ranks. In time they started calling me "The Invincible girl"." Pyrrha's lips sank slightly at mentioning that moniker.

Weiss took note of the Mistrali girl's distaste at something that should have filled her with pride. She filed that fact away for later analysis, but kept listening as she didn't quite get yet what Pyrrha's argumentation was aiming towards.

"I don't know if you realize it, but I'm rather good at listening, listening to the whispers of people surrounding me. I take it you are as well, considering your upbringing and circle of society you belong to. Where every move you make and any word you and other people say is viewed in the light of politics."

Weiss nodded. Of course that was second nature to her, as much as she currently wished to be able to stop listening in automatically to all the students ridiculing and badmouthing her in the wake of that indignant spar defeat. Considering the Mistrali way of life, it came as no surprise Pyrrha would have some experience with that as well, as a prized combatant would be allowed to enter the highest Mistrali social circles as an exciting and entertaining oddity to observe.

"For me, it came as part of the territory as the "Invincible Girl", standing at the top, aloof of the meager competition below her. It added to my legend. It wasn't how I felt or what I wanted, but it was an essential part of how my moniker worked, to instill doubt into my enemies before a bout even started. I had to stay distanced from people and appear unapproachable. In time I was essentially forced to become a good listener to what people said around me, as it slowly became my only source of information."

Weiss took note of that information as well. She had expected some of it, given the distaste for that Pyrrha had shown at times and her hesitance to talk much about it. If anything, only the extent of the girl's feelings surprised Weiss a little.

"But before I got famous, I actually had a rough start. There was a brief time people actually stopped talking about my abilities and instead talked about my opponents and how they should have beaten me. That they messed up in some way, so I could snatch a win. The whispers changed their tone quickly enough, but it still bothered me until they did."

Weiss added the unsaid part in her mind. Pyrrha Nikos hadn't gone into extensive detail about her Semblance, but Weiss knew enough about it as part of Izuku's strategy meetings to know the girl tended to keep its use rather subtle. It didn't require much imagination to see how her early victories through subtly manipulating her opponent's moves and movements may have looked like her opponents messing up and handing her an easy win. Only the fact Pyrrha Nikos, the "Invincible Girl" was able to repeat such a performance again and again had let people gain the impression the girl was just that skilled to force people into mistakes instead.

The Mistrali girl folded her hands, dodging Weiss' gaze. Now came the hard part.

"When Izuku lost his first fight, in a single hit even, people regarded him as weak. When he won against his next opponent, most just called it a fluke. When he fought against Bakugo and went far and beyond in that fight... there was a good amount of people who still considered it "just luck" - as if there were any battles that were free of coincidences and as if it weren't a vital part of combat to recognize and make the most of such short-timed opportunities."

"Pyrrha, I really don't see where this is going. I never denied Izuku having improved by leap and bounds. Also I..."

"Weiss, I'm sorry, but I wasn't quite finished. Please bear with me for just a moment longer.", Pyrrha disrupted her, wearing a slight scowl at being interrupted. A scowl Weiss suspected was all too calculated. She really ran into this one.

Weiss indignantly crinkled her nose, but silently nodded. The Mistrali was a little better at the game than she expected. Weiss would stay silent for now, underestimating someone was beneath her and a dangerous habit to get into, regardless of what kind of combat she faced.

"I trust you're aware there were a good number of people who didn't look at Izuku's capabilities at all, but at Bakugo's instead. Who came to the conclusion that Katsuki Bakugo must be weak if he lost to someone like Izuku. Which is pretty much the same situation you're in right now."

Weiss didn't move an inch, but her gaze got a little harder. Most would have overlooked it, but Pyrrha wasn't just anyone. She'd always been a keen observer and her subtle use of her Semblance all but required an attention to detail and thus had only honed that ability. She hurried to strike the iron while it was hot and malleable, before that cold gaze would cool it into a hardened shape that wouldn't bend to anyone or anything. She expected Weiss to politely disrupt her any time now and the same trick wouldn't work twice, so she had to quickly speak the rest of her piece.

"Weiss, I realize you must be angry, it surely would annoy anyone to hear people whispering or cracking jokes about oneself. While maybe the first time this has happened to you, Izuku spent most of his life that way. And now, when he has finally found some strength..."

"It is not him that people are acknowledging, no, now people, instead of calling _him_ weak, have started to call his opponents the very same."

Pyrrha looked into Weiss eyes.

"Weiss, you know that Izuku usually apologizes profusely for even the most meager things or any imagined slights. Isn't the fact he didn't apologize to you for your spar telling? He must consider himself to be in the right by having taken you serious enough. And resort to abusing any weakness he saw to stand a chance at beating someone as powerful as you, no matter how it may look like to anyone else. And I think each insult against you he hears must also feel like an insult to him, both due to disrespecting his important teammate as well as selling both of your efforts short. It surely feels that way to me as well."

Pyrrha's hands shook slightly, but she pressed through her inhibitions. Surely it was much more difficult for Weiss to hear than for her to say it, so it was the least of effort she could give to help her precious team!

"Think of all the times Izuku provided a strategy for us, carefully taking all our strengths, talents and weaknesses into account. Considering how often we all trained together or talked strategy, can you truly tell me that you ever felt like Izuku was looking down on you or any of us`, except to some degree on himself? Do you think that I, your team mate, your partner Nora or anyone of our friends would ever think like that?"

While Weiss really just wanted to tell Pyrrha what Izuku felt like wasn't exactly concerning her in the least right now, something held her back. Something in Pyrrha's words had struck a chord within her.

 _"A good result."_

 _"Well, the girl is a member of the esteemed Schnee family, it's only to be expected. Anything else wouldn't have sufficed."_

 _"Considering her background, it's honestly no wonder she did well. A powerful inheritable Semblance handed to her on a silver platter as well as the girl probably being trained by the best teachers money can buy to boot. It would have been a surprise and an embarrassment if she didn't do at least this well."_

 _"Look Father, I placed first again. This time it was actually a little exciting, there was actually a boy who did give me some competition, so I had to take some calculated risk and it paid off handsomely! I..."_

 _"Not now Weiss. Winter, we talked about this. Even Weiss is doing her duty at least, why can't you just do what's expected of you as well?"_

Weiss almost sighed, before calling herself to order. Not having your effort be acknowledged, it just being taken for granted or explained away on the grounds of being a Schnee or in some other way was actually something Weiss could relate to all too well, not that Pyrrha would know about that. It was a little surprising Pyrrha had that experience as well. And she admittedly hadn't thought about it like that at all so far.

But she still couldn't help feeling a bit betrayed by Izuku. She didn't care if it was petty! After that impressive fight with Yang, the lengths Izuku had went to in order to answer and live up to the blonde brawler's expectations of him...

Just why didn't he want to have a _proper_ fight with her, his own teammate!, when he happily gave one to just about everyone else? He had even challenged her himself, so was it really that hard for the thick headed idiot to realize that Weiss might have looked a little forward to their spar?

And then he just... had disappointed her expectations.

Brutally.

Even if it was a valid tactic and she had been just as eager to win as he had been, even when she shouldn't have had any silly expectations to begin with!

The way he behaved so chivalrous at times, how he had been scared about inadvertently touching her inappropriately during all their dance lessons...

Just how the hell had Weiss been supposed to expect him to change into a brute octopus of all things, latching onto her like that out of the blue, with seemingly more limbs than he had any right to have! In front of everyone, for crying out loud? What kind of bi-polar attitude was that anyways, it had been entirely out of character for Izuku compared to his usual behavior!

Weiss breathed in to find her focus again.

Admittedly Izuku's demeanor had changed during combat before, so maybe she should have been forewarned. But still!

Some of her feelings must have shown on her face. Or maybe Pyrrha was even better at reading people than Weiss had given the girl credit for so far. She did have previous experience, just like herself. Something to keep in mind for future interactions. Weiss was painfully aware right now she might have just lost another kind of spar.

The Mistrali girl stood up.

"I suppose I shouldn't disturb your studies any longer, Weiss. I'm sorry, I didn't want to bother you, after all."

 _"Sure you did. You wanted to say your piece to not let me stew on all this by myself."_ , the young Schnee thought.

Weiss looked at the tall girl, undecided what to answer to her. Not that she could stay silent, the girl's self-accusation stood in the room and the ball was in Weiss field due to that. It was only proper manners to deny Pyrrha taking blame on herself. She'd have to put up a brave front regardless of how she actually felt about the girl's meddling.

The redhead turned towards the door and was about to leave, when she heard Weiss call after her.

"It wasn't a bother, actually. I value your adv... opinion. Thank you Pyrrha."

Pyrrha gave her teammate a look... and smiled.

Weiss couldn't help but notice the difference between this smile and the first smile Pyrrha had worn today when initially catching Weiss on the wrong foot.

"You're welcome", Pyrrha Nikos said as she left the room, leaving Weiss alone with her thoughts again.

The Schnee heiress was slightly surprised by herself. While she knew she was a good actress, that last sentence had come out so genuine not because it was intended to, but because Weiss... actually felt that way. While it had been something of a spar of its own, on the verbal battlefield intimately known to someone of her class, a spar that she essentially lost as well...

Weiss simply couldn't deny she actually believed Pyrrha genuinely tried to help her. That she actually cared. Somehow that made all the difference to Weiss, taking the sting of the loss right now away to some degree. Or maybe it was just that this bout between team mates had been in private, unlike that travesty with Izuku.

Weiss reprimanded herself in short order for getting so sentimental. As much as having good team mates... friends... mattered, her main goal was to grow stronger. Weiss Schnee wouldn't let this current setback slow her down.

It wasn't the time for idleness, if anything these current events had shown she might be a little too set in her ways and needed to evolve, not just her fighting style, but also as a person of her own.

Then again, hadn't that been the initial reason Weiss Schnee had wanted to attend Beacon in the first place, despite all the obstacles put in her way to force her into Atlas Academy?

Weiss Schnee concentrated on her studies again with renewed vigor.

* * *

"Huh? You want to know what Weiss is like?"

"Yeah that's pretty much what I just said Izuku, ribbit ribbit."

Izuku and Tsuyu had actually taken another opportunity to hang out; after so long of just not speaking to her or not hanging out with one of the few people he hadn't directly met on Initiation Day, the two had once again arranged for a bit of time to hang out; a quick walk around the school's grounds. It had been an activity that he'd actually learned to enjoy quite a bit both thanks to the natural beauty and the sense of fresh air and light exercise he got. Izuku really had to hand it to Toshinori, it was a really neat way of just clearing his head or, even, giving himself something to do while he talked to one of his friends. There had been some light conversation between them as they discussed this or that but, a ways into the conversation, Tsuyu just seemed to blurt out, seemingly out of the blue, that she wondered what Weiss Schnee was actually like. It had surprised Izuku, though not because Tsuyu asked the question in the first place; Tsuyu was incredibly blunt, and he knew for a fact that if the frog Faunus was actually curious about this, she wouldn't hesitate to ask.

What did surprise Izuku was that she was curious in the first place.

"Why do you ask: I know you and Weiss have hung out a bit, and we all pretty much mix up as we eat together. I figured you two would've talked by now." Tsuyu nodded as she brought one of her long fingers up to just underneath her lips, the motion and pose he'd come to associate with Tsuyu taking a moment to think something over.

"That's true, and it has been pretty enlightening." Tsuyu gave Izuku that ever present, even expression of hers as she continued. "I'm sure you can imagine that even Faunus who aren't part of the White Fang have certain... conceptions about the Schnee Family and the SDC, right?" Izuku nodded; considering how 'big' the Schnees were when it came to the topic of Faunus rights and the treatment of them by businesses, it was absolutely no surprise to him that the Faunus community at large would have an opinion about them. Heck, it was like most humans, even those who hadn't even encountered a member of the group before, having an opinion about The White Fang; it was kind of natural, all things considered. "Well, my family really was no different. Even if we weren't big into the whole White Fang thing after Ghira abandoned everything to Sienna Khan, that didn't necessarily mean we still didn't hear stuff about the Schnees or hear rumors about the kind of stuff they did or what they were like."

"Yeah, I can imagine. Jacques Schnee doesn't exactly leave a good impression with people." Indeed, from what baseline rumors he'd heard, Jacques Schnee didn't seem like... well, much of a 'great' person, to put it kindly. Tsuyu nodded as she looked out across the campus.

"Yeah; don't get me wrong, the stuff about the Schnee Dust Company treating Faunus workers... 'okay' is true enough, I guess, but only if you put that into the context of how we used to be treated and how some places in Vacuo still treat us. It still isn't great, not by a long shot, ribbit ribbit." Tsuyu shrugged at that. "So it was pretty natural to hear about the bad stuff the guy did with his company... and the kind of jerk he seemed like in general. You really didn't hear much about the rest of his family in specific; nah, that was usually left up to that vague title of 'The Schnee Family' when discussing people beyond just Jacques. So... well, you can probably imagine that it's really easy to just have stereotypes about the entire family being rotten to the core, right?"

"Yeah, I can Tsu." Izuku placed his hands into his pockets as he spoke; after all, there were more than a few stereotypes about the Faunus all being terrorists thanks to the White Fang.

"Right. Personally, I wasn't sure what to believe; I try to always do my best to read a situation based on what I personally know, and I thought I was never going to meet Weiss Schnee or the rest of her family in person. Yeah, I'd never meet Jacques Schnee in person either, but his reputation has preceded him so greatly that I figure I know enough. With someone like Weiss or anyone else in her family, I just don't know much beyond the fact that they're related to Jacques Schnee... which seems like an unfair benchmark to judge someone by. But I figured it wouldn't matter; Weiss Schnee was set to inherit the SDC and she lived in Atlas while I lived in Vale. I figured I'd never actually get the chance to sate my curiosity. Then, what do you know, Weiss Schnee not only comes to Vale, but she comes to Vale in 'my' class of Hunters. What are the odds, right? Ribbit ribbit."

"Yeah, what are the odds?" Izuku idly wondered that; all things considered, his class did seem... weirdly exceptional, especially among his group of friends. Tenya Iida, member of the Iida Family of Hunter Engineers, Shoto Todoroki, son of the Number 2 Huntsman, Weiss Schnee, next in line to inherit the SDC, Pyrrha Nikos, some kind of famous Mistrali Tournament Fighter, Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long, children of the well known Team STRQ... and Izuku himself, the young man who was going to inherit One For All and succeed Toshinori Yagi as The Symbol of Peace.

It really was a stacked group of friends he'd ended up in, not even mentioning how exceptional everyone else was.

"Anyway, so why are you asking me about Weiss rather than asking Weiss yourself? Or talking to her more?" Tsuyu just gave one of those 'well duh' smiles that she tended to give whenever she was bluntly making a point.

"Well obviously because if she's actually terrible then she'll just put up a front." Izuku resisted the urge to slap his forehead slightly. Leave it to Tsuyu to just say something like that so bluntly and so plainly. It really was just like it. "More seriously, she does seem like a nice person and I do sympathize with her having been a target of The White Fang despite having nothing to do with the SDC except being born from some jerk. Still... fact remains that she was brought up in high society, and those people tend to be able to act really well around each other. Could be that her pleasant demeanor is just a shell and that she's actually a bit more of a jerk. Her lashing out from time to time might suggest that too, unless that's just her actually acting her age, which would be funny, ribbit ribbit." He nodded in understanding.

"So I figured if anyone would know, it'd be you; after all, she's your teammate." Izuku nodded again, but...

"Then why not ask Nora? She's her partner." Tsuyu blinked.

"You think that after hearing her tell all those tall tales about so much stuff, even stuff we were there for, and her weird relation with Ren that I'd trust her description of Weiss?"

...

"Fair point."

"Ribbit ribbit."

"Weiss is... well, I can't say she's everything I expected her to be, since I didn't even recognize her when we first met. I think that surprised her enough to catch her off guard a bit, in all honesty." Izuku remarked as he scratched at his chin.

"Really? You didn't recognize Weiss Schnee of all people?" Tsuyu touched her hand to her chin as she looked up at the sky. "Distinctive white hair, blue eyes, obviously upper class... it would've been hard for most people to miss." Izuku chuckled, a small blush heating up his cheeks.

"Would you believe that I still didn't know she was the Heiress to the SDC when she told me her name?" Tsuyu actually blinked at that, her expression giving its best 'shocked' that he thought she could managed.

"Man Izuku, for as smart as you are, you can be pretty thick sometimes, ribbit ribbit." Izuku nodded; there was no fighting that, after all. She was 100% right by his reckoning.

"Yeah, I know. Anyway, I don't think you're too off the mark with the high society thing there, though. Her attitude and mannerisms all scream of a privileged lifestyle... and all the trappings that come with it." He crossed his arms as he tilted his head to the side. "Weiss has taught me a bit about to handle myself in her social circles, figured I'd need to know if I was going to be like Toshinori, so I actually got some insight to it... it sounds pretty tough, actually. The really rigorous demands placed on her by her family and the need to put on a good face every time she ventured out in public or doubtlessly had to attend some kind of formal event. It might sound fun from the outside but... well, it sounds like you're also constantly putting on a face and never being allowed to slip it off, unless you want to do damage to your name and to your family's name."

"I've heard Atlesian High Society in particular is pretty cutthroat, what with so many of them being business people, ribbit ribbit." Tsuyu scratches her head a bit. "I can't entirely say that I'm wholly sympathetic, she's still rich, but I can understand that being at least annoying." Izuku nodded in agreement as he raised a finger.

"Plus you have to consider all the stress of having a target on her back just by being affiliated with the SDC, let alone being the Heiress. Like you yourself said... she faces a lot of prejudice just from her name in Faunus circles, and much more negatively with The White Fang." Tsuyu had nothing to add to that, just a nod of agreement coming from the frog Faunus. "I think a lot of her outbursts could easily be credited to Beacon finally being the chance she needed to let off some pent-up steam and act more like herself, so I don't think that's entirely on her."

"All well and good, Izuku, but I was also wondering what you thought of her as a person, not just as the person she puts herself up as being." Izuku scratched at his cheek, the blush from earlier returning

"Yeah, you're right Tsu. Anyway... to answer your question, to me, she's a lot more than just the Schnee Heiress. A fellow Hunter-in-training, a teammate, a dancing instructor-yeah, she's giving me lessons-a sparring partner, but most of all? She's a friend. I could go on and on about her virtues all day, how incredibly driven and focused she is to follow her dream of being a Huntress here at Beacon, how genuinely helpful she is when we're struggling with one of Oobleck's assignments at ten in the evening, how patient she is when I accidentally step on her foot when she's teaching me how to waltz again... Anyone who'd call her an Ice Queen would be dead wrong. She's little bit cold at first, sure, but she thaws as soon as you get to know her better."

Tsuyu nodded along with that, her tongue sticking out momentarily as her thoughts ran through. "That all sounds well and good. It sounds a lot like Tenya; yeah, some major differences, but for someone who grew up in Atlas' high society, he's a pretty personable person too." Izuku nodded, having gotten that impress quite well at that point. "I got the same impression from talking with Weiss... but it was just that, an impression. I know Tenya's the way he is because he's our leader and we spend a lot of time with him. It's easy to see what he's actually like because he's like it pretty much all the time; guy wears his heart on his sleeve." Tsuyu tilted her head. "I suppose with Weiss... she does a better job of 'acting' differently than Tenya, I guess is how I'd put it. She does have those two aspects of her, one the more high society girl and the other the more outspoken person."

"I guess I just find it weird is all." Izuku looked down at Tsuyu as the frog girl looked up at him. "I mean, with Tenya I could understand becoming a Hunter and coming to Beacon; its tradition for his family and Beacon is the best of the best. With Weiss... I dunno, I guess I wonder if I lived like she did if I'd honestly want to leave that world to be a Hunter. As tough as it might be... you gotta imagine it'd be pretty cozy. Certainly would be a more comfortable life for my folks when raising my siblings and I." Tsuyu said with a bit of a cheeky grin. "What about you Izuku? We grew up in pretty similar circumstances; life of the rich and fancy has to sound 'a little' appealing, right, ribbit ribbit?"

Izuku tapped his finger to his chin as he considered it. He thought about all the things Weiss could afford; the fancy food she brought in whenever Nora begged her to go out and bring something back to the dorm for them all to eat, her fine clothes, Myrtenaster which itself had to cost a fortune, all that jewelry that even Pyrrha seemed to look at with some envy from time to time, 'cake' servants. No, not just servants, but a set of servants specifically designated to 'bake cakes', on top of all the other kinds of servants. A big house with all the things he and his could ever want in it and all the modern comforts of life, all without his mother or dad having to work themselves to the bone to maintain it... he, Izuku Midoriya, may have been a pretty earnest and humble kid, but even he couldn't lie-

"That all does sound 'pretty swanky'." Tsuyu nodded in agreement as she placed a finger to her chin, Izuku scratching at his own in thought as they both consider the possibilities. "My mom and dad wouldn't have to work hard and could actually spend more time with each other, and with me. That'd be pretty nice."

"My little siblings could have babysitters so I wouldn't have to be the go-to choice for having to take care of them way back when, ribbit ribbit." Tsuyu looked over at Izuku. "Don't get me wrong, I love the little tadpoles, but it got a little exhausting from time to time." He couldn't 'exactly' understand it thanks to having been an only child, but he supposed he could imagine it. He also wondered if it was slightly racist to refer to her siblings as 'tadpoles', but given that she was a Frog Faunus, maybe it was okay for her?

"I wouldn't have had to worry about my training at all... heck, I could've afforded the best gear and Dust money could have bought."

"Oh yeah, it would've made setting up for coming to Beacon a breeze." Tsuyu nodded in agreement as they both considered all the possibilities. The life and styling of the rich and famous were certainly appealing in their own way, there was no denying that. However...

"But it seems it has a lot of responsibilities and problems to deal with. I don't know exactly how much is true, but Weiss feels she has a lot to live up to for her name. Like you said, it seems like she has to act with a certain level of decorum even with her friends. When I think about it, I can't even imagine how it'd be in high society, with all the little bits of etiquette and rules you have to live around without a chance to relax and just be yourself, as if being your own person was a bad thing." Tsuyu stuck out her tongue for a moment as she took that all in, the Frog Faunus tapping her chin again as she nodded.

"Yeah, that's pretty well baked in at this point though, ribbit ribbit." Izuku raised his hand in consideration.

"And when you're rich like that, you have to wonder how many people are your friends because they care, and not just because of your money? I mean, heck, when I first approached Weiss she thought I was only approaching her because she was the Schnee Company Heiress, and it was a 'surprise' when I didn't know who she was. That kind of living or thinking can't really be fun, and I much prefer having friends that like me even when they know I'm broke." Tsuyu scratched her cheek... but this time she does fully concede.

"That does sound pretty lonely, ribbit ribbit. I know I definitely prefer how my own team's been working out without any of us really being... well no, I guess Tenya's pretty rich, but he doesn't act like it." Tsuyu tilted her head to the side as she frowned. "I wonder why he seems to outside of what seems normal for Atlesian socialites." Izuku also shrugged.

"Maybe that's something to ask him another time, Tsu?" Tsuyu nodded in agreement before he stared on ahead. "Still, I know that even if I was rich like her, I'd still be a Hunter. It's my dream, and I wouldn't give up that, or all the great friends I'm making, for all the lien in the world." The Frog Faunus gave one of those rare grins again as she just lowered her hands to her side.

"That's pretty sappy there Izuku, ribbit ribbit." Izuku couldn't help but blush at that, but Tsuyu seemed well meaning. "I guess I can't disagree either. Not rich as my family is, I've definitely enjoyed life so far... and my time here at Beacon's been pretty great." Tsuyu looked back over to him, her neutral expression returned to her face. "Just kind of fun to imagine 'what could be' you know? Nice to just let your mind wander from time to time." Izuku nodded in agreement as the two of them walked along, devolving into light conversation as time passed. Izuku really couldn't disagree with Tsuyu's assertion; it was nice to just let his mind wander with what could've been. After all, that's a lot of what he did before Toshinori actually gave him a hope of 'actually' being a Hunter... imagining that he could be.

It was good to dream... but it was even better when dreams came true.

'Who knew, maybe me and Tsuyu will be rich someday off of being famous Hunters?'

* * *

...

'Well this isn't awkward at all, is it?'

When Izuku'd thought up the list of people he'd considered to try and bring in to taste test his most recent attempt at baking, his mind had run through the possibilities. For one reason or another his mind kept wandering on back to Weiss... and he couldn't lie to himself, it made him nervous. He understood 'why' his mind kept bringing up Weiss as the person he should try to have taste test his cooking. The weekend had been a little awkward as Weiss, while she hadn't been out and out hostile to him, was clearly still miffed about the result of their fight. Whipping up something nice and then maybe trying to talk to her sounded like a surefire way of breaking the ice so that he could try to see if the two could work past this bit of embarrassment on both of their parts.

So, steeling himself, he'd sent a message out to Weiss asking if she'd like to hang out for a bit. There was a slight pause in the reply before Weiss answered back, saying that she... wasn't sure. She had a few things to do after all. Not taking that as an out and out no, he had pressed forward, saying that he was going to try to practice his baking for future potential parties, seeing as how everyone liked his cake so much.

...

Less than a minute later, Weiss replied saying she'd come to taste test his cooking.

It wasn't a particularly proud or, very much, happy Weiss Schnee that sat staring a hole into the back of his head while he baked some new cake recipe, but hey, at least Weiss was there... however hesitantly.

That hesitance seemed to be making itself known through the fact that, right now, he and Weiss hadn't exactly talked to each other since she had arrived. It had been dead silent in the kitchen save for his cooking instruments clacking together every now and then.

...

'Okay, this is getting us nowhere.'

"Weiss..." The Schnee Company Heiress turned to face Izuku as he spoke up. "As much as this is going to anger you, I don't regret for using the strategy I did when I fought you last week. I didn't think clearly on how anyone would react to my strategy and I am really sorry for that, but I don't regret choosing what I thought was the best course of action to win." There was a distinctive dip in Weiss' lips as he spoke, her eyebrow arching at his start. Izuku coughed into his fist lightly, but he tried to throttle through. "Despite what everyone else might think, I don't try to have flashy battles, I just try to win using what I thought was the best way to fight my opponent. My first two combat class spars weren't really great just standard fights between two decent huntsman in training. Against Kacchan, while it was mainly due to luck, honestly my main goal was to disable him by throwing him around as much as possible and take advantage of when he was disoriented to chip down his aura. Against Yang, I was just trying to copy Owari's strategy by staying far away from Yang and taking pot shots at her using Glenn Smash, and if I needed to use Judo to throw her away from me as far as possible, because in a straight fight because-"

"Oh Gods, Izuku, 'shut up'." Izuku flinched back a bit at the clearly annoyed tone pervading Weiss' voice as she rubbed at her temples, the young woman's light blue eyes looking at him. "You really don't understand why I was upset at all, do you? You start off saying you don't regret your strategy, something I can understand, and then you immediately try to... what, numb my embarrassment over the strategy you picked by going into every 'minute' detail over every other fight? Izuku, 'I was there for them', I got that picture."

"Weiss, I'm just trying to explain that when I get into a flashy spar, it's just the-"

"Izuku..." Weiss sounds exasperated as she stands up, the Heiress got up onto her feet and rubbed her temples. "Do you think I care why the other fights turned out the way they did? Yes, of course I was upset that 'I thought' that our fight was going to be an actual fight like the others! Yeah, I was even excited for it and it stung that it didn't turn out like that... 'especially' when it ended up the way it did. But you know what Izuku? I can understand why you chose the strategy you did! I was upset and embarrassed but after thinking it out and having a chat with Pyrrha, I could at least understand that much. I didn't need it explained to me 'again'." Weiss placed her hands on her hips. "You want to know what I 'don't' understand though, Izuku Midoriya? What I 'actually' care about in all of this? Why, if that was your big plan, you bothered with the fight in the first place then?"

"Huh?"

"If this was going to be your strategy for beating me, pinning me down and just punching me in the face while I can't do anything, why bother singling me out? If the fight was going to be that unimpressive, that little of a challenge for you, why did you decide to 'pick me' for the fight. Izuku we've sparred together! YOU KNEW I COULDN'T HANDLE YOU IN CLOSE COMBAT 'AT ALL'! That was priced in to everything you had to be thinking of before the fight!" Weiss prodded him in the forehead a couple times as she drilled the point in. "I can understand Owari and Mitsu: they were Huntsmen you thought you could stand a chance against in a fight despite their skills, and Katsuki and Yang 'picked you' so of course you just did whatever you could to survive. Yang picked you for a good fight and, as insane as Katsuki's reasons are for picking you, at least I can 'understand' them. What I still can't understand is if you were going to treat a fight with me like that from the beginning, knowing that you weren't going to give me any kind of straight fight, why you bothered in the first place. I 'honestly' still can't fathom what you were going to get out of a fight where you just pinned me to the ground and didn't let me fight back at all."

"Weiss, I... no, wait a second..." As he thought about Weiss' point, he came to a bit of a realization; Weiss had a point. He hadn't really thought about how she might feel about him having gone after her for the fight; that really hadn't factored in at all. He'd completely ignored that avenue and... well, now that he had, he kind of felt like blockhead. "Now that you've spelled it out for me... I understand why you're mad at me. I didn't look at it like that at all." Weiss rolled her eyes in response.

"Clearly." However, Izuku did watch as Weiss backed off just a smidgen, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked up at him... while simultaneously still feeling like she's 'way' taller than he was and, in fact, looking down at him. How Weiss managed to pull off that trick was still a mystery to him, but regardless, she had backed off the pressure a bit, seeming like she was waiting to hear an answer.

"When I decided to challenge you... I was thinking about our promise from the beginning of the semester. That I was going to show I was worthy of leading the this team. It was a spur of the moment thing and... to be honest, my plan was kind of thought up on the spot." Weiss looked slightly incredulous at that.

"So what, beating me... no." Weiss sighed as she shook her head. "Showing you were stronger now was supposed to win me over... I guess given the precedent that Bakugo set up, that's reasonable." Weiss frowned though as she looked up at him critically. "I have a hard time believing the plan was thought up on the spot, though, especially coming from you." He raised his hands.

"It's the truth! I really wasn't prepared to fight you, or any of our teammates, this early. Honestly, I'd only done rudimentary analysis of you all, like I do with everyone... Kacchan was someone that I've known forever and I'd been sparring with Yang for a while by then. I had 'a lot' of time to think about what I'd need to do or what I could take advantage with them, but... well, when your name was called up I just kind of just raised my hand by reflex."

"Well we saw how that turned out." Weiss said dryly as she looked off to the side, a frustrated bit of embarrassment etching itself onto her face.

"Weiss, I swear I didn't pick you because I thought the fight would turn out that easily or that I thought you'd be an easy opponent. I did it because you're always helping me in teaching and stuff and... well, I thought this was sometime I could turn around and help keep up our promise. But because this entire thing was such a spur-of-the-moment kind of ordeal... I was thinking of my plan on 'how' to fight you literally up to the second before Glynda called for the fight to start. So... I panicked and just did the first thing that came to mind, forgetting about 'why' I'd volunteered for this fight in the first place." Izuku frowned as he crossed his arms, looking off to the side. "I was so focused on how I can keep up, I didn't really consider how it looked or how you felt until we were... you know." Weiss nodded again as she coughed into her fist.

"Well, I'm glad that it became so obvious in hindsight..." Weiss still sounded bothered, but it was clear that her anger was diminishing. With that, Izuku actually went ahead and gave a quick nod as he looked Weiss in the eyes.

"Weiss, I'm sorry for how inconsiderately I acted. I promise I will do my best not to let that happen again in the future, and I hope to earn your forgiveness and help us all improve like I said I would. Though, to be on the safe side, I'd like your help in making sure I don't act like a blockhead again." Weiss watched him for a moment, biting the corner of her lip in some thought. Though that seemed like more of a ploy as, soon enough, Weiss just sighed as she shook her head.

"... I guess I did say I'd do my best to be a good teammate and make sure you didn't screw up. Guess I just didn't see... this situation coming." Weiss looked up at you as she huffed a bit. "I guess it'd behoove me to give you another chance after all the good you've done. No point burning bridges over a mistake like this..." One could tell that Weiss was putting on airs, trying to sound a little more in control than she actually was... but there's a good humor underlying her words that make the actual meaning clear; 'I accept your apology, can we please move on from this mess'.

Izuku gave a sigh of relief as he bowed his head slightly, a dramatic gesture that earned an eye roll from Weiss. "Thanks Weiss, appreciated. Now... how about I cook us up something to kind of seal the deal? Just..." He picked up a nearby cookbook as he gave Weiss a slightly pleading look. "Nothing 'too' crazy, okay?" The Schnee Heiress just nodded as she placed a finger to her lips in thought before making her choice.

It was a bit tough, and she seemed to take enjoyed quite a bit of amusement at his fumbling with the ingredients, but, on some level, the genuine smile that had developed on her face by the end of the experience made the whole thing worth it.

* * *

 **E/N: Starting us off we have "A Different Battleground" by Vandalgyon.**

 **-Shovern**

 **A/N: Same as usual when I accidentally miss a day, I'll stick with the same update Schedule. Update will still come out on the 8th.**

 **-gorilla_fingers**


	48. Books and Their Meanings

'This is…'

'Serene.'

Izuku saw Blake out in the distance of Beacon's School Grounds and, having so recently finished The Modern Sage, he thought it might be a great opportunity for the two to sit down and discuss the book like they'd discussed the last one. The last discussion, while it had indeed been heavy, had actually been really engaging and he was looking forward to another one. However, as Izuku approached Blake he came to realize two things; one was that Blake didn't actually seem to be awake. The second…

'I don't think I've ever seen her be this relaxed.'

The girl was sprawled out, her own copy of The Modern Sage resting on her stomach as she laid in the direct light of the sun, broken up only slightly by the trees over head. Her body seemed to stretch a bit, as if trying to get in as much of that warm sunlight as possible. The wind caused her bow to flutter a few times as she... well, Heck, there was no better word for it than 'lounge'. It was actually really amusing; Blake looked like a house cat doing her best to try to sit in as much of the sun as possible while taking a nap.

'Hmmm... maybe this isn't the best time to bother her? She seems to be really into this whole thing and it'd be really rude to wake her up. Heck, I know if I was sleeping as well as Blake is at this particular moment, I'd wake up feeling slightly annoyed at having such a great nap interrupted. Besides-'

"You know, some people think it's weird for people to just randomly stand nearby and watch them nap."

'Yeah, exactly that! So maybe…'

...

"AH, BLAKE!" Izuku jumped back in the air as amber eyes opened up to meet his own emerald ones, Blake sitting back up as she shook her head out slightly with a slight yawn. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up, I was probably-"

"Not being all that noisy. Trust me on this one, I'm a light sleeper. The second you walked up I was pretty much awake." Izuku curiously tilted his head to the side.

"If you'd prefer, I could go." Blake just shook her head as she gave another short yawn.

"It's alright. Moment's gone anyway..." Indeed, even as the two of them spoke the sun's trajectory across the sky continued and, as it set, the light that had shone down on Blake's spot began to distance itself. He could almost swear that Blake's bow drooped for a moment before the black haired young woman turned her attention back Izuku's way. "Besides, this is actually some pretty great timing; I came out here to finish reading The Modern Sage and I did. I was thinking about looking around to see if you were free but... well, then the sun hit and I was feeling pretty comfortable." He chuckled slightly as he scratched at his cheek.

"So I guess I saved you the trouble of finding me then." Izuku heard Blake snort slightly as she combed a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Not that it'd be that hard for me at this point..." Izuku heard her mutter underneath her breath. Before he could ask what she meant, he saw her catch sight of his own copy of The Modern Sage. "I take it you've finished it too?" Izuku nodded as he took a seat across from Blake.

"Yeah I did, just yesterday too actually. It's why I was looking for you." Blake smiled as he scratched at the back of his head. "I have to admit, this one was also pretty heavy of a read. Not quite as bad as I remember The Man With Two Souls as having been but... yeah, definitely not an uplifting story." Izuku saw Blake chuckle slightly as she shrugged.

"I don't think it should surprise you that my taste my run a bit deep into the more thoughtful, dramatic books... though I guess there should be a limit to that." She said, with a casual shrug, as if it was a mere passing thought than something she considered too seriously, before lifting the book back up. "But, yes, this is another story in that vein. I enjoyed it but... well, not in the usual sense." Izuku nodded, ready to allow Blake to have her own two cents on the book before moving into the discussion, just like last time.

"... It's probably no surprise that I've had big dreams myself. I think most of us would be lying if we didn't say that we didn't have huge aspirations or world-changing dreams. Heck, you 'still' do Izuku." She didn't say it in an accusatory manner, more as a gentle prodding accompanied by a friendly smile, before her eyes turned downcast as they return to the book. "But... not everyone holds onto dreams that are quite as... pure as just wanting to be a great hero and saving everyone from The Grimm. Even those that might be noble... might not be pursued through noble means." Izuku watched as Blake cracked open the book and flitted through to the ending.

"The author... well, she's a bit odd on this point. Throughout the entire book, Victor's ambition and his desire to meet that goal is what ends up ruining his life and the lives of those people around him, people innocent of his own crimes and who had nothing to do with any of the harm he caused. His dream of conquering death, of humanity never having to fear that again... well, your own thoughts may vary, but I do think that's a good dream. That parents might never have to be separated from their children again... but the way he goes about it and then his... cowardice." Blake settled on that word firmly. "His 'cowardice' in not accepting the consequences of his actions... you'd think the author would be trying to spell out a lesson that we shouldn't overstep our bounds..."

"But the entire book has this very Romantic notion built into it..."

"Errr, romantic?" Izuku blushed slightly at that as Blake just chuckled and shook her head.

"No Izuku, Romantic as in 'Big R' Romantic. Like... being astounded by the beauty of nature, enamored by the human spirit, being thrilled by the universe, that kind of Romantic." Izuku nodded in understanding as Blake looked back down at the book. " The book made such a point of underlining that, of the wonders of exploration and discovery... and the end. Rather than be fully sorrowful of his own actions and advising the captain he's speaking to about turning away from his course to save his men... he tells him to go forward, even knowing the consequences of his own unbridled determination to accomplish his goals... it seems like the book's trying to have it both ways…"

"I just... don't know. Are dreams still worth it if you've done things to sully them? Is the pursuit of a noble goal... is that enough to justify 'anything', even Victor's actions or the actions of the captain in risking the lives of the men on his expedition? And the Monster itself... you could read a lot into that. Something that's not necessarily evil itself but is made evil by how people react to it..." Blake ran her hands up the spine of the book. "I know that you believe in your dreams Izuku, and they're noble... heck, you're probably going to see them through... but I dunno. I think most of u... most people would probably end up like Victor here. Blinded by their own vision of what the future could be like, unable to see what they're doing in the moment for what it is. I can appreciate Romantic ideals... but... well, I can't agree with the author that those ideals survive in the environment the book creates for us. It just doesn't seem to match."

"Hmmm... while I agree that Victor did wrong, I don't necessarily think it was because his dream blinded him to his actions. I think that was baked into who he was as a character; Victor thought he was infallible." Blake nodded slightly as she leaned up against the tree just behind her, the young woman waiting patiently for Izuku to finish his thoughts, same as last time. "While his intentions and ideals were well-meaning, he essentially made himself the judge, jury and executioner of his own will. Thus his creation was also a result of all of his own desires and inadequacies. The monster ended up more like him than different; it was brilliant, but it also shirked the responsibilities for its own actions and thought itself always in the right. For good or bad, that is an essential part of human nature; whatever we put into something, we get out of it."

"I think his other shortcoming was putting this all entirely on his shoulders. While it is true everyone has to make their own decisions and ultimately face the consequences, this doesn't necessarily have to be alone. Victor wanted to move humanity forward, but the result was stained by his own shortcomings because of the tunnel-visioned way he followed his dream. While he wanted to help, he despised the fact others regarded his dream as impossible or dangerous. While aiming for advancement, he also wished to show all the naysayers how wrong they were. All of that corrupted the end result he created."

"And when he was facing that adversity, all the dark sides and flaws of his own character and methods mirrored in his creation - he couldn't stand the sight and shied away from it. The monster didn't match what he wanted to create and instead of facing that reality and trying to deal with it, he distanced himself from it. He rejected the responsibility and gave in to his base instincts, despite having given his creation a life and thus a momentum of its own. He kept his creation captured, he tried to keep it secret, denied it and most of all feared it... and in return his creation lashed out at everyone and everything for that, leading to the spiral of hate and violence that ended up destroying Victor's life and hurting the people around him. Only in the end, when Victor finally takes responsibility for his actions and for his creation, even if it threatens his own well-being, the horror stopped and the road to reconciliation was opened." Izuku took a moment to scratch at his chin as he tried to gather up the remainder of his thoughts.

"I think the author didn't really want to give a general warning about following a dream larger than life. Her message is more that, while any dream is possible, the means to achieve it will shape the result. A good cause has to be brought upon by good actions. Victor was a desperate man who aimed for shortcuts and immoral actions, deciding the noble end justified the means - with the consequence of his dream turning into a travesty of what he intended it to be. But in the end, that shouldn't keep people from dreaming, just teach us to be more cautious and responsible in how we, together, should shape those dreams into a reality." Blake looked down at the book, a few thoughts crossing her eyes as she took in his ideas on the matter.

"... Izuku... I like the idea of what you're saying but... just because you try to tackle a big dream with people, doesn't mean that dream still won't end up corrupted by the worst parts of yourself... or the worst parts of others." Izuku watched as Blake ran a hand up through her hair, flinching as it reached her bow. "Working together, in unison, to try to achieve your dreams... it sounds like a great idea. It sounds like it should be something where everyone links arms and moves forward with a common purpose. But... people are still people Izuku. We all have something in us like what Victor has... and I doubt putting five Victors in a room together would've changed the results of his work." Blake's hand slowly snaked down from her hair as she placed it back down onto the book.

"Even then... when the dream's corrupted, even if you're moving toward it with people you might want to trust... is it worth it anymore? If it's been changed by the worst in you, is it even the dream you meant to pursue anymore?" Blake smiled, somewhat sadly, as she looked up at Izuku. "Besides... for someone who talks about how people need to work together to achieve their dreams, surely you can acknowledge the slight irony in holding to that view... and viewing Toshinori Yagi with such reverence, right?" Izuku swallowed a bit at that as Blake looked off toward Mountain Glenn.

"People say that Toshinori Yagi couldn't have saved Mountain Glenn by himself. That the Hunters there helped him... and to some degree, there's sense in that. Toshinori Yagi couldn't be everywhere in that town at once to save everyone... but the fact remains that it was only Toshinori Yagi who had the power to save Mountain Glenn that day. No other Huntsmen or Huntresses going into that town would've lived, much less rebuffed the destruction of Mountain Glenn. The man's power, his charisma... it alone holds up the image of The Symbol of Peace and Hope, and allows for this era we live in... he's the force behind his own dream, his own vision." Blake's hand stroked the cover of the book again.

"Victor's dream... the author goes a ways towards saying, here and there, that Victor was meddling in the Gods' domain. That only the Gods had the power to decide life and death... that there was some folly in pursuing it in the first place. The author wasn't alive to see Toshinori Yagi... but... maybe she would've seen that as a validation of her point. That only the people with power like that have the ability to truly shape and pursue such grand dreams... Peace, Love, Hope and Life..." Blake sighed as she clenched her fist slightly against the book. "Even if we all got together to work on it... how could we trust our own vision wouldn't be corrupted... or how can we trust that those we put our faith in won't corrupt that vision in return."

"For the same reason that Toshinori Yagi is the Symbol of Peace. For the one thing that the Monster never had from others... trust."

Blake's gaze rose from the cover of the book to meet his emerald ones... he couldn't be sure but, vaguely reflected in her amber ones, he could see a look of determination on his face. It was something he'd felt strongly about; Blake's words had left a bit of an impact on him... and it was clear it was because the book had left some kind of impact on her. How or why wasn't clear at all, but in that moment, Izuku felt the need to respond to her word; words that seemed hopeless.

After all, what kind of Future Symbol of Peace would he be if he didn't answer despondence with hope?

"A vision, any vision, can be corrupted. People can be corrupted. Whole organizations can be corrupted. When a vision, a person or a group trust blindly, or narrow their perspective so horribly that they obscure anything and everything else that might stand to add to their vision, it becomes an almost certain prospect that one's vision, that person or a whole group will be corrupted." Izuku combed a hand through his messy hair as he organized his thoughts. "You're right that five Victors in the same place wouldn't have changed the outcome... but that's because that wasn't what Victor needed most. He didn't need five others exactly like him. What he needed was people that have their own point of view, who trusted their own moral compass enough so that they could show him his own errors and be willing to stand up for what they thought was right. He needed people he could trust enough to understand their reservations, so that he could take those reservations into account and not just do what he pleased. In the end that was the major crux of his folly; he made a man from the dead because it pleased him to do so, he rejected that man because what he made didn't please him, and that arrogance is what started the whole tragic spiral."

"It probably sounds really strange coming from me of all people but... well, without trust, even Toshinori is just a really strong hunter. He isn't The Symbol of Peace because he stands so far above all of us in terms of power. It's because he earned the trust of the people that he's become a Symbol, because he used his power to 'earn' the trust of the people. I mean, think about it; if he wanted to, he could probably demolish an entire city before anyone could consider stopping him. There's no way anyone could stand up to him if he ever got that idea in his mind... and yet nobody seems to take this into consideration when they think about Toshinori. Because people trust him enough to not be terrified of his strength. Not because of his charisma, but because he's put in the effort to prove he is compassionate and isn't going to abuse his gift." Something the two of them had discussed previously, something Izuku himself would have to wrestle with as the 9th User of One For All.

"Besides, I don't accept the notion that only people with power have the ability to shape destiny or to enforce their dreams on the world. If who lived and died was solely in the hands of the Gods and those with that kind of power, then there wouldn't be Huntsmen at all. We all work together for our own vision, because working together makes us strong enough to have peace, hope, and life. Even now, even if Toshinori is the Symbol of Peace, we don't follow his example blindly; some people do criticize him and some people do wonder why he makes the choices he does... and that's okay. Even if we can trust that he'll always do right by us, it's okay to not just accept everything. That just leads to fanaticism and ruin." He couldn't help but chuckle again. "Though, again, I realize that probably doesn't mean much at all coming from my own mouth, considering how much I idolize the guy..." Despite Izuku's self-deprecation, Blake didn't move in to build on that. Instead she was still just listening intently, her amber eyes somewhat wide in surprise.

"Anyway... the bottom line is that people can put the worst of themselves in a dream, like you said, but people can put in the best of themselves in it too. The real problem is if there's no temperance, no caution or even basic compassion, then even putting the best of yourself into something can still make it monstrous. Without trust and effort to keep on the right path, it all comes apart. Don't trust without thinking, don't let blind trust be a force that can take you off the path you know is right... but be willing to trust. Else there's no path forward for us at all."

There was a moment of silence between the pair of them as he laid that out. Blake's amber eyes return to their normal, even state, the gears of her mind clearly whirring at one-thousand miles per hour behind them. It was a slow movement, Izuku noticed, as Blake's eyes slowly moved down from Izuku's face, to his shoulder and down to his arm. For a moment, he was confused as Blake stared at his hand for a long moment... but then a moment of clarity struck him as he watched her eyes fall back over his shoulder.

Back to the Emerald Forest.

Back to when she had put her trust in Izuku along with Pyrrha and Tenya. Back to when Izuku had placed his trust in their abilities. Back when Izuku had failed... and so moved to do what he could to make up for that failure.

"You know... that's pretty saccharine there Izuku. A lot of people might think you were just saying what sounded right to say..." Izuku flinched slightly, prepared to defend his opinion... until he saw the cool smile on Blake's face as she turned back to look at him. "But... given that you practice what you preach, I can't exactly just shoot down what you're saying, huh?" Izuku watched as she combed a strand of hair behind her ear again as she looked back down at his right arm. "Trust, hmmm..." He saw a hesitation there for Blake, a deeply borne one... but she just sighed and gave that small quirk of her lips that he'd come to signify as her smile. "Sounds like your dream will never go off path like Victor's..."

"Well of course it won't... I have a lot of friends that I can trust to make sure it won't." It was weird to see Blake flinch at the blunt proclamation... but she just nodded nonetheless.

"Sorry if this one got a little bit heavy... honestly, after we discussed Man With Two Souls, I wasn't sure if we'd read something quite the heavy again... I was a little surprised when you picked out The Modern Sage, given its reputation." He just chuckled nervously as he scratched his cheek.

"Well... I just knew it was a really famous novel was all... plus those monster movies..." Blake shook her head, somewhat exasperated, though there was still some clear amusement.

"Of course..." Blake brought a finger up to her chin as she took a moment to think. "Well... I'll try to think of some books that I haven't read that don't have a reputation for being quite so heavy. Much as I might like dramatic stories, I think I'm ready for a bit of a lighter read." Izuku saw Blake shake her head with a sigh and he chuckled a bit.

For several minutes after, Izuku and Blake just discussed a few other things about the book. As the sun continued its arc across the sky, Izuku couldn't help but sigh in some relief as the air rapidly cooled. It seemed Blake felt it too if her reaching her hands up for her bare arms was any indication... though she didn't seem to be shivering.

"Well it was great Blake, and I'm really looking forward to doing this again!" Izuku said calmly as he smiled at her, the young woman just nodding absentmindedly as he turned on his heels to leave. He didn't end up making much progress however as, suddenly, Blake called out to him.

"Izuku."He stopped short as he turned to look at her curiously, though his expression changes to surprise as he saw the frown on her face and the uncertainty. "You... meant it before, right? That you think of me as a friend?" That... kind of threw him, to be honest.

"Err... yeah Blake, of course I did. What's up?" Izuku saw hesitation was clear on Blake's expression... hesitation and, weirdly enough, embarrassment. It was hard to tell at first as he didn't think he'd ever seen Blake shamefaced or thrown off her footing before but... well, there was no other fitting description for that look.

For a few seconds, the air just hung still, Blake just stewing in her embarrassment, and Izuku, trying to process that she was. Still, as the sun seemed ever more likely to finally all beneath the tree, he finally spoke up.

"Blake... whatever's on your mind, you know you can trust me." After the conversation the two had, Izuku had hoped that Blake, someone he considered a friend, did in fact trust him. He saw Blake stiffen a bit at his words, her amber eyes nervously glancing his way before trailing back down to his right arm again. She sighed, muttering something or other underneath her breath, before she took a moment to close her eyes and think. It doesn't take long before one of her hands releases her bare arms to rub the bridge of her nose, the other patting the ground a ways in front of her.

"Sit down Izuku... there's something I should've told you about by now." Izuku blinked, feeling at once surprised that Blake had actually stepped up to talk about whatever it was and pleased that, apparently, she did trust Izuku enough to speak about it. He slowly worked his way over to a tree in front of her and took a seat, a curious look on his face as he waited for Blake to speak up. The waiting... went on for a little while as Blake just sat in her spot, her hands nervously fiddling and tearing at some grass around her as she looked down at the ground. At first he was willing to wait, knowing that whatever it was must be hard for Blake to get out. As minutes stretched by, however, he couldn't help but wonder if Blake lost her nerve somewhere in the middle of the wait. He opened his mouth to reassure Blake again but the black haired young woman just raised a single finger to shush him, and he just snapped his mouth shut and continued to wait. It took another minute or two before Blake just sighed and shook her head, running one of her hands through her bangs as she looked up at Izuku.

"Izuku Midoriya... do you know my secret? Please, be honest with me, I have to know." He blinked a few times at the seriousness of the question Blake asked, the barely concealed panic behind her amber eyes even as she tried to keep an even expression on her face. It was actually kind of cool looking, to be honest...

It made him kind of wish he knew what she was talking about to begin with.

"Secret?" Izuku squeaked out, slightly unnerved by the look she had given him. He saw Blake flinch, just for the slightest moment, as her eyes narrowed and stared even more intently at him. He felt the pressure but he didn't feel the need to look away or look off to the side. After a few moments... Blake just looked completely mortified as she slowly brought her hands up to her face, presumably to hide the bit of red he'd seen slipping onto her cheeks.

"Oh Gods... you really never even knew in the first place. I'm 'actually' some kind of idiot..." There was a small part of him that was actually kind of amused to see Blake Belladonna, of all people, hiding behind her hands and shaking her head in embarrassment, almost like a shy little kid who just did something silly and now wanted to hide from the world. Still, given how serious Blake has been about the entire conversation, he couldn't help but feel equal parts worried.

"Blake, what is this about? Did I do something wrong?" Blake peeked out at him from in between one of her fingers. Her amber eye just stares for a long moment before, finally, Blake dropped her hands and shook her head.

"No, no... you didn't do anything wrong Izuku. I don't know if you remember or not... probably better that you don't, but during the first week of school there was... one time out of the few where we ran into each other where... well..." Blake scratched at her arm slightly as she looked off to the side. "I'd rather not say entirely what happened during the run in because I don't 'want' to have you remember the details, but suffice it to say... I thought you ended up knowing a pretty big secret of mine by the end of it." Izuku blinked in surprise. He knew one of Blake's secrets? That was a laugh; he really didn't know much about Blake at all, in all honesty, aside from what the two had discussed before... and that had been in vague terms. It was no surprise that she might've had a secret though; Blake seemed like that she had a few under her belt.

"A big secret? How big are we talking here?" Blake seemed to hesitate, the girl's hands twisting in the grass slightly, as if she were anchoring herself to the very ground as a means of keeping her from running off.

"... Big, let's just say. And 'no'-" Izuku flinched back a bit at the serious look in her eyes, one that was borne half of worry and panic and half of an 'attempt' to look authoritative, "-I 'really' don't want to talk about what my secret is Izuku." That's a pretty 'firm' no. Not even Weiss, as upset as she was after their spar, chilled him as much to the bone with a look as Blake did. That was absolutely, positively a non-starter with Blake.

"Yeah Blake, no, I understand. Don't even worry about it." Blake seemed to watch him like some kind of predatory animal for a moment before she relaxed, an audible sigh of relief as she seemed to really believe he wouldn't dig into it. "Why would you think I know it anyway?" Blake went back to looking down at the side, again twisting the grass in between her fingers as she took a moment to think.

"... Like I said, I'd rather not remind you of the details, but... let's just say I opened my big, stupid mouth and thought I'd let slip my big, egregious secret for you, someone I barely knew at the time, to know. I just ran off without even checking, so sure that I'd tipped my hand so badly that of 'course' you'd have to know... but no. That was just me making an ass out of myself by assuming things... and I... kind of panicked when I'd assumed that now you had a big secret to hang over my head." He couldn't help but flinch back and shake his head.

"Blake, I wouldn't do something like that to you! Even if we barely knew each other, after what we went through in the Emerald Forest, I wouldn't blackmail you or anything!" Blake frowned slightly as she looked down.

"I know that 'now' of course, and even then I might've expected you wouldn't blackmail me... but... I knew you were big on doing the right thing Izuku. You wanted to be some kind of Hero, and you showed you had the guts for it." Blake fiddled with her bow for a moment. "I thought... I thought that if you knew my secret, you'd turn me in. You'd tell people just because it would've been the right thing to do." Izuku swallowed a bit; well, that was a big secret then.

"O-Oh..." Izuku mumbled slightly as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "So, you said you didn't want to talk about your secret but... well... then what 'did' you want to tell me Blake? That you suspected me of all this?"

"... Gods this is going to be so bad..." He heard Blake mumble as she shook her head. "No... you see... I thought that if you'd either blackmail me or try to report me, that I'd need... something to convince you not to do that. Something that would make you not want to either blackmail me or tell anyone, or something like that. I needed leverage... but I really didn't know anything about you." He blinked and nodded; he understood Blake's logic, she needed some kind of counterweight against him if she really thought he had something big on her. Still, he didn't quite know what she was-

"SoIstartedstalkingyou."

"... Huh?"

While Izuku had been wracking his brain, Blake had taken a few deep breaths and, on the third one had just let out a stream of words that had run together so quickly that it took him a moment to piece together what exactly Blake had said. Once he had... well, his expression had gone quite deadpan while Blake, once again, hid her face behind her hands.

"I... started to stalk you in my free time. Whenever I thought I could get away from my team without them worrying too much or when I had finished work, I'd slip away and try to see if I could... observe you and try to figure out if you had any big secrets you were keeping from everyone. I needed... no, I 'thought' I needed leverage against you, so I'd just spy on you from time to time to see if I could find anything out." For a moment, sheer panic rose in his chest as his eyes momentarily went wide in realization. In that moment, he was glad that Blake was hiding behind her hands, because she would've seen him on the verge of a freak out. Over what?

One For All.

Blake could've been in on one of his conversations about his Semblance... or, worse yet, might've snuck in to overhear or oversee his training with Toshinori! His biggest secret, the thing he was supposed to keep safe, might've been blown before he even knew it! Is that what Blake wanted to talk about?

"And... I didn't..." He was snapped out of his growing panic as Blake speaks up again, the girl dropping her hands into her lap as she stared down at the ground. "No, no that's not entirely true... I did find something out... but it wasn't some secret that I could use to counter you with. I found out that the guy that I was stalking and trying to blackmail into keeping quiet about a secret I thought he knew... was just... really nice. A good person. Someone who worked hard, way harder than anyone could've asked him to, and that he tried his best to be all the things he needed. A good leader, a good student, a good friend..." Blake shook her head. "Someone with so little guile... and, after a while, I figured no secret."

Blake looked up at him, and he was very grateful that her words had put him at ease that she hadn't seen his panicked expression. "Then... we talked last week about The Man With Two Souls... and just through that talk, you opened up about something you 'did' regret, something people might've considered a secret... something they'd want to keep to themselves. About how badly you felt you treated your mother... and I realized that if you really ever did have something like that... that you wouldn't hide it. Not like me." Blake sighed as she looked off to the side again. "So... I stopped stalking you after that... but I still felt so bad. Someone who considered me a friend, someone who wanted to spend time around me to just... have fun and talk books... I'd tried to peer into their personal life to pull out... let's be frank, blackmail." Blake practically spat the word out.

"I felt guilty but... I didn't want to say anything about it at first. I didn't want you to know that I was stalking you... but I felt guilty. Really guilty. I'd done something bad to a friend and after a while... well... here we are." Blake pulled her knees up to her chest. "I didn't want to tell you at first because I there'd be no way I could talk about it without keying you into the fact that I had a secret. But... well, here we are." Blake sighed as she shook her head.

"I can't ask you to forgive me, this was... really awful of me to do. I just... I just wanted you to know the truth. You of all people deserve that."

Izuku took a deep, steadying breath as he tried to contain that panic had erupted in him following Blake's initial reveal of her stalking. No, she didn't know about One For All or anything involving Toshinori. Heck, as far as she was concerned, he had no secrets and any secrets he might have he'd be open about. That... was a somewhat depressing thought in and of itself, considering the truth, but there would be time to deal with that later... waaaay later, in his mind. For now, he had to deal with the now; Blake's stalking, her self-evident guilt and shame over it and how he'd respond to it. She had said that she felt she 'couldn't ask you to forgive her, but well, in his mind... no harm had been done, right?

"Blake... you really don't need to ask for forgiveness." Blake raised her head up from her knees, a look of surprise evident in her amber eyes. "I mean... no harm, no foul right? You stopped on your own, you didn't end up actually doing anything to hurt me like trying to blackmail me... and hey, I even made a good impression. While your reasons... well, I have something to say about that, I can't really be angry about something that hasn't actually wounded me in anyway. So you don't have to ask for forgiveness Blake; I'm more than willing to just move on." Blake's silent for a moment, still obviously thrown by that display... though he was surprised when a chuckle escape her lips, the young woman just placing a hand softly against her forehead as she did so.

"... I guess I should've expected this. If you can still call someone like Katsuki 'Kacchan' after everything he's said and done 'just' in the time we've known him..." For a moment he thought that Blake was deriding him but, to his pleasant surprise, when she removed her hand and looked back up at him, there was a smile on her face. "Thank you Izuku... you're something else, you know... you're too kind." There was an odd way she said that last part, one that both seems genuinely impressed... but also very sad. He couldn't place exactly 'why' but, well, he'd heard the phrase before and known it to be complimentary, so...

"Well thanks Blake, but really, I don't think forgiving a friend for something like this is too kind at all." There was an almost palpable relief on Blake's face as he still referred to her as a friend, though her expression dipped as he tried his best to get a little serious. "But Blake... as for stal-following people around for blackmail? You might have some explaining to do if you were to get caught without actually telling someone. So... maybe don't; I understand your secret's grave, but... well, there's gotta be a better way to handle it than maybe getting kicked out of Beacon." Blake nodded slightly as she wrapped her arms around her knees slightly.

"I know... but... well, it's kind of hard to think of a better way in the middle of all of it, Izuku." Izuku did his best to nod understandingly, though it was 'kind of' hard to actually fully understand her point without actually knowing her secret, before he spoke back up.

"Well... how about telling someone you really trust about it, then?" Blake looked up at him, a somewhat curious glint in her eyes as if asking after his meaning. "Not to me, I know you've already said you don't want to talk about it with me... but well, if you told it to someone you really trusted, maybe you'd feel better getting it off your chest? Knowing that someone you really trusted knew your secret and could have your back on it?" Blake looked down to the side as Izuku explained his point, her hand against trailing down to the ground to fiddle with the grass.

"That would be a nice thing to be able to do..." Blake muttered under her breath as Izuku smile.

"So you'll think about it?" The young woman returned her gaze to him and, for a moment, he thought he saw something just... despondent behind the amber orbs. Still, after looking at him for a moment Blake seems to just heaved a small sigh, smirked a little and nod.

"Yes Izuku, I'll... 'think about it'." Izuku couldn't help but grin a little as he got back on his feet, Blake soon following him up. After everything had been said and done... well, it ended up being another rather involved conversation with Blake. Still, one he was definitely glad they had. As the both of them walked back toward Beacon proper, a thought occurred in his mind as he turned to Blake.

"One last thing, Blake?" As much as he didn't need to have her ask forgiveness, Izuku did have to make sure that she didn't stalk him ever again; he'd nearly had a panic attack over the thought of her knowing about One For All, after all... plus the thought of a 'very' attractive girl having stalked him was also making his heart go into a bit of overtime. So as Blake nodded as she turned her attention back toward him, he felt his cheeks go a bit red as he coughed into his fist, his heart pounding somewhat in his chest. "You know, I never thought I'd hear someone tell me they were s-stalking me. Just please don't ever do it again; you almost gave me a heart attack."

Blake actually seemed somewhat surprised.

"Really? You seemed to handle it... well, better than I could've ever expected, to be honest. I wouldn't have taken it nearly as well. Why were you so panicked?"

"Well, I mean, just because I took it well didn't mean that I wasn't a little worried at first. I mean, I'm a normal guy after all-" With one of the biggest secrets in Remnant, "-so of course I'd have been a little spooked if anyone told me they were stalking me... let alone a pretty girl." That last part had been an almost subconscious admission on his part. Still, it was out there now and Izuku could 'definitely' feel his cheeks practically light themselves on fire as his face practically 'glowed' red from having admitted that. "Oh what did I just say I'm so sorry I didn't mean it like that I mean of course you're attractive I didn't mean toimplyotherwiseohGodsjustgivemeashovelalready-"

"Izuku!" Blake shouted suddenly, snapping him out of his embarrassment as he turned to look at her, face still thoroughly red. Blake's own eyes are a bit wide, but aside from that she didn't seem nearly as embarrassed as him... perhaps a dusting of red on her pale cheeks but otherwise she seemed to be doing her best to keep it together as she reached up to comb a strand of hair behind her ears. "Right. Of course. I mean, it's only a natural thing for..." There was a moment where Blake's hand hesitated halfway over her ear, the dusting on her cheeks momentarily darkening before the stoic young woman pulled it back and finishes combing the strand behind her ear, "-that to be thought of." With that, Blake turned back to face toward the school. "I promise, no more stalking." He sighed in relief, both from the fact that Blake agreed to that and that she didn't seem to take his outburst personally. Izuku walked to follow in behind her and, though she still presented an air of cool calm, she did seem a bit stiff.

* * *

She'd... she'd really been putting this off long enough.

Like she'd been putting 'a lot' of things off, now that she thought about it. Blake Belladonna sighed as she nervously scratched at her arm, fidgeting in place as she stood outside of what had been assigned as Toshinori Yagi's 'office'.

'This is so stupid. '

'Just walk in there and ask for your book back. It's been 'weeks' if he didn't think it was weird you had that book, he'd think it was weird by now! You just had to go in there and ask for your book back! That's all it would take! I mean, what did you have to lose…'

'I mean, besides your self-respect. But why would you lose that, I mean, it was just... just…'

Blake sighed as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. It was smut. As much as she insisted differently to Yang whenever the blonde would bring the topic up, Ninjas Of Love was pure smut, plain and simple. It wasn't 'just' a book in that regard and that had been why she hadn't bothered to ask Toshinori Yagi about getting her book back in all these weeks; the idea of walking up to The Symbol of Peace and Hope himself and saying 'Hey, can I get my smutty book back, as you can tell I'm 'quite' lonely and I need it for when I go to sleep tonight, thanks' hadn't been an appealing thought for the black haired young Faunus 'at all'. If it was a normal book, the second she realized she had left it behind where Toshinori had surprised her and not found it, she would've done a lot of things.

She would've just walked straight up to him and asked for her book back.

She would've let him approach her any time after class, presumably when he was trying to return it.

She would've not acted like a total spaz and just got her book! But no, Ninjas Of Love wasn't a normal book so Blake had been so thoroughly ashamed that she'd spent weeks 'hiding from her book'. In moments like these... well, these were the moments that reminded Blake that she hadn't changed much at all. She was still running and hiding from her problems, no matter how big or how small they were. She'd put up a brave face of asking for her book back, take a few steps toward the office and then turn tail...

She wasn't brave enough...

Or at least, that's what was true before.

 _"Sit down Izuku... there's something I should've told you about by now."_

She had told Izuku Midoriya, the boy whom she had been stalking during the time she had lost said book, that she had been stalking him. Her, Blake Belladonna, resident coward so afraid of letting any sign of her secrets slip, had somehow managed to gin up the courage to lay it all out for him; to tell him what she'd done, how ashamed she'd been and how she didn't deserve to be forgiven for doing that to one of her 'friends'. No, not 'friend', friend. Izuku had made that abundantly clear...

He'd made something else abundantly clear; the world wasn't out to get her for every little secret she had. As embarrassing or bad as some things might be, the world wasn't going to lift Blake Belladonna by her cat ears and shame her for every little thing she did wrong or that was slightly embarrassing. Now, Blake wasn't an idiot; stuff like her involvement with The White Fang? That went beyond the pale of even stalking someone to blackmail them...

But... but if she could trust Izuku Midoriya to tell him about how she'd wronged him and he still accepted her as a friend... well, maybe Toshinori Yagi wouldn't think too lowly of her for her taste in smut.

With that thought Blake Belladonna took a deep breath and, closing her eyes for a moment as she gathered up the last of her courage, stormed the next few steps, opened Toshinori's door, stepped inside and shut it behind her, cutting off her avenue of escape. Toshinori Yagi seemed to be breathing quite deeply in that moment and... well, she could swear there were slight traces of clouds floating away from him in the seconds after she'd pulled open the door so rapidly. She wrote that off as her imagination, though, as The Symbol of Peace just smiled at her and offered her a quick wave.

"Ah, Miss Belladonna, good to see you! What brings you to my office?" Blake swallowed nervously as she glanced around for a moment. There was a second or two where her courage threatened to fail her and she considered just turning around... but by that point that would raise far more questions than answers. So she just took a deep breath as she looked The Symbol of Peace in the eye.

"Ah, sir, Mr. Yagi-"

"AH, HA HA HA, HAAA! As I've said previously young lady, feel free to call me Toshinori!"

"Right, Toshinori, sir." Blake choked a bit before she shook her head. "I... I just came here because... well, do you remember our last meeting sir?"

"Ah yes, the one involving you stalking Mr. Midoriya! Tell me, have you made progress to confessing your little crush, young lady?" Blake sighed; if it weren't for the fact that she'd left her book with him, Blake would've been all too glad to forget the stupid rumor she'd helped to send on the rumor mill. Still, as a stray thought caught her mind, she shrugged.

"I... told him I was stalking him... and while he asked me to not do it anymore, he was... very nice about it." Toshinori just grinned as he gave a thumbs up.

"A step in the right direction! While it's slow progress, it's good that you're making such!" Blake inwardly rolled her eyes; she needed to get things back on track.

"Anyway... sir, umm... when I ran off, did I happen to leave behind a little black book?" Toshinori snapped to attention as he immediately reached into his desk and pulled out... HER BOOK!

"Ah yes, this? I had assumed this was yours and had looked to return it to you one day after class... however you seemed so nonplussed when it came to approaching me that I figured I may have been mistaken. This 'is' your book then, Miss Belladonna?" Blake blushed slightly as she grabbed at her other arm, tapping her foot into the floor slightly as she sought to rid herself of this nervous energy.

"Err... yes... that's... that's my book, sir. Listen, Toshinori, I can explain, about the book sir, I just want you to know that what it's about isn't-"

"Ah think nothing of it Miss Belladonna! I haven't read a single page of it!"

...

"What?" Blake seemed completely and utterly stunned as Toshinori just gave that signature laugh of his.

"Well of course! It would've been a horrible breach of student privacy if I had just read a book laying around!" Blake's shoulders drooped a bit as Toshinori spoke; Blake looked, hard as she could, for some sign of a lie... but there wasn't one.

He was telling the truth.

Blake didn't have a single thing to worry about... AGAIN!

"... I feel so stupid..." Blake pressed her face into her hands, her embarrassment stemming more from her own stupidity than any remaining teenage awkwardness that somehow survived in her system. Toshinori just smiled as he got up off his chair and walked around his desk, presenting the book to Blake.

"Miss Belladonna, I hope that this experience with Izuku and myself has taught a valuable lesson; while secrets can be valuable for the things that we might truly not want the world to now... hiding every little indiscretion and every little embarrassing thing about ourselves can only serve to keep us sheltered away from the things and people that we might desire. Whether they be books or other more important things." Blake turned her amber eyes back up to Toshinori as the man just grinned down at her. "I'm sure that part of the reason you've found it so easy to come to terms with and fancy Mr. Midoriya is because of this very thing; the young man wears his heart on his sleeve and is very upfront with people! He shares his dream and the conviction behind it and allows people in." Toshinori wagged his finger slightly as he gave Blake a sly grin. "If you're going to win his affections above the other girls in this school Miss Belladonna, you'll have to take lessons. Mr. Midoriya, after all, is quite an earnest person, and will respond well to an earnestly given confession in kind."

That time Blake really couldn't help but roll her eyes. The not-so-old man giving her that kind of advice... it was bizarre but, on some level, sweet. After all, she'd been the one to tell the lie that she liked Izuku in order to get out of that situation... for a moment, she had considered reneging on the lie... until she realized that, once she did, she'd have no reason to explain why she was 'actually' stalking Izuku in the first place.

Let that be one of those 'big' secrets Toshinori had been talking about.

 _"Well... how about telling someone you really trust about it, then? Not to me, I know you've already said you don't want to talk about it with me... but well, if you told it to someone you really trusted, maybe you'd feel better getting it off your chest? Knowing that someone you really trusted knew your secret and could have your back on it?"_

Still, she couldn't deny that Toshinori was right about Izuku, she had thought with a smile while taking Ninjas Of Love from Toshinori's grasp. Earnest. That described Izuku Midoriya to a T. While passion, innocence, drive, heroism might've been others, Izuku Midoriya usually had a way of saying what he meant and meaning what he said... and for someone who'd grown up in the cold environment of The White Fang... yes. That had meant a lot to Blake.

 _"I mean, I'm a normal guy after all so of course I'd have been a little spooked if anyone told me they were stalking me... let alone a pretty girl."_

Blake's cheeks had involuntarily gone red. Yes. Very earnest.

"Errr, thanks for the advice Toshinori, I'll be sure to take it into account, thank you!" Before Toshinori could interject Blake had quickly opened his office door and then ran right out, the giant of a man hearing her footsteps echo down the hall. Toshinori had waited until there was absolutely no sound or sign of Blake having remained nearby before exploding into a cloud of mist, his more skeletal form revealed. There was a slight frown on Toshinori's face, his brow furrowed as he rubbed at his chin, sweat dripping down his forehead.

"Brothers on a biscuit, so that really was her book huh? Gods above, that girl's a man-eater..." The stuff that had been in that book had surprised Toshinori. He knew kids these days were a little more... risqué than they had been back in his day, but Gods above, that book would find pleasant company in Kayama's selection of literature. Hell, he was fairly certain he'd 'seen' Ninjas Of Love in Kayama's shelves. The entire series, even! "Damn, what the Hell is Izuku going to do, kid's never even dated anyone before... hrmmm... should I give him some advice? This is going to be way too much for that kid to handle..."

Toshinori shuddered as he remembered the embarrassing spectacle of the 'last' time he'd tried to give Izuku a man-to-man talk. No thank you.

"Well... Izuku my boy, you're just gonna have to Plus Ultra your way through this one yourself. Good luck kid."

* * *

 **E/N: Normally I'd attribute the Outtake and who wrote it here, but the guy who wrote this one can do it himself for all I care.**

 **-Shovern**

 **A/N: And that would be me, haha. Yeah, been a while, but this was one of the first major 'in the moment' omakes I wrote for the series after the partner meetings one. I spend most of my time writing updates so writing side content like this didn't come up much before. That is until the and Wind and Shovern started editing, then I started writing more side content.**

 **-gorilla_fingers**


	49. Tales of Beacon VI

_During Izuku and Yang's fight._

"Man, Izuku's really finger-banging your sister!"

Heads shifted towards Nora and Ruby, trying to decide if they wanted to watch the brawl of the year or where this train wreck was going.

Ruby snorted and held her head high. "Yang's totally gonna end up on top. His fingers are powerful, but she can take a lot of punishment before she just pounds him."

"Oh please. Your sister is pretty cool, but with just one finger he put her on her knees. Imagine what he'd do to her with two."

Pyrrha looked from one girl to the other, cheeks slowly getting redder the more she thought about their conversation. She opened her mouth to finally interject, but was silenced as she felt Weiss' hand gently rested on her shoulder, drawing her attention to the heiress as she shook her head. "Embarrassing as this is, it would be too difficult to stop without embarrassing questions. Better to let it play out, and let it die out on its own." Her voice was practically at a whisper, but did carry a sure logic that Pyrrha couldn't argue with.

And then others decided to stoke the fire.

"I dunno about that." Tsuyu muttered just loud enough to be heard. "Yang's still holding back, like building up a furnace. If he tries that again, she'll be even more hot and bothered."

"Bothered?" Ruby tilted her head to the side. "I'm pretty sure she's enjoying herself."

"So am I, ribbit."

Blake decided to just stare into her book, cheeks turning a bright red while Iida just seemed on the cusp of realization, rubbing his chin and trying to decode this odd conversation. There was something about this he wasn't understanding yet...

"Anyway," Pyrrha finally spoke up, deciding enough was enough of this inappropriate line of conversation. "I'm just please he's gotten so much control over his semblance. Izuku's put so much hard work into it, I'm glad it's paying off." Hopefully this would derail this unpleasant train of thought.

"Yeah! He only banged Bakugo with one finger last week!"

And Nora put them back on topic with a mighty vengeance. That time, Pyrrha couldn't bring herself to object.

Even the young Rose blossomed at the thought. "Yeah, but he needed to do more than that to beat my teammate. He had to get him down on the mat and hammer him hard before he could even try and finger him!"

"Shut the hell up!" The blond bomb snarled. "Quit making it sound weird! And it's not like it was fucking impressive or anything!"

"You don't say.." Blake was immediately intrigued. "So you were hoping you'd get more than just a finger?"

"I could take his whole-" And he drew himself up short, slowly turning to the blushing woman who was only hiding a little bit behind her book. His head whipped around, his glare growing more and more heated as he saw the flushed Pyrrha, the deeply pondering Weiss, and then back to Blake who was grinning way too damn much. "Fuck you."

"Get on top of Izuku first, ribbit." Tsuyu countered, a tinge of pink on her own cheeks even as Katsuki dissolved into incoherent snarls and muttering.

This time it was Ren that tried to take their minds elsewhere. "As fascinating as this topic is beginning to be, I think we should focus on the fight."

"Awww. But Renny, this is interesting too! I almost wanna take on his fingers." This wiped the expression from Ren's face, and Nora was quick to console her best friend by putting an arm around his shoulders and reeling him in close. "But I doubt it'd be anywhere near as fun as yours are of course!" She ignored his sudden blush. "I mean, you've got those super cool ninja moves and your sneaky ninja fingers! All you need to do is go all 'hwacha' and 'hiyaa', and then you've pinned me or nail me with your sneaky ninja poking!" She hugged him tight. "Makes me just wanna nail you super hard, but that's what I like about it! Not like-like, since you know that'd be like saying we're together-together, which we're not, and hey you should totally trying taking on our fearless leader! His smash-y fingers and your sneaky fingers would be super awesome to watch!"

"I could not agree hard enough." Blake points out, which was followed by several girls nodding in quick succession.

Ren was just too confused to form a coherent response and just nodded numbly, honestly wondering how much of this Nora really understood and was just trolling the entire class. He gave her a long stare, seeing the massive grin that revealed nothing, then just sighed and began to rub at his temples to try and forget the whole thing.

Then Velvet mentioned she'd get pictures.

Ren sighed again.

* * *

"Has anyone seen Nora?"

It was a simple question, really. And yet for some reason it sent a chill down Izuku's back when Weiss asked it, and probably not for the reasons that Yang would have made a joke about. But he enough common sense not to say something like that and focused on the oddly ominous question at hand. "The last time I saw her it was with Ren. Is everything alright?"

Weiss nodded and put a hand on her hip as a frown creased her lips. "She's late to our training time. She's been infuriatingly insistent on helping me with my close combat for some reason." The last words were added with a particular venom that made Izuku wince, but she was quick to continue on. "Nora's been late before, but she usually calls if something's wrong."

"I'm sure she just lost track of time." The green-haired young man got to his feet and set his pen beside his homework. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"No thank you. I'll be back in a few minutes." With that, the Schnee simply spun on the ball of her foot and slipped back out the door, leaving the team leader to shrug and return to his studies. He wasn't sure how far along he had gotten when the door was suddenly thrown open, not even having the time to finish turning around before Weiss grabbed him by the shirt, hefted him to eye level, and said four words that stuck a cold fear into his very soul.

"She got a _job_!"

Weiss' worried words were willing to spur the rest of the team into action, or at least into trying to calm her down as she sputtered, paced, and squawked around the room like some angry bird. Further inquiry explained she hadn't actually gotten any more details from Ren and Shoto, having panicked and run off shortly after hearing the news. A quick scroll call to Ren gave no real clue as to WHAT the job was, since Nora hadn't really explained what she'd found in the paper, only that it was somewhere in downtown Vale.

They tried to call her scroll, but she wasn't answering, which beginning to worry everyone. Even Weiss was concerned, though she did her best not to admit it as she fidgeted on the train. They were nearly at the station when Pyrrha asked if they even had a plan to begin with if they couldn't find her, and thankfully Izuku had been preparing one. "When we get there I will see if I can use my scroll to find hers." he held the device for them to see. "If we find it and she isn't nearby, we'll begin with a search of the immediate area, questioning everyone we come across. From there, we'll take our clues and go from there. Sound good?" The round of nods was enough, and they made sure their weapons were ready in case of trouble. The trio stepped out of the train station with the utmost confidence, prepared to take on anything to help their teammate.

Anything except whatever was making the thunderous rumbling, which apparently was a building downtown that seemed to be collapsing. Rather slowly, if they had taken any notice.

On a hunch, Pyrrha leaned over to Izuku. "That's towards where Nora is, I assume?" They both looked down at his open scroll, saw the pink blinking dot, and just sighed. Before he could give an order of even think, a white glyph burst into existence beside them, and Weiss was moving towards the soon to be wreckage. Unsure if she was going to save Nora or throttle her, the two quickly began to chase after.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"And so I looked up at Ren and said 'Now THAT'S a katana!'."

Her new friend snorted into her tea. "You didn't!"

"I did!" Nora preened before they both broke into laughter.

"More tea?"

"Don't mind if I do!" Nora had to admit, all in all this whole thing had gone far better then she'd expected. Sure there were a lot of people running around and the dust was annoying, but she made another new friend amidst the rubble, who had the forethought of bringing enough lunch to share! This girl was almost Izuku smart! After they finished, she'd have to take her out to another lunch, and maybe message her team about how things had..."Oh nuts."

"What's wrong?"

"I forgot to tell my team where I'd be today."

Her new friend understandably gasped. "That you were going to be here working?"

"And about getting a job. Like, at all. Tooooootally forgot." Her friend gasped again, then began to cough as she sucked in some errant dust. The pink bomber patted her on the back and offered a sip of the tea she'd been given. There really should be a limit to how much one can dramatically gasp within a certain time period. Too many health risks. Just one of the many reasons she preferred being a Huntswoman, where the health risks were mostly just death. Much easier. "Don't worry! I'll just call them right now, explain everything, and I'm sure our Fearless Leader will completely understand." She handed her entire cup to her new friend so she could grab her scroll, wondering if she should read what messages they apparently left for her when she heard a familiar voice.

"Nora!" It took her a moment to realize where it was coming from, and saw her friends running towards them from down the street with Weiss very much in the lead.

"Ah! Weiss!" She couldn't wait to introduce them to her new friend! Why did Izuku look so worried?

"Nora!" For some reason a chill went down her spine at Weiss' voice. And not for the funny reasons Yang would make.

"Uhh, Weiss?" Something seemed off. She looked around, to the rubble that was once a building, then to her rapidly approaching partner. She almost had it...

"NORA!" And she has her rapier out.

'...O!'

'Now I get it!'

"AHH! WEISS!"

Despite the panicked cries of her instincts, Nora had enough had enough wherewithal to throw herself backward into a roll, on her feet in a flash with her hands out to try and stave off the Scheevalanche. "N-Now Weiss. This isn't what it looks like."

Thankfully it slowed her potential aggressor from an angry bull-like charge to an aggravated bull-like stomp. "It looks like you destroyed a building!" The rapier pointed at the very visible evidence, then back towards Nora as its owner drew closer and closer. Every now and again she'd swear she saw some odd aura around the weapon as it started to point everywhere but at her, but Weiss would guide it back to her with a snarl.

"...okay, so it's exactly what it looks like. But I swear had a good reason to do that!" Thankfully she was too worried about being stabbed to warn Weiss her face would stick if she left it like that. She realized knew what she had to do, attempting a distraction by grabbing the girl beside her and not-holding her in front of herself like a not-shield. "And I made a friend. Say hi, Boss!" Despite her friendly tone, she was still holding the brown-haired girl and moving her slightly when she saw Weiss' rapier move.

But Nora wasn't watching it nearly with the same focus as the girl in front of her. "I-It's actually Ochaco. Ochaco Uraraka." She waved feebly, as that was the best she could do with Nora holding her biceps with the grip strength of an industrial vice. "N-Nice to meet you?"

After an incredibly tense moment of silence, Weiss sighed and finally sheathed her blade. Even her rancor couldn't stand against the face of good manners and this much palpable fear. "Hello. My name is Weiss Schnee. Nice to make your acquaintance." The pleasantries were enough of a distraction for Izuku and Pyrrha to finally close the gap, though it didn't stop the return of Weiss' icy eyes to the source of her ire. "Now then, please explain why you had to demolish a building." Everyone considered it a positive that she wasn't gritting her teeth when she said it.

"Well, I'll have to start at the beginning."

Weiss braced herself.

"It started yesterday when me, Ren, and Shoto went to Vale to celebrate being Junior Detectives. Guess who we ran into?" She looked around, hoping one of them would actually guess. Izuku looked confused, Pyrrha looked tired, Weiss looked like she'd bitten into a super sour lemon, and Ochaco just shrugged. "It was Melanie and Miltia, the Malachite sisters!" From the startled gasps, followed by coughing from the dust, it seemed only Pyrrha and Izuku were able to recall them. It certainly made sense since Pyrrha met them at the club when she helped burn it down, and Izuku met them at high velocity when she threw them at him. Ahh, good times. "Yeah! The twins from the club." She clarified for everyone else. "Anyway, we told them about our successful adventure, and Melanie says 'Have you considered work where you break things on purpose?'. And I'm like 'They have those?!'. So she gives these want ads, and points me to this."

"What's this?"

"Demolition!"

"...that makes too much sense."

"I think that's actually quite clever."

"What made you want to try and get a job again, Nora?"

The aforementioned redhead was actually beaming until her team leader's question, gently putting Ochaco on the ground and scratching the back of her head. "Because it's a part time job where they only call when they need me to smash stuff, and I wouldn't mind some lien for..stuff." She coughed into her fist, hoping to avoid further interrogation when her new friend/hostage looked at her and just smiled in an encouraging way. Now that just wasn't fair! This was the third person she'd ever met with adorable eyes like that, the other two obviously being Izuku and Ren. She pouted and tried to resist, but seeing her Fearless Leader's big squishy eyes looking all curious finally broke her! "Fine! I was doing it so I can get people presents, okay?" She crossed her arms and pouted harder. "I'm a pretty good at sewing, but good material is expensive, and I wanna make nice things for my friends."

While she had done her best to look at everyone else, she had missed the Weiss Queen crossing the gap and gently resting a hand on her shoulder. "Nora, that's very sweet of you." Oh my gosh! She was actually smiling! And she couldn't even get her scroll to take a picture. "I suppose that's a cause worth the effort, as long as it isn't too dangerous."

A million-watt grin curled Nora's lips. "It isn't really that dangerous at all! Ochaco's family know their stuff about explosions, and it's fun to talk shop!"

"Oh?"

"Yep. Hey Boss, I'll introduce you to our Fearless Leader!" Ochaco managed out a soft 'eh?' before Nora picked her up and threw her at Izuku. The 'dramatic catch her before she falls' didn't really happen as expected, and she instead collided with him like a sack of potatoes and sent them both to the ground. At least this time his head wasn't somewhere in her skirt, since she was wearing pants. Melanie should have considered pants. Ah well.

Weiss' growl brought her back to reality. "Noraaaa..."

"Ah! Weiss!"

"Oh my."

* * *

Blake stood under the shower, enjoying the water's warmth enveloping her, surrounding her almost like some second layer of aura would. After years of living on the move with the White Fang, when smoke from a fire could easily alert enemy attention and fire Dust was simply too much of a treasured resource to waste on something trivial like that, being able to shower with hot water never failed to put her at ease. She stretched and released that pose to relax her muscles while the warmth was slowly sinking in her body.

 _Pure bliss_.

Honestly, it was one of the best things about her new life at Beacon Academia. Well, _that_ and all the additional reading time.

 _"Never realized I was that shallow. Some basic appliances and I'm happy and satisfied. Pretty low maintenance for a sort-of Faunus princess."_ , the young girl thought with a pang of guilt.

She crinkled her nose and felt her ears twitch reflexively, responding to her emotions.

Scratch all that, hot water was nice, but getting that _stupid ribbon_ off her ears and not having to keep her ears' natural movements in check might have been the real treat she was enjoying most.

Keeping that kind of concentration around others did take a toll on her, since she could almost never truly relax due to that. She always feared some unexpected slip-up exposing her, especially after that cursed yarn incident with Izuku.

It was honestly one of the reasons she regularly kept going off alone, leaving her friends...

 _"Friends?"_ , she thought, her shoulders stiffening. _"Do I even deserve to call them that, considering I'm hiding so much from them? Aren't I just some actress giving a performance here at Beacon, all for my own personal benefit? Would they even want to be my friends if they actually knew about me, what I am, who I am and... all the things I did?"_

She let her mind wander, musing about that thought.

Tenya Iida... her partner. He would probably damn her.

Not that he lacked compassion. While he was part of a long tradition of Huntsmen, that compassion was his actual drive to better himself in order to be able to help people in a bigger capability. He felt an urge to help others. Sure, he wasn't the best with people considering how tight-stringed he was, but he really was a good person.

This wasn't on _him_ , but on _her_ and the crimes she committed. Regardless, his blatant belief in following the rules to a ridiculous degree... would be enough for him to damn her. Not that he wouldn't try to help her in some way afterwards, if only out of a feeling of responsibility due to being her team leader and _sort-of_ friend.

But it would be _after_ he followed the rules and brought her in, to face the proper authorities. And would he really be wrong about that stance? Unlike _her_ , he had probably never seen the corrupted side of that system and the current order in place in the four kingdoms. He didn't regard it as insufficient and deeply flawed. He _reveled_ in it instead, following the simple belief that it worked.

And maybe it _would_ , if more people were as thorough and proper as Tenya Iida was. But he was naive. The world wasn't that simple and neither were its inhabitants. People would always be people, whether they were Human or Faunus. That was the _real_ flaw in all those systems, there would always be a black sheep ruining things for everyone else involved, only caring to further their own goals or agendas at the cost of everyone else.

She raised the temperature of the water stream, freezing a little at that bitter trail of thought.

Tsuyu Asui. Her fellow Faunus.

Not that this fact would breed anything but _more_ contempt on her side. It was the main reason she kept most of Tsuyu's attempts at bonding somewhat at bay, though she wasn't sure the girl had noticed that yet. No-one should suspect the truth yet and she mostly evaded any topics that could lead to discussing anything remotely leaning towards those directions. Barring that one incident with Izuku.

Tsuyu's emotions were hard to read due to her frog nature, so she didn't knew if the girl took offense by now or not. Blake hardly regarded herself as a good judge of character to begin with. No, _definitely_ not.

Even here at Beacon she had properly misjudged Izuku Midoriya from the start for one thing. If only she hadn't run her mouth during that yarn incident, because apart from that he really seemed like a good person. And awkward as he was around people he probably wouldn't have pushed enough to find out the truth. It could have been a really nice friendship, with her not having to fear what he might ask her about her past, since one look would keep him at bay. But _no!_ , she had to go and ruin that, nip it in the bud due to some stupid yarn triggering her paranoia. And now she was stalking him to balance the slates. Though by now she was really considering stopping that behavior. That threat probably only existed in her head to begin with. Honestly, the main reason she kept it up by now was that Ren was shadowing him too and she wasn't entirely sure why yet. Though maybe his reason was just as petty as her own, if it was about Nora Valkyrie.

They probably had all pegged her as a shy loner by now. Not that it was entirely wrong, she wasn't all that social a person to begin with and she needed her time alone. Just... not all the time! Maybe it was for the best to keep her secret. But even in the White Fang she had friends. Companions even. She missed that feeling more than she would have ever suspected...

Which brought her back to Tsuyu. She wouldn't be one. Not a friend anymore, if she knew the truth. Back in Professor Oobleck's history lesson the frog Faunus had made her stance abundantly clear.

The White Fang, at least today's iteration, was wrong and morally bankrupt and had thus become a liability to the Faunus cause, a weight chaining them down. And by extension that meant Blake too. It had been pretty eye-opening for her to hear it laid out like that in no uncertain terms. No sugarcoating, just the cold cruel truth. Felt like some band-aid ripped off a fresh wound. Only that band-aid had been on her soul and after it was gone in that brutal fashion, the box was open to release all her doubts and guilt she had worked so hard to bottle up down there before.

While she had been a member of the White Fang since early childhood, the fact she stayed around even when her parents...

...no she really didn't want to think about them right now.

...when the White Fang started deteriorating and selling its ideals for faster perceived progress, always tainted in blood, someone else's or their own members'... or worse, that of innocents...

No, Tsuyu would lump her with the current White Fang and Blake couldn't deny that with a straight face.

She had stayed around for far too long to have any right to distance herself from them and their actions. It was a constant source of regret for the young cat Faunus just how long it had taken her and how much had to happen until she had finally decided to cut ties with the White Fang for good. Or rather run away.

And honestly, she knew herself, if it hadn't been a sudden decision forced on her due to her shock at Adam's utter disregard of lives and lack of any kind of moral decency during the train incident...

Who knew if she wouldn't have faltered again, rationalized their actions, found some justification to stay around some longer and hope things would change somehow.

Blake had stood at the edge of that abyss far too often to trust herself that she would have come to the same decision if left to simmer on it. While leaving had been on her mind for years, it had been a spur of the moment impulse that ultimately gave her the courage to mess up Adam's plans and leave.

She was a coward at heart, always hiding or running from her problems. But running from the White Fang... was the one time that impulse would have been the right one from the start. Figures it was the one case that took her years to actually follow her go-to reaction.

The look in Adam's eyes had been easy to read for her, despite that mask. His body language too. They hadn't been partners for nothing. He had been in utter shock or he would have outright attacked her then and there for the betrayal. But Blake feared for whoever _else_ would try to leave the White Fang after she did. Adam would take it out on them that he couldn't stop her. She prayed none of her friends in the White Fang ever spoke up for her sake. No, better let _them_ damn her too, at least they'd be safe that way. She really hoped they were safe...

She stood under the water, arms cradled around herself, eyes burning. Damn shampoo.

A knock on the door shook her out of her daze.

"Hello? Who's in there? Tenya?"

Blake recognized Yang's voice and swallowed down the lump in her throat she hadn't really noticed forming.

"Wh-What is it? I'm taking a shower right now! I won't take long."

"Blake? Oh hell yes, thanks that it's you. You decent? Comin'in!"

 _"Wait, what?"_ , the cat Faunus thought, as the door opened and the blonde rushed in.

"Err, Yang, some privacy perhaps?"

"Oh come`on, I knocked, didn't I? I got some motor oil all over my shirt and smack in my face and hair when I was giving poor Bumblebee some much-needed attention. I really neglected the poor thing's _usual_ maintenance lately, with all those plans on upgrading her. And if I don't get it out right now, it's gonna be a real pain to get out at all. And I can't risk that. Messing up such _glorious_ hair would be a crime against nature!"

"Give me five more minutes and you can have the damn shower!"

"Oh hell no, I know how much you enjoy your showers."

 _"Wait, she did? Huh."_ , Blake was taken aback a bit at hearing that.

"I'm fine with the sink, just pass me the shampoo bottle and I won't bother you. Promise, you don't have _anything_ I haven't seen already. Besides, we're both girls, so what's the big deal? No need to be embarrassed. I was afraid it was _Tenya_ in here, so I'm really happy it's you instead. Though teasing our leader would have been funny, he'd probably punish me for it later on or put some lock on the door.", Yang mumbled, pulling off her top as they talked. She looked at the shower cabin and Blake's form obscured behind the foggy glass.

"Now don't be a grumpy cat and pass the shampoo, please?"

"I-I-I'm totally not a...!", Blake uttered after her brain restarted itself after a slight pause of panic, opening the shower cabin wide enough to hand out the shampoo bottle to the blonde, then shutting it again without ending her sentence.

Yang started washing her hair in the sink with utter concentration while Blake tried to hide the fact just how much the blonde had startled her with that joke. No moment of peace around here. Was it really so much to ask for a happy place for a few _damn_ minutes?

Yang Xiao Long. What did Blake think about _her_ ?

Beyond the warranted annoyance she felt right now of course, due to the girl just barging in. Though the young Faunus had to admit Yang's hair _was_ glorious.

Well, for one thing Yang was a little crass and overly loud. And had a terrible taste of humor. What with those god-awful puns, half of them cat-themed. Honestly the girl was a constant source of headaches for Blake.

Admittedly Blake got some good chuckles out of it when the blonde's teasing wasn't aimed at herself.

Seeing their leader getting flustered was a constant source of amusement and took some edge out of Tenya's business-like approach to team-leading. And she couldn't deny feeling a sort of vindictive satisfaction whenever Yang targeted Izuku, due to the worries he caused her since that yarn incident. Seeing him "squirm like a church mouse", like Yang called it, resonated with some primal cat-part deep inside of her. Or maybe Blake was just the type to hold a grudge. The result was the same - happiness.

But leaving all that aside, the blonde had a good heart. The way she stood up to help out Tsuyu against Cardin had made Blake so proud of her. She had to hold back so much during that scene to not intervene, knowing her cover didn't really allow for it. So Yang standing up for their Faunus partner had filled Blake with utter relief at that moment.

Heck, surprisingly even Weiss Schnee had looked full of approval. For a moment Blake felt a tinge of regret how she had essentially pushed the girl's outstretched hand away at that day. Though honestly, Yang's action had been a highlight of the day for Blake and she really didn't want to risk _anyone_ spoiling her mood right then and there.

Because a conversation between a former-White Fang member in hiding and the heir of the Schnee family wasn't exactly something destined to stay nice and peaceful, even with one side not aware of the fact. Still, the mere fact Weiss had that reaction in the first place and made that offer had made her somewhat happy in hindsight once the sheer surprise about it had passed.

Not that the girl wouldn't have her tarred and feathered if she knew she was a former White Fang.

The thought made Blake sigh under her breath. _"Form a damn line, everyone."_

"Hey Blake?", Yang disrupted her musings. Dang, just when she had almost forgotten she had to tolerate the blonde intruding her happy place.

"Yeah?"

"I meant to ask you for a while now. Seeing as it's just us in here... Was there anything bothering you lately?"

"..."

"It's alright if you don't want to talk about it. But you looked kind of down."

"I'm not."

"Well, maybe down is not the right word. But something's on your mind and is weighing you down. I don't mean to intrude, but..."

"Well, you kinda _do_ intrude right now. Only way of doing more so would be you kicking that door in or joining me in here."

"C'mon, don't be that way. And don't give me ideas I might have to take you up on either. Just thought it's a good circumstance to ask, you're less likely to teleport away like usual right now."

"So what, is you rushing in here some kind of plot to make sure I satisfy your curiousness?", Blake spat out. Instantly regretting it afterwards, when she noticed the blonde's hands stopped moving through her hair for a moment.

"Blake. It doesn't have to be _me_ you talk to. Just... _someone!_ Tsuyu for instance. Did you know she had a bunch of siblings to care for? Guess you do, she told us when we were cooking together, though you were busy stealing shrimps at that time. Or Tenya, he'd probably give you a triple-signed warrant of secrecy without you even asking for one. But Blake... anything you'd tell me would stay strictly between us, whatever it might be. I won't deny I'm a tease and enjoy a bit of gossip here and there, sure, but I'm an older sister. Why do you think Ruby still tells me everything after all those years? Because she trusts me to respect her secrecy."

"..."

Yang took the silence as an invitation to keep talking.

"Find _someone_ you can _trust_ , Blake. It doesn't have to be me or even a team member. Maybe Izuku? He's been a good friend to me and he... tends to give a unique perspective. Really helped me out of a dark spot that had left me disheartened some weeks before it could really get to me."

"Hah!", Blake couldn't keep herself from uttering that, considering Izuku might know her secret already. Worst person ever to turn to, at least in her situation.

" _Hey_ , what's so funny? I'm kind of opening up my heart to you here too! Or... wait! I didn't believe it, but is there maybe something to that rumor about you falling for Izuku without telling him, so it's funny I just told you to talk to him about it when you try your best for him not to notice?"

" **Hell no!** Don't even start with that stupid rumor!"

"He's not a bad guy, so I surely wouldn`t judge you for it. Hidden depths in spades and all that and built like a..."

"Yang, just... stop! Please! I'm tired of hearing people whisper that around me, as if I were deaf and couldn't hear them. It's just... really not the case. I wouldn´t mind befriending him, but at this point that would just feed those rumors and the moment he'd hear about those he'd be way too awkward to even talk to anymore."

"I believe you. Though honestly, don't let that stop you from befriending him, you'd miss out."

The next minute was spent in glorious silence. Alas, Blake knew it wouldn't last.

3.

2.

1.

"But back to you, Blake. You can't really deny _something else_ is weighing you down. I'm not that bad a judge of character. And something needs to be _done_ about it. I'm likely not the only one worried about you by now. And I think we've all given you ample time for you to try and sort it out by yourself. Sometimes... you ought to just _take_ an outstretched hand, Blake.", Yang said, while finishing up washing her hair, starting to dry-towel it.

Blake couldn't help thinking of Weiss Schnee and how she had just lamented wasting such an offer. Maybe she had a point. Not that she could tell them the truth, but maybe tell them... _something?_

To ease the burden on her shoulders and conscience just a little? Or would that just make her more of a liar, since she'd just spin things?

"I... can't promise anything. But I'll consider it, Yang."

Now it was the blonde girl's turn to sigh.

"Not exactly what I hoped for, but some progress I guess. Though I honestly didn't take you for such a scaredy cat."

Blake couldn't help herself and opened the door a little to throw a body lotion bottle at the back of Yang's head.

"Oww."

"You deserved that and you know it. Just because Tsuyu isn't around doesn't mean you're scot-free. Neither can you tell me that you want to help me, then do something you know I dislike."

"Huh. I guess you're right. I apologize, I swear it wasn't even on purpose, it just came naturally."

"Fix your screwed up sense of humor then.", Blake hissed a little.

" _Cute._ Kinda like you are, actually.", the blonde added while putting on a new shirt.

"Err, pardon?", Blake answered. _"Oh please, don't tell me she... Is that why she asked about me falling for Izuku..."_

"Just, well... it is kinda really _cute_ how you're showering with that ribbon on. Like, it must be _so_ important to you that you're so afraid you could lose it you're not risking taking it off for even a second. Like a family memento or some lover's gift. Scratch that, I won't intrude. But it's still endearing. I promise I won't tell anyone or tease you about it though. Consider that me proving to you that I can actually keep a secret."

With that she went through the door, leaving the young cat Faunus to her thoughts. Or rather the absence of any coherent ones. Blake stepped out of the shower shortly after and approached the neat pile of clothes.

 _"Oh, no"_

Crowned by the cat-ear shaped ribbon sitting right on top of it, as if a proud reminder of her true nature as a cat Faunus.

 _"Just, no!"_

And more-so as a reminder of her utter idiocy.

 _"She saw me standing in the shower cabin, ears in sight, for her, ribbon in sight. If she saw that pile of clothes with the ribbon on top and counts those facts together..."_

Blake, still stark-naked, ran towards the sink in panic, standing right where Yang had stood. Fighting the sudden urge to just scream her lungs out, let all the frustration and panic she felt _out_ in some primal cathartic yell. But even that was denied to her.

Fearful she turned her head to the shower cabin. The pile of clothes...

...was out of sight.

 _"Wait, did Yang move from that spot, could she maybe have seen it anyway, what if she... No, she didn't. But how damn close had this been? This is what I get for leaving my guard down. Stupid, stupid, stupid!"_

Blake sank to her knees, shivering all over, her hands still holding onto the sink as if it were some anchor.

"What the hell am I even doing...", she muttered under her breath, tears falling on the floor.

Whatever warmth she had felt from that shower had all but left Blake, only leaving coldness behind.

* * *

 **E/N: Don't you just love it when I end things on a happy note? Anyway we've got Phrasing and Deconstruction by Preventer Squall, and Happy Place by Vandalgyon.**

 **Also in case anyone actually noticed the slight break From the 'normal' TOB chapter followed by five regular chapter's routine we had going on. That obviously had to be scrapped otherwise Blake's bit here woulda been missing some context.**

 **-Shovern**

 **Construction should take a back seat to story consistency when needed.**

 **-Wind-Waker**


	50. Rising Tension

"Salutations my fellow Team Leaders! I hereby call this sixth meeting of the Beacon Leadership Council to order! I'll start with a simple roll call! Izuku Midoriya, Leader of Team MNVW?"

"I'm here Tenya."

"Very good! Ruby Rose, Leader of Team RSBR?"

"I am here!"

"Excellent! Coco Adel, Leader of Team CFVY?" A silence echoed out, and Izuku really couldn't help but blink in surprise. He'd gotten used to Tenya's script for the openings of these team meetings, but that had been something else entirely.

"... Tenya, you can see she's not here, you don't have to take her-"

"I shall take Miss Adel's silence as a sign of her absence! A shame, but understandable! Our older students have their own responsibilities to live up to. Finally, and obviously, I, Tenya Iida, Leader of Team TABY, am present and accounted for! This meeting may therefore come to order!"

Izuku just gave a slight sigh as he shook his head; Tenya was just going to do his own thing when it came to these meetings, it seemed, and he was just going to have to handle it. It had been a real shame too; while Team CFVY had their mission assigned earlier in the week and they hadn't been sure when they'd get back, he'd almost wanted to hold off for the weekend on the off chance that they made it back. However, he understood why Tenya and Ruby had wanted to go forward with today's meeting; it had almost become tradition at that point, if Izuku could call six weeks with some interrupts a tradition, for the Leadership Council to take place during the end of the week, that way it left everyone's weekend's relatively free.

Besides, with the big field trip coming up which promised to be a pretty intense affair, and following that Color Week, if people had plans for it, this upcoming Weekend looked like it was going to be more about people resting or making plans with their family than anything. Still, Coco had been a welcome addition to the club room ever since she'd signed up. A feeling that had apparently been shared with Ruby and Tenya, who were both a little glum at having their fourth member so noticeably missing. Still, Tenya immediately took a deep breath as he straightened up, giving all of them a serious/impressive look.

"Alright my fellow leaders, just because Miss Adel is off on a mission doesn't mean we need to be glum... in fact, I'd dare say that Miss Adel would very much want the opposite, that she'd want these meetings to go forward with the same level of energy and enthusiasm as the ones that we've had when she wasn't here. To that end, I'd say that we should work up our itinerary and prepare ourselves for today's meeting!" Izuku nodded as he sat back in his seat and thought over what, exactly, he wanted to do with today's meeting as Ruby rubbed her chin as well.

* * *

"Hmmm? You all want to know about the upcoming Field Trip?" Glynda's curiosity had been peaked, the experienced Huntress turned teacher having adjusted her glasses as they all approached her to ask their question. Izuku, having taken the front on the idea, and knowing that he had a little more experience in talking to Glynda about this, nodded as he stepped forward.

"Considering that this is meant to be a more serious test of our team's teamwork and ethic in such a serious environment, The Leadership Club thought it'd be a good idea if we actually got a picture of what the upcoming Field Trip's supposed to look like. What kind of things we might be asked to expect, what sort of preparations we might need to make, you know, the basics. It'd be the sort of information we'd have about a normal mission after all, so I just thought we'd ask you since... well..."

"You're probably the one best positioned to explain everything going on; no offense to either Professor Yagi or Professor Aizawa." Tenya remarked evenly as he adjusted his own spectacles, the other two students nodding in agreement. Glynda furrowed her brow as she looked down at the three of them, though she shrugged.

"It's a fair enough question; besides, if you pass this around your friends, we might have an easier time actually getting into the exercise itself rather than spending time making sure everyone's up on the same speed." The three of them smiled at that as Glynda produced her Scroll, extended the device out into its more pad-like form and then pressed a few command keys into the front of the console. Within a few seconds, the device whirred to life and she presented the three of them... something they were a little familiar about; it was a publicly available view of the Underground Training Facility.

Izuku recognized the image; after all, he had been shown it a few times in Birch Academy by professors who'd sought to explain the various facilities located in and around Mountain Glenn to would be students. It hadn't been meant necessarily as 'in case you go there someday' but more as a 'this area is off-limits to non-Hunters or people not authorized to be there, so if you find yourself there, make a quick exit please or just don't go in'. The place was dangerous for people who weren't prepared for it and as a student, Birch Academy judged Izuku and his peers unready for it. Out of curiosity, and his love for all things Huntsman, he'd tried to figure out more about it than just this one image. Asking hadn't been a crime in Mountain Glenn, but he'd still found himself pretty much road blocked at every turn. Izuku didn't need to know so they didn't 'let' him know. So, way back when and all the way up until now, he only knew what the general public did about the Underground Training Facility, and most of that was wrapped up in this image.

"First, the obvious; the training exercise is set to take place within the Underground Training Facility itself, located just underneath Mountain Glenn. The area is meant to be wide open but with a few artificial obstacles meant to simulate a environments that Huntsmen and Huntresses might be expected to fight among in live missions. They're nothing too fancy, being underground means that Mountain Glenn can't exactly plant trees down there and expect them to live, but the work done on it by Ken Ishiyama makes the entire place a bit more well modeled than some simple concrete pillars. Still, don't expect to be 'wowed' by the sight of it. It's in this area-" Glynda indicated the main chamber, "where we'll be staying for the duration of the exercise. Grimm will be brought in from various holding pens, cells and cages from within the... meat of the facility, the 'Tunnels' as they're called in the city." Izuku's eyes drifted off to the edges of the room indicated in the image, where three tunnels could be seen dug out of the wall on the various sides.

"They actually keep Grimm in these tunnels?" Ruby asked, sounding surprised, as Glynda nodded.

"Indeed. The bottom-line, main purpose of The Tunnels is meant to act as a veritable Roach Motel for Grimm invading through the underground. Part of the reason Grimm are kept in them is that Grimm themselves act as a slight pull on fellow Grimm, seeking to join up with them in order to act in a group or herd. It makes it easier to pull them into the more compromising places within The Tunnels themselves. In addition, much like Port's little chamber here on Beacon where he keeps numerous Grimm, the Grimm are there to supply the Training Facility and to be tested upon when the need arises." The three of them nodded in understanding, glad for the clarification, as Glynda moved on.

"The exercise will not be taking place any deeper into the facility; The Tunnels are a wide network, even the Main Tunnels can form a confusing network of pathways that can be easy to get lost in. More sensitive facilities important to Mountain Glenn are also within or connected vaguely to these Tunnels. There's a, 'locked' entrance and exit connecting the network to The Rail should something happen to the city at large. I'm sure Mr. Midoriya here already knows a little something about that."

'Yeah; if a Grimm incursion ever came from The Rail itself, several steel gates would slam shut between the surface city and The Rail, while the entrance to The Tunnel would be opened up, all remotely. That's when The Tunnels as trapped dead ends would come into play.'

"We'd rather not have live exercises potentially involving the various Semblances or Dust that you students use anywhere near any of these Tunnels. They're sturdy and stable, but there are civilians working within The Tunnels at any given time; we'd rather not interrupt their work or endanger them should something unforeseen occur during your exercise." The three of them nodded in understanding as Glynda sighed. "Now then, as for the exercises themselves, they'll be overseen by Professor Yagi, Professor Aizawa and one Ju Mittsu; she's a local Huntress specializing in Mountain Glenn's local flavors of Survival and Rescue, who'll be there to pull you all out of the fire should anything unforeseen happen with The Grimm while they're being herded into the Training Facility itself." They all blinked as they tilted their heads.

"Huh? What about you Professor Goodwitch?" Glynda adjusted her spectacles as she looked at her students.

"It'll be my job to oversee students who shall be on 'off' circulations of the training exercise. The Underground Facility, while large, would be rather... cramped for the purposes of our exercises if we had the entire First Year Class shoved in at once. Thus, teams will be taking part in the exercise throughout the day, being cycled out as they complete it and waiting in Mountain Glenn while their turn comes up. To make sure no one gets into trouble or runs off before they complete the exercise, I and a few other teachers will be keeping our eyes on them." Glynda produced a side screen that, Izuku saw, looked similar to the program that she used to determine who was up to be challenged for Class Spars. "Thus, Five Teams will enter the training facility at once. Teams have already been determined through lottery and the schedule for the day has been established." Glynda turned her gaze back to the students. "Teams that finish the exercise are considered done with classes for the day and are thus free to do whatever they wish from that point on... consider it the beginning of your Color Week vacation.

"Now then, as for the exercise itself it's a more complicated Search and Destroy. While your time in the Emerald Forest may have shown you individually capable or capable with a partner of taking on some amount of Grimm, this exercise will be meant to test full team's capabilities at new limits in an environment we can control. A larger number of Grimm, something more akin to what you'll actually encounter in the broader wild and not what you might find in The Emerald Forest, will be brought into the Facility and held in some location or another. Your exercise will be to seek them out and, upon locating them, destroy them. The five teams will be taking this exercise at once, settled into different sections of the Training Facility, so that none of you can watch each other's strategies and plan accordingly for your own run at the exercise. Everyone will be doing it at the same time with the same amount of knowledge about what exactly they'll be expected to face in terms of numbers and location. The exercises are expected to take place over the course of an hour."

With all that said, Glynda closed the programs on her pad. "Now then, that's the information that's available to you all, as students, should need to know. If you have other questions, now would be the time to ask."

"Well, Professor Goodwitch... I mean, hypothetically speaking, let's say worst case scenario; something happens with the Grimm and we end up in some kind of emergency situation. We can't get to our Scrolls or they're otherwise destroyed in the middle of the fight. How might we contact the authorities?" Glynda blinked a few times at Izuku's question, though that eased into her neutral expression as she pressed a finger to her lips.

"For the purposes of this Field Trip? Well... in the main Training Facility, there isn't a way; you'll be right next to the main entrance, so if something like that were to occur, you'd be expected to just turn around, let one of us open up the door, and evacuate. Between Aizawa, Yagi and Mittsu, such a thing wouldn't have to be worried about and, as I said, with its proximity to the main entrance there isn't a special means of contacting the outside world." Glynda frowned slightly as she pressed a finger to her chin. "Now, I know that there are chambers within The Tunnels that 'do' have those sorts of communications to the outside world. The Hunters and civilians workers assigned to the various Tunnels would know more about that. Considering that we're going to stay in the main training facility, that has been information that's been left out of our hands. 'Need to know basis' it was explained."

"Okay, fair enough." Izuku responded as he scratched the back of his head, doing his best to think up further questions. "Where exactly will all the students not taking part in the exercise, and the Teachers overlooking them, be staying at?" At that, Glynda sighed as she shook her head.

"Mr. Midoriya, take my word for it, that's not something you'll need to worry about." Izuku frowned and moved to speak up, but Glynda raised her hand. "Mr. Midoriya, I understand that you're being thorough but, honestly, you don't need to worry so much. There will be three highly qualified Hunters overlooking your exercises, more in the city and Tunnels themselves and the security of Mountain Glenn is a matter they try to handle with the utmost seriousness. Something you should know well."

"Yeah, but-"

"It will be okay, Mr. Midoriya." Glynda said more firmly and, by that point, he could tell that she was done answering further questions. He looked over his shoulder at Tenya and Ruby and saw that they were getting a similar read of the situation that he was. With that, Izuku sighed slightly and gave a slight bow of his head to Glynda.

"Thanks for the information Professor, we appreciate it." With that Glynda nodded and ushered them all off, the three of them leaving the office they had found Glynda in. As they entered the halls of Beacon Academy, the fact of how late it had gotten really struck them all.

"Well I think it's safe to say that, with that, today's Club Meeting can be adjourned." Tenya declared with a few sluggish hand motions, Ruby having nodded in agreement as she gave a short yawn.

"Yeah, I think so too. That's all good to know at least; sounds like this field trip will be fun!" The silver eyed young woman chirped, and her smile widened at the nods of affirmation she received. "Welp, I'll see you guys tomorrow then! Hopefully we all get slotted into the same group!"

"I feel like those are pretty long odds, Miss Rose." Tenya declared, though with a smile on his face, which had made it clear that he desired much the same. "We'll see what tomorrow brings though. Till then, good night to you both!"

"Goodnight you two." Izuku called back as Ruby and Tenya made their way back to their respective dorms, a slight yawn having crawled its way from between his as he shrugged. Maybe Glynda was right; there was so much in place for tomorrow, he didn't necessarily 'have' to worry about it. Nothing bad seemed likely to happen.

Still, that didn't help the slight nagging feeling in the back of his head as he walked off back to his dorm room. It was why, when he pulled out his Scroll to check through its functions, his eyes had landed on the signal feature that he'd gotten done finalizing. While all students had access to a broadband emergency signal that called on everyone in the area, it was considered only usable for just that; emergencies. Plus, when using it in the generic sense, it didn't necessarily identify who they were, just their location. It might've been easy for a lot of people to pass it off as something not to worry about, as that was something of a concern in the past.

Which was why Izuku'd set up his Scroll directly into the system; with a press of a button, it wasn't potentially some trouble-making rando who was calling into the system to stir up trouble but, hopefully, a student everyone knew wouldn't' do that with it. Furthermore, the feature allowed him more rapid access to the emergency signal; now if something happened, getting a call for help out was only one button press and a mere few seconds away. Hopefully, in any given emergency situation, that would be enough.

Izuku tried to assure yourself that Glynda was right and all it would be unnecessary but... well, better safe than sorry, right?

* * *

There was something almost tranquil in how you work with One For All in the early moments of a Smash.

Being Broken for the longest time, Izuku had had no idea what it felt like to have a Soul, to have that 'power' deep down inside of him. That warmth that he woke up to every morning, that feeling of his body tingling all-too pleasantly through his fingers and toes as his Soul worked to put him into tip top shape. That feeling, when he really focused in on it and just let the outside world 'go'... it was an immensely calming feeling, able to put them at ease at about any time. It was that feeling, that sensation, that he first started pulling upon as he focused on readying One For All's power.

That was just his Soul, however, his Aura. One For All? One For All was its own thing entirely; having worked with it for so long, there was no mistaking it anymore; One For All was separate from his soul... but intermingled. It was weird; the great mass of power deep within him pressed into all the little bits of him that weren't complete, that marked him as a Child of The Moon, and 'made' him whole by taking away what left him empty. Yet, it hadn't necessarily intermingled with his soul... though, from what he'd gathered from Toshinori's very 'vague' feelings about his own Soul, that might not always be the case. For now though, One For All was part of him yet separate from him, his but not his. It was such an odd feeling... especially when he considered the depth of power he felt in his Semblance.

It was pulling on that where things slowly transitioned beyond calming tranquility and into a... 'thrill'. As Izuku grabbed onto a chunk of One For All's power, he could almost immediately feel a charge that ran up his arm, slowly but surely passing through the entirety of his body as it built up strength. His muscles expanded, his heart beat faster and stronger, his lungs pulled in more oxygen and he just felt 'raw power' coursing through his veins. He was careful, however; he knew all too well that too much of that power would end up leading to an extreme: his muscles would tear themselves apart, his heart would feel like his head was a lead weight on top of it and his lungs would scream from the effort they were putting into keeping him alive... not to mention his bones and skin.

He distinctly felt like 'not' mentioning his bones and skin.

So while the thrill was there, always enticing him with its power, he was more careful in cases where he only wanted a small fraction of One For All's power. 5% , the most he could control safely. He'd pull and pull and eventually, with enough care, that chunk of One For All would tear away and fill his being, focusing in on the area he was trying to empower using One For All; in the case of a Smash, his fist.

Now, that all took place in the span of seconds when he used One For All like that, but from the sheer amount of times he'd gone through the exercises he had, the feelings were 'quite' familiar to him. It hadn't been a matter of learning those feelings, but in learning to control them, that his latest training with the 5% Beacon Smash had been meant to overcome.

And in that moment, as he took a deep breath, drawing the power of One For All into his fist as he reared it back, it all clicked for him in one, singular moment.

"BEACON... SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!"

It's small, so small compared to a 100% Smash, but Izuku could actually feel it that time. Izuku could feel the flow of power focus into his knuckles as he threw his punch and, when his blow fully extended, he could 'feel' all that force leaving him at once, blowing out into a small gust of wind that spiraled out away from him, kicking up dust and dirt as it did so. He took a few deep breaths as he clenched his fist; not a single bone broken, blood vessel popped or muscle torn.

"Well Mr. Midoriya; if you can pull that off a few more times, I think it'd be quite safe to say that you've successfully mastered your Smash." Izuku quickly turned his head to face Glynda as she adjusted her glasses, a small smile on her face as she watched him.

He couldn't help but smile back as he tightened his hand into a fist, feeling the remnants of One For All's power slowly seep back into the sea of his Soul.

* * *

...

...

'Gods, the tension is killing me!'

Izuku really didn't understand what had gone wrong! Was the cake actually terrible yesterday and Weiss had just been too polite to say anything? Had he done something stupid in after the two of them burying the hatchet on the whole awkwardness thing? He'd taken a shower that morning, right, he didn't offend? What could've...

Okay, backtracking, Izuku tried to think of what exactly was going on. So Pyrrha and Nora had decided that they were going to take a quick trip to the air dock to pick up some food they all had ordered for dinner. Not that the dining hall hadn't been great but they all had decided that they could use some extra time to study, mostly on Weiss' insistence, and that just eating something ordered out would let them all eat in their dorm room, thus saving time and attention that could be spent on their studies. Izuku hadn't really seen a reason to disagree and, so, there they all were. Things had been fine while they all studied, waiting for the food to arrive. Everyone was chatting and getting along and it just seemed like things were great!

Then Pyrrha and Nora left and... bam, all of a sudden Izuku could 'feel' a tension in the room that hadn't been there before as he and Weiss just silently sat and waited for the other two to return, the two of them having turned to their studies. In that particular case it had been survival study, to cover for Weiss and Pyrrha, and what they all had been looking into was the practice of using gatherings of small birds in order to figure out what might be going on in a given area; small birds of prey like hawks usually signified the presence of game that Hunters could kill while out on a mission to sustain themselves, songbirds meant that huntsman wouldn't needed to worry about anything dangerous like The Grimm being around, etc.

There was no Earthly explanation for 'why' Weiss suddenly got so tense, so 'angry' and yet, there it was! H could practically feel it wafting off of her... and having patched it up, to have it all go so mysteriously wrong and still have Weiss be upset, it had just been too much for him to bear!

"Weiss, I'm sorry, please tell me what I did wrong and I'll fix it!" Comical tears flooded out of the corners of his eyes as he suddenly called out, Weiss nearly falling backwards in her chair as she just barely caught herself, the surprise having been a bit much for her.

"Izuku, what are you even talking about?" Izuku flinched as Weiss shouted at him, the girl having been thoroughly surprised by his sudden outburst.

"AAAAH! It's just you got so angry when Pyrrha and Nora left and I was the only person here and we had that talk yesterday so I thought you were still mad at me and I just didn'twantallthatefforttogotowastesopleastWeissjust-"

"IZUKU!" Weiss' cheeks turned slightly red at his outburst as she shouted, her sudden raise in volume having been enough to silence him. "I'm not mad at you!" Izuku watched her face for a moment as he tried to discern whether or not she's telling the truth... and he felt relief hit him like a truck. Thank the Gods, she wasn't actually mad. After that past week, getting into another spat like that hadn't exactly appealed to him at all.

"So then why are you so upset. Heck, you're so palpably so that I can feel it from all the way over here." That tinge of red remained on Weiss' cheeks, clearly embarrassed that she'd allowed her annoyance to show, as she just turned with a slight huff.

"It's nothing, don't-" Weiss stopped as she took one look at his concerned expression. "... You're not going to let this go, are you?"

"I wouldn't really be doing my job as a Team Leader if I did, would I?" Weiss sighed as she shook her head at his unquestionable logic.

"Gods, you can be worse than Nora sometimes..." Weiss muttered as she brushed out the folds in her skirt that had formed from her sudden jerking around. "Izuku it's... look, I was reading the material and I was just... thinking about a little problem that I've had recently." Izuku tilted his head to the side, curiosity evident on his features as Weiss just stared him down. When it became even more clear that he definitely wasn't backing off this, Weiss just heaved a sigh as she shook her head. "Look, I was... reading about these birds and it made me think of Shoto."

...

"How does that even work? What does Shoto have to do with birds?" Izuku asked, honestly befuddled, as Weiss' face turned even further red.

"It, I... look, it'd make sense if you were in my head! It's part of this very intricate little metaphor that I had going!" Izuku wondered if Weiss thought of people in metaphorical terms often, but he decided to 'not' prod her on this and instead just get to the meat of the issue.

"Alright Weiss, so why would thinking of Shoto make you so upset?" Izuku asked, expecting a restrained answer from Weiss.

"Because he's a know-nothing jerk, that's why." ...

Well, he was partially right. Weiss, obviously holding back a little bit of vitriol so as to seem at least somewhat in control and in line with her image as an Atlesian Upper-class person, still managed to speak with that restrained nature... even if her distaste for Shoto was still evident.

"... So... I take it there's a story behind this, or did this just kind of happen..." Weiss frowned, the Heiress having turned in her seat as she folded her arms.

"There is a story behind this, but... frankly, I don't see too much of a point in sharing it. It's a rather simple affair; Shoto decided that he would address some rumors in order to ascertain 'why' I, Weiss Schnee, a 'pampered Diva' had decided to come to Beacon Academy in order to study rather than stay in Atlas so she could enjoy the company of her father's social sphere." Weiss shrugged her shoulders as she laid it all out. "I mean, no big deal right, it's just Shoto Todoroki showing that he's a miserable... person." It's clear she'd had another word on her mind rather than the last one she'd uttered.

"... Okay, that's... kind of... oof." Izuku scratched the back of his head, trying to think of something. "I mean, Shoto can be blunt, but... I dunno." The Schnee Heiress clucked her tongue against the roof of her mouth as she shook her head.

"If you ask me, it makes perfect sense; it's hardly a wonder he seems like such a miserable person like that if that's how he behaves with people. Dipping into rumors of their upbringing so that he can throw it in their face and belittle them, as if there isn't plenty of muck to kick around with his family. At least that brute Bakugo's insults are surface level and easily brushed off to the side as the ill-mannered idiocy of a lout." Weiss placed her hands on her hips, while Izuku just frowned. That... sounded like it could form a very deep sore spot between Team MNVW and Team RSBR. Whether or not Shoto meant the things Weiss said that he'd said, it'd be bad if, on future assignment, the bad blood between the two ended up causing an issue. If Weiss was that upset and laying into Shoto so much, to the point of comparing Bakugo favorably to him even if it was just two negatives, then whatever Shoto had said had seriously touched one of Weiss' nerves, in a way that even he hadn't managed to do so.

"Weiss... maybe run the entire story by me, alright?" The light blue eyes of the Heiress turned to him as him requested this... but she sighed in annoyance as she rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"Fine, fine... you're going to insist, I already know it..."

About five minutes later, Izuku was just left...befuddled

He would freely open to admitting that he didn't know Shoto Todoroki 'that' well. The two had, thus far, only had the one conversation and, during it, even he could admit that Shoto was... blunt. Very, very blunt. In some ways that was good, he knew what he was thinking without having to decipher too much... but that could also lead him to being pretty intense, like when he'd, apparently, stepped on a bit of a landmine. Aside from that and having met him in the locker room before Initiation, Izuku couldn't honestly say that he knew that much about Shoto aside from that. However, that was still enough for him to consider two things; that it might've just been Shoto being Shoto in that incredibly blunt way of his and asking a question in a way that 'really' could've been worded better... or maybe Weiss was right on the money with her characterization of those statements.

Point was, there was no way for Izuku to be certain and that's what concerned him. If it was the latter, fine enough, Weiss and Shoto just weren't going to be friends. It happened; not everyone could get along, after all. Some people were just 'different'. It'd mean that he and Ruby would have to manage things between their teams carefully but, hey, that was acceptable. If, however, it was the former then he really wanted to be able to help. Having relations between Team RSBR and Team MNVW hurt over a misunderstanding hadn't been something he was exactly wanting to happen; having said misunderstanding and hurt be between two of the stronger members of the Teams who could, otherwise, really synch up well in a given situation would've been even worse. Plus, it would've really stung to see two people, one he already considered a friend and one he hoped considered him a friend (though it could be hard to tell with Shoto), be on bad terms with each other over what had been, in essence, a misunderstanding.

Still, he knew Weiss well enough to know that she wasn't necessarily going to bend easily. Judging by the sounds of it, that wasn't just some embarrassment or a misunderstanding like between him and her; Weiss thought that Shoto had done some direct insult to her in some way, though Izuku couldn't exactly say how as Weiss seemed tight lipped on that herself. So he had to make sure Weiss knew he was on her side; after all, for all he knew, Weiss 'had' been rather badly insulted by Shoto. He wanted it to not be true but... well, Weiss was his team member and his friend, he'd support her if the worst turned out to be true.

""Hey Weiss, do you remember when back before Initiation, when you were talking to Pyrrha, Tenya, and Shoto? You said you were hoping for all four of you to be on a team; that Pyrrha was supposed to be this incredibly strong fighter from Mistral and... well, I mean, you and I both knew that Tenya's and Shoto's families were famous, so that hadn't been much of a surprise." Weiss arched a brow as he started, though it seemed she'd been content to hear him out. "Well... here's a question to consider; why didn't they go to their home cities instead?"

Weiss furrowed her brow, though he was sure he spotted a genuine gem of curiosity behind her eyes. "I mean, they all have clout, they all have status; Pyrrha probably would've been a big person on Haven's campus if she'd gone there, and the same is absolutely true for Shoto. They would've both benefited from their status, same with Tenya... yet they're all here at Beacon instead of where they were born."

"I'm sure everyone has their own reason for doing so too... and, well, if I saw someone else who'd done something similar to me, I might be curious as to what brought them to Beacon too. Now, I don't want to pry, but from the sound of it he was curious and decided to ask you directly. Very directly." Weiss nodded along with him up until that point, whereupon he could practically 'see' her hairs stand on end.

"So what, you think he was just curious and blithely asked me that kind of thing like that? Izuku, I thought-"

"I do agree that the way he asked sounded pretty rude." Izuku cutoff Weiss, while it clearly annoyed her, did cause her to stop her accusation, her body language settling down even as a frown remained on her face. "Now, do I think he was being spiteful when he asked it... I honestly don't know Weiss." Weiss actually raised an eyebrow at that as he shrugged. "I've only talked to the guy once, but that was enough to know that he could be incredibly blunt. Now, I'm not saying that to defend him or ask you to forgive him; like I said, I only know that he's blunt, I don't know if he was being a jerk about this or if it was just an accident. I can't say for certain either way." It was subtle how the frown rose from Weiss' face, replaced by her lips having settled into just a thin line. Not a smile or a frown, just a neutral expression, and Izuku furrowed his brow, trying to figure out what she was thinking.

'Man, I still really can't read people.'

"With that said, I still don't think its necessarily in your best interest to sit here and make yourself more and more upset over all this. I think it might be better if you went ahead and asked him about it yourself, on your own terms." At that, Weiss rolled her eyes, less annoyed or aggravated and more in an 'obviously' sort of way.

"I guess I still should've seen this coming." Weiss remarked as Izuku shrugged his shoulders.

"I mean, I'm only saying this because I think it's to your benefit." Weiss quirked an eyebrow at that, obviously finding that line of logic a bit hard to believe. "I mean, think about it; if you find out what made him ask and what his intentions were, you can know for certain rather than being upset about what seems like the reason. Either he was just being blunt and it was a mistake and you can avoid making a misunderstanding with a fellow Hunter this early into our year, someone whose on a Team that we have friends on-" Weiss did seem to wince a bit at that, "-or you'll find out that you were right and you'll get your perception of Shoto confirmed... and at that point no one can really argue with you that what he said wasn't horribly rude." Izuku did his best to give Weiss a smile as he nodded at her. "I mean, either way I'll have your back because... well, one way, you stand to benefit from doing this or, the other way, I'll support you because Shoto was genuinely rude to you."

Izuku saw Weiss was doing her best to keep that even expression after she recovered from her wince. It was almost like a battle of wills between he and her; Weiss' stubborn insistence that she's in the right and doesn't actually need to go out and address things with Shoto against his insistence that it was for the better she did. In any given situation where Weiss might've had a leg to stand on, she might've taken that leg and gone with it, fighting against his suggestion and insisting that he was just against her in this case and being 'typical' Izuku...

Yet eventually Izuku watched as Weiss even expression gave way to a slightly weary one, a sigh escaping her lips as she rubbed her temples. "You did just have to make me consider that I've gotten into 'another' fight this week that might not be necessary, did you..." Weiss shot Izuku a look before he could gain a feeling of victory. "Not saying you're right, because you might be very 'wrong'... but I am saying that you've introduced some doubt." Weiss sighed as she shook her head. "It would be very foolish if I started some stupid fight with an up and coming Hunter from our year over a misunderstanding... it would be for the best if I at least got clarification." He smiled as he gave a firm nod to that.

"Absolutely." Izuku said, hoping to encourage Weiss... though the Heiress did suddenly seem a bit nervous.

"Although... that may be a bit tougher than it could've been." Izuku tilted his head to the side as Weiss coughs into her fist. "In my... frustration with Shoto... I may have said something rather... rude myself before departing, leaving him not an opportunity to speak back."

Izuku blinked as Weiss told him the very last bit of the tale... and he winced. Even Izuku knew that there was 'something' sensitive about his powers for Shoto that he really hadn't wanted to speak up about, though it seemed like Weiss might've known a bit more about the rumors than Izuku did. "Hmmm... Izuku?" Weiss said with a bit of a dry chuckle as she scratched her cheek. "Since you're in such a... gracious mood with your advice... might I ask for... I dunno... a little bit of advice on how I might... break the ice, as it were?"

"First off Weiss, Yang would be proud of that pun." Izuku say with a slight smile that he would swear wasn't teasing as Weiss just seemed confused for a moment.

"What are you..." Weiss' eyes went wide as the girl suddenly screams a bit. "AAAAH, SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP! I DIDN'T MEAN TO! IT JUST HAPPENED, THAT STUPID BLONDE HAS JUST GOTTEN IN MY HEAD!"

Izuku chuckled a bit as Weiss had her miniature freak out.

Weiss's head turned, and her eyes locked with his.

Izuku heard screaming in the distance.

The chuckling stopped.

"A-Anyway, I think the direct approach is the best. Find a place both of you are comfortable talking, and start off by saying that are sorry for having said what you said at the end. I know why you did it, but you obviously regret having said it, and I know from experience that a good way to help with a situation like this is to admit something you did wasn't right."

"... I suppose that is a good thing to have learned, yes." Weiss commented as she scratched her cheek, the moment having caused Izuku to grin.

"After that, you could just ask why he wanted to know. Get him to open up some, and maybe from there you'll be able to tell how much of what he said was just being accidentally rude or not." Izuku tapped his chin slightly as he thought over the rest. "I'll leave it to you as to whether or not you'd want to share your reasons for coming to Beacon. Those are yours and your alone, and I trust your judgment on whether or not you'd want to open up about that." Weiss nodded. "And I think it'd be a good idea if you try to keep an open mind. If this was all a misunderstanding, he may well stick his foot in his mouth again without meaning to, so you should try to remember that and be the bigger person by letting it go."

"And if it wasn't?" Weiss responded, a slight arch to her brow.

"Then you were right and we just move on from there." Izuku shrugged his shoulders. With that, Weiss seemed to take his advice into account. It was a tense few seconds but, finally, the Heiress sighed as she placed a hand on her forehead.

"Alright Izuku... we'll see. If something does end up coming up, I'll do my best to remember your advice. If nothing else... I appreciate that you're trying." He smiled a bit as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Hey Weiss, it's no problem. We're friends after all and I don't want to see potential friends stuck in an argument if it can be avoided."

"HEY GUYS!"

Nora reemerged with two full plastic bags, with several boxes stacked on top of the other, and the smells of well cooked food emanating from within. Pyrrha was right behind her, with her arms filled with even more bags, as well half a sandwich sticking out of her mouth.

"DINNER TIME!"

"Yeah," Izuku smiled at them, before returning his gaze to Weiss, "Dinner sounds good."

"Yes it does."

"Of course you'd say that Weiss," Nora continued, "I mean, when have you ever said no to a meal?"

"EXCUSE ME?"

Izuku silently chuckled, as Weiss seemed to return to normal, beginning to bark at her partner with a vitriol that seemed about routine now. Pyrrha moved over and sat back, down, handing him his bag of food. She seemed to flip her head back, and the last of the sandwich disappeared into her gullet.

"Everything going okay?" she asked, not missing a beat as she opened up another box of her own food, and seemed to be deciding what she was going to have next, "I know you and Weiss were a bit off earlier, and I hope leaving you two alone for a while wasn't a problem"

"Oh yeah," Izuku nodded. He thought about the upcoming trip back to Mountain Glenn and Weiss's really bad week, and the hopeful resolution to come.

"Everything seems to be looking up."

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for being a day late, had a presentation come due earlier this week and so I lost track of the update schedule. Next update will come out on the 23rd, same as the old schedule, my apologies.**

 **Thought I'd also mention the P atreon as we've hit 50 chapters; people who donate get to vote on outtakes that get written for the story (though it'll be as part of how far along the Quest is) and people who donate enough get to nominate ideas that get voted on entirely. It's easy to find if you search up either my name or the Inkasters and the site.**

 **-gorilla_fingers**


	51. One Way Ticket

'It hasn't even been seven weeks since I was last here.'

It was a pretty familiar sight to him; he and his mom had visited Vale before and, had ended up in the Vale City Rail Station multiple times. Izuku wasn't nervous about being there, he wasn't nervous about the location...

What did make Izuku a little nervous was the fact that he and the 99 other students who, roughly, made up Beacon's Current First Year were standing here, waiting for things to get settled at the front of the line so that they all could take the rail that would deliver him to his hometown, Mountain Glenn. He took a long, deep breath as he tried to comfort himself with the fact that he was surrounded by not just his team but Team TABY and RSBR. His peer group had decided to stick it out together on the way to the Underground Training Facility. There was no guarantee that they all would be taking the exercise together, after all, so spending some time before being split up, potentially, sounded like a good idea. Izuku looked among his friends to read the mood; unsurprisingly, some of them like Yang and Nora were excited about the potential of seeing an entirely new place that they hadn't been before.

Some, like Ruby, were a little bit nervous about the size of the crowd around them and, yes, going to someplace completely new that they didn't know much about directly. Others were impassive; Shoto, Ren, Blake and Weiss seemed positively nonplussed at the size of the crowd around them as they all just stared around. Others were doing a better job of hiding their excitement than the first group; Tenya and Tsuyu kept up their neutral expressions, but Izuku could see Tenya's hands practically shaking, desiring to do his usual hand movements at the prospect of visiting the location that the two had talked about not so long ago, while Tsuyu just seemed... something. It was always hard to tell with her, but there was just a feeling.

Pyrrha seemed a little uncomfortable with the crowd; not just for its size but because she had been constantly recognized, with fans having walked up in order to speak with her. Kacchan just seemed annoyed with waiting around, period.

Izuku? Well, he had just made one last check to make sure everything was where it was supposed to be.

'Can't be too careful.'

Izuku smiled to himself as he counted everything out; yep, everything was exactly where it should be; the bandages, the salve, the drinks and the extra ammo.

'It maybe a little cautious to bring this stuff, but I reckon that it is better to be safe than sorry.'

Even after his second Awakening, he still hadn't quite developed the Aura shield to protect him from major injuries from even lower opponents like Beowolves. Izuku remembered, with a wince, the hits they'd gotten in on him and how very nearly they'd punched through his Aura a couple times. Up until he improved that aspect of his Aura, taking some extra precautions with goods wouldn't be a bad idea... and heck, in a general situation wouldn't be a bad idea.

Still, Izuku ended up satisfied that yes, he had everything and that no, he really didn't miss anything, just in time for a whistle to be blown.

 _"For those taking the bullet train to Mountain Glenn, please move ten feet away from the main terminal, as the track will be loaded at this time."_ Everyone except Bakugo blinked in confusion but eventually followed Izuku lead as well as Bakugo, stepping away from the edge as they all watched. On the ground in front of them, the tracks began to spin as the main terminus moved to connect its rails to a nearby wall which, shortly, opened up to reveal a whole variety of trains. Some were obviously industrial, many being packed with varying kinds of Dust, concrete mixes and steel meant to be shipped out to Mountain Glenn or that had been very recently shipped in, others were military, meant to carry large numbers of Hunters should either Vale or Mountain Glenn need reinforcement. However, what drew everyone's attention was the sleek and well designed train that slowly slid out from its position and onto the rails, slowly inching its way onto the tracks of the central terminus.

Before his non-Mountain Glenn friends could lower their eyebrows at the sight of so many varying means of transport and the system in place to put them on the rails, many of them jumped slightly as a loud, metallic grinding reached their ears. Everyone turned to watch as the large metal gate that had stood on the opposing wall from the terminus slowly opened up, revealing a long, dark tunnel with only some maintenance lights having lit a few small spaces of the tunnel here and there. The terminus slowly spun with the train on top of it and, once the rail between it and the tunnel had lined up, they connected. As that was done, the sounds of metallic grinding ceased and the train stood silent.

 _"Thank you for your patience everyone, you are now free to board the train. First Year Class of Beacon Academy, you all have been assigned to cars 5-10 of the train."_

"... Swanky." Yang finally spoke up among the rest of the class, everyone having nodded in vague agreement as they all got their things. While many people had loaded up into the other cars, his fellow First Years all loaded into the called cars, he and his friends slipping into one that, luckily enough, had turned out to just have Izuku and his friends in it. After a few moments, the train cars had all been loaded, their doors sliding shut. He and Bakugo took deep breaths as they both held onto their seats, prompting everyone to just look over at them curiously.

"What's up guys, I would've thought you guys would be the most used to this of all of us." Ruby remarked as she tilted her head to the side, Bakugo just grunting in annoyance.

"We 'are', Runt." Ruby puffed up her cheeks at that as Izuku just chuckled nervously at his friends.

"Just... hold on to your seats, trust me." His friends seemed a mix of skeptical and slightly amused, though a handful like Pyrrha, Shoto, Blake, Tenya, Weiss and Ren took his advice and grab a hold of their seats. Good thing too as, within moments...

 _ **fffffffWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!**_

The rest practically fly out of their seats as a 'massive' amount of force hit them nearly at once, various cries of shock and surprise having quickly followed. Izuku braced himself against the force of the train reaching its max velocity and, after a moment, sighed in relief as the force just disappeared, as if it had never been there in the first place.

"... HOLY MOLEY, WHAT WAS THAT! THE TRAIN WENT LIKE 'FWOOSH' AND WE WENT LIKE 'AAAAH'!" Nora jumped up from her spot on the floor, the girl a mix between excited and flustered from her experience on Mountain Glenn's bullet train.

"Sorry Nora, we probably should've spoken up at first but... well, the trains between Mountain Glenn and Vale go... pretty fast..." Izuku scratched his cheek as everyone arched an eyebrow.

"How fast we talking here Slugger?" Yang asked as she pulled herself back up onto her seat.

"... About 375 Miles Per Hour..."

...

There was a stunned silence that overtook most of the car, though he heard Tsuyu hum to herself as she placed her finger against her chin.

"Wow, that's pretty fast. If anything bad happened on the tracks, we'd all be dead in seconds."

"... Thank you Tsu, that was just what I needed to hear..." Weiss muttered her knuckles white as she gripped her seat as hard as she could, Tsuyu just having shrugged.

"How does 'anything' go that fast?" Ren asked, honestly bewildered, as Tenya readjusted his spectacles.

"From what I understand of the matter, the train isn't actually 'connected' to the tracks; high amounts of Lightning and Wind Dust are charged through the bottom of the train to create not just a forward momentum but a layer of magnetic energy that works off similar energies being produced by the rails themselves. The energy is just enough to keep it from touching and thus creating friction but small enough that the train doesn't fly entirely off the tracks."

"... I barely understood a word of that..." Ruby remarked as she tilted her head to the side.

"Basically it's a magnetic, levitating train if I'm understanding Tenya correctly." Shoto remarked dryly as Ruby's silver eyes sparkled.

"... OH MY GOSH THAT'S SO COOL!" Ruby reached out and grabbed her sister's arm, shaking it a bit. "YOU HEAR THAT YANG? WE'RE BASICALLY ON A MAGIC CARPET TRAIN!"

"Yeah... real cool..." Yang said slowly as she frowned. "So... what exactly is keeping us from being splatted up against the wall? 375 MPH sounds great and all, but that's a 'little' faster than my bike and... well..." Tenya again raised his hands in his usual, cutting gestures.

"The train cars themselves have their own gravity; a suitable amount of Gravity Dust being charged so as to, essentially, create a space within the cars that isn't effected by the momentum of the train's movements."

"... Is that even a thing?" Blake remarked dryly, her eyes narrow in suspicion.

"Hey, it sounds right to me, so I say go with it!" Nora called out excitedly as she took her seat again, everyone having just agreed to leave the matter be. Pyrrha, on the other hand, just seemed to frown a bit as she looks around, having just noticed something.

"Hey... there are no windows on the train." Everyone blinked as they look around and notice that, why yes, Pyrrha's observation had been correct.

"Huh, that's a shame. I would've liked a view to take in while we're shooting off to Mountain Glenn. Something nice to take in while traveling." Yang remarked as she leaned back against her seat, which caused Kacchan to just scoff.

"Oh what, you want a view of a dimly lit tunnel, idiot?" A slight twitch overcame the corner of Yang's left eye as Kacchan spoke up, the blonde having reached up to rub the bridge of her nose.

"... Thank you for the insight, I hadn't thought of that... asshole..." Yang muttered while Pyrrha still just frowned.

"Point remains... it does feel a little... cramped without a windows." Tsuyu nodded as she looked around.

"The cars seem kind of barren too, it really is kind of claustrophobic... is there anything to do while we wait for the train to arrive?" Izuku tapped his chin a bit before he sheepishly chuckle.

"Well, mostly just watch commercials for stuff either in Vale or Mountain Glenn, depending on which way you're going."

"... Commercials?"

As if on cue, a couple screens that hung down from the corners of the car all lit up at once. It was a way for businesses or companies in the two cities to advertise to people looking to take a break from their lives in either Mountain Glenn or Vale, basically tourists, and a good way of helping the trains pay for themselves. That being said, they weren't 'great' commercials. Take the one for a slightly well-known Mistrali-Themed Restaurant whose main specialty was fish dishes... and, well...

 **"Good eats, come come, pretty girls too~** _ **Nyan nyan, nyan nyan, Ni Hao Nyan~**_ **Gorgeous, Delicious, Very Cultured!"**

It was oddly catchy commercial jingle, performed by a, admittedly attractive, young woman, presumably a Faunus judging by the cat ears on top of her head.

"... I like it." Nora said with a smile as the rest just kind of stared for a moment. Clearly it wasn't everyone's cup of tea.

"Well we could just talk for a bit. It'll be a little bit till we hit Mountain Glenn even at these speeds." Izuku remarked as everyone else just nodded, content to slowly break up into either small groups or sit by themselves as everyone waited for the train to hit its destination.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

'Welp, first things first, team leader responsibilities.'

Izuku sighed a bit as he got up out of his seat, the movement going unnoticed as everyone seemed a bit more preoccupied with their own thoughts or conversations, as he walked on over to Weiss. For a moment, he thought that the white haired girl didn't even notice him, her light blue eyes locked forward on the wall opposite her as he took a seat next to her. Izuku fidgeted a bit, unsure about how to crack open a conversation with Weiss, after all it was plain as day that the girl's pretty well scared out of her wits, but he wasn't quite sure of how to start addressing it.

"Izuku, be honest with me." Izuku actually flinched as Weiss' voice reached his ears, having not expected her to notice his presence, much less acknowledge it. Still, the Schnee Heiress spared him a glance as she took a bit of a breath. "How long until we get to Mountain Glenn? How long am I going to be on this screaming metal deathtrap?" He frowned a bit as Weiss' description of the train... but then to someone who is decidedly 'not' used to travel by train, especially the underground train between Glenn and Vale, he was not surprised.

"Well... it should take about twenty or twenty-five minutes over all, I think. Mountain Glenn's just a little under 150 miles away, so..." Weiss flinched as she locked eyes with him.

"Mountain Glenn is 'that' far away?" Izuku nodded slowly as Weiss just huffed, shaking her head as she raises her hand. For a moment, he thought she was going to palm her face... though it's as if Weiss realized she had momentarily released her death grip on the seat underneath her, as her hand immediately shot back down to sunk her fingers back into it. "By the Gods Izuku, why would Vale put a city 'that' far away from itself with this... monstrosity as the only means to get to it?! That's just insane! We're literally trapped in a giant metal tin can that's screaming through a dimly lit underground tunnel! Any number of things could happen to us!" Izuku chuckled nervously as he scratch the back of his head."

"Come on Weiss, it isn't that bad. There haven't been any major accidents on the train since some of the modifications have been made to the system... and the last big accident occurred with an industrial train, not a civilian one."

"That does 'not' make me feel better Izuku!" Weiss said, almost with a whine, as she seemed to curl up just a bit more.

"Come on Weiss, you guys have to have trains up in Atlas, right? Passenger trains at that."

"Izuku, an Atlesian passenger train is 'very' different from what we're experiencing here. It 'doesn't go over 200 miles per hour... it doesn't even exceed 125! It 'isn't' totally enclosed with no windows so you can't see if trouble is afoot or you can't get out. Izuku, on a normal train if it were about to crash I could use my Semblance to make Glyphs to help me escape from it from out the window! Here, I just have to wait, cross my fingers and hope this train doesn't splatter us against the walls of these tunnels! Finally, Atlesian passenger trains are above ground and people will actually know if something happens! How long would it take before anyone even knew that something bad happened Izuku?"

"Uhhh..." Izuku actually really didn't want to answer that last question; it was an admitted fault with the system that the only time anyone knew something had happened was when the train didn't arrive on the station on time, and even then further time could be added if people just assumed it left late. The only times people would know immediately is if the accident took place close to a terminal... and that carried its own 'very bad' set of circumstances if that occurred.

"Exactly!" Weiss looked back forward to the opposite wall as she shivered. "And we have to take this ride back to Vale all over again just to get back to the dorms... Gods, why couldn't you all have put Mountain Glenn closer to Vale or something?! Even the lesser Mantle Cities aren't so far removed from their major former City State! What sense does this make?"

"Well, Vale's quite privileged with its location. With the seas at its back and the mountain ranges up front, it's got some great natural defenses to shield it from the predations of the Grimm. When the Vale council was looking for a second expansion, they wanted something along those lines too. After all, no point expanding if you can't hold the ground you take. Mountain Glenn's where it is since it's the most defensible position for hundreds of miles around. That said, if it couldn't get reinforcements from Vale quickly, there'd be no point placing it where it is in the first place, hence the rail network."

In all honesty, he didn't think he could somehow make Weiss think she had some manner of control, which he had surmised was the root of her issue with being on the train. It really wasn't in his power to pull the kind of mental maneuvers that would be necessary in order to make that kind of stuff work. Plus, by all means, Weiss hadn't been 'wrong' about having no power if something happened to the train ,per say. So instead, he decided to blitz Weiss in two directions; the logical half of her complaints and the emotional, hoping to address her worries while also giving her something else to think about. Izuku watched as Weiss blinked at his explanation, a slight frown on her face, though one that seemed slightly defiant, as if miffed that he challenged her position, than one upset with his line of reasoning all together.

"Well... alright, a fair enough point. Still, why bother with the expansion then? Why not just stay in Vale, what makes Mountain Glenn so special that it 'needed' to be put down."

'Oh, I actually know that one too!'

"Oh well, you see, on top of Mountain Glenn's really defensible position, the Dust veins in and, mostly, around Mountain Glenn are pretty rich. I think the idea was to reduce the reliance on the SDC for Dust, actually. It's pretty rich in both Lightning and Wind Dust, which is why they chose a maglev train for transport; easily accessible resources with a ready application." Izuku saw that Weiss had yet to pry her fingers from the cushion, but it was pretty clear that he'd taken the fangs out of Weiss 'logical' arguments against the train having been necessary or warranted... and just left her with her own fear of her lack of control. "Still... that probably really doesn't help you much at all, does it?"

"Not really..." Weiss muttered to herself.

"Well, think of it this way: these trains have the best safety record out of any public transport in Vale. They have to, considering the distances covered and the velocities involved; there are so many safety features on these trains it's difficult for them to add anything else. Walking across the street is more likely to end in you getting injured than taking the train to Glenn, same as taking a bullhead." Izuku chuckled a bit as he looked off to the opposite wall. "I mean, it probably doesn't feel that way; you're right that it seems like nothing's in your control... but, well, in this case we just have to put the control in the train's safety features and feel confident in its track record. It really is the safest way to travel in Vale."

Weiss just sat there for a moment, a frown still deeply cut on her face as she stared off in the same direction Izuku had. He watched as Weiss sighed and, while she didn't relax at all, she did at least dig her nails out from the cushions and put her hands back in her lap.

"I suppose there's no helping it when you put it like that... I'll just have to sit here and wait for this ride to end... and do the same when we go back to Vale." Izuku nodded; it was clear Weiss still didn't like it very much, but that she wasn't at least in threat of having a heart attack anytime soon. Eventually he decided to get up out of his chair, figuring his work. As he did so, Weiss' voice spoke up. "Izuku... thanks for trying. It did make me feel... a little better." Izuku turned to give Weiss a smile as he nodded.

"Sure thing Weiss, anything I can do to help."

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"Sounds like Weiss isn't exactly taking the whole ride well." Izuku sighed as he nodded in agreement, taking a seat next to Blake as the black haired young woman just stared at the monitor up in the corner.

"Well, she has her reasons, and understandable ones at that. Honestly I think I might've figured more people might've been out off. This is something to get used to, after all." Blake nodded absentmindedly as she glanced back over her shoulder at you.

"Eh... I've been on worse rides, so I think I'm a bit immune to that kind of panic..." Blake's face took on a more curious expression as she noticed him flinch. "What?"

"Oh it's just that... well, you gave me a bit of a look so I was wondering..." Blake seemed to realize her mistake as she shook her head, her black hair swinging about.

"Oh! No, no... whatever look was on my face-" Irritated and a bit put off but... definitely 'hungry', "-wasn't meant for you... I was watching the..." Blake sighed, as if the admission was some source of embarrassment. "... 'Commercial'..."

"Oh, well, I don't see why you'd be so... embarrassed about watching a commercial. It's pretty much the only thing to do on the train while we wait." Again, the commercial for the _Ni Hao Nyan_ continued, the little advertisement having the Cat Faunus who usually performed the jungle listing off a variety of fish dishes that the restaurant specialized in, going into detail about it all. Even Izuku had to admit, it made him a bit hungry, though it was just because it reminded him of the fish dishes his mom would make from time to time. "I also don't understand why you'd make... that look there." Blake seemed lost for a moment, that expression of irritation and hunger evident on her face, before she seemed to snap out of it at the end of his statement.

"Huh? What was that?" The girl's cheeks flared red for just a moment as her Amber eyes blinked in realization. "Oh, right, that... well... it's just... you know... ummm..." Blake seemed to take a moment to try to think of the best way to phrase herself. "... Have you ever felt like something was decidedly 'not' for you... but at the same time it was?"

...

"Huh?" Izuku tilted his head to the side, obviously confused, as Blake just pressed a hand to her face.

"O-kay, so... like, imagine there's something you see and there's stuff about it that you don't really like. Like, yeah, you might understand why other people like it, and even why the people involved might make it like that... but it's not really up your alley at all? But at the same time there's stuff about it that's..." Blake's mind seemed to wander for a bit as the commercial piped up about a special on a noodle dish with freshly caught tuna diced up into it with the fish oil mixed into the broth and, Izuku swore, that Blake licked her lips 'very' quickly' as she shook it off "... Completely and totally up your alley?"

"... So you... don't like something about the commercial and like something about it at the same time?" Izuku frowned slightly as Blake just gave a 'very' slight nod, it being clear that her nerves were acting up slightly.

"I'd be careful about asking Blake about this particular little subject there, Slugger." Izuku blinked as he turned to look at Yang, who just had this... increasingly mischievous grin on her face. "I mean, we've tried to talk to her about this before and, well, let's just say she can get a little bit..." He saw Yang's cheeks puff out, as if she was trying to hold herself back, as if she 'knows' that she shouldn't say what's on her mind... but, like a dam fit to burst, it seemed Yang couldn't help herself as her enthusiasm bubbled over. "A little bit 'catty' about it!" Yang went the full 9-Yards for that pun, even so far as making a pretty cat-like expression to go along with it.

"... Ribbit ribbit."

 **thhhWAAAAAP!**

 **THUNK!**

"Ah!" Yang was simultaneously assaulted from the front and back, Tsuyu's tongue slapping her across the back of her head while Blake tossed a copy of Little To Do With Something into her face. The girl rolled out of her seat as the assault concluded, a slight groan coming up from her spot on the ground as she gave a thumbs up. "I regret nothing, I'm nothing without my puns!"

"It's for your own good Yang, ribbit ribbit." Tsuyu said plainly as she shrugged.

"Yes, you're not as hilarious as you think you are... Izuku, could you grab my book?" Izuku just nodded as he reached down and picked up the copy of the play, handing it back to Blake. She was giving a bit of a stink-eye to Yang, but soon enough she returned her attention back to the conversation.

"Wow, you must really like fish a lot. I mean, I've seen you eat it as often as you could when the mess hall's been open, but I didn't know you loved it enough for it to overpower whatever it is you hate about the commercial." Izuku saw Blake pause for a moment as she looked over at him.

"It... it isn't 'that' noticeable, is it?" He flinched a bit at Blake's question, a nervous laugh having escaped his lips as Blake's cheeks turned red. "It isn't 'that' apparent, right?" When, again, he couldn't give Blake a solid answer, he watched as the black haired young woman momentarily buried her face in her hands, letting out a slight groan as she shook her head. "Oh Gods..."

"I-I'm sorry, I probably shouldn't have brought it up, and-"

"No, no... it's not you. I'm embarrassed with me. I... thought I had better self-control." Blake sighed as she removed her hands from her face, a tinge of red remaining though her face had returned to its calm and collected expression. "But... yes. I like fish a lot and... I'm not going to lie, just listening in about what they serve and seeing them... I can practically smell and taste it... and it's good Izuku. It's... actually kind of making me a bit hungry, shamefully enough." Blake remarked as she shook her head. Izuku chuckled slightly, though he quickly bite back on it when Blake shot a look. The look didn't last long as she shook her head again. "But... yeah, it overpowers it but only to a degree." Izuku nodded as he brought his hand up to his chin, stroking it slightly as he took a closer look at the commercial.

"Well then... do you not like who they have doing the commercial?" Blake blinked in some surprise. "I mean, do you know her or is she famous for something bad or-"

"Oh, oh no, nothing like that Izuku." Blake shook her head at that. "I don't even know her and, before you ask, it isn't necessarily the _Ni Hao Nyan_ either... like I said, I understand why there'd be people who'd like... this sort of thing and even why people would go along with it." Blake frowned slightly as she leaned back, looking up at the commercial. "I've just... not really seen something like this before, where I've grown up. Seeing this kind of stereotyping used so flagrantly and to... entice people? I dunno, it just seems weird to me."

'Stereotyping? What was she talking about? There…'

'Oh! Of course! How could I have been so dense? Of 'course' that's what Blake had meant!'

"Yeah, now I think I understand what you're getting at." Blake nodded, seeming to have expected that. "The cat and fish stereotype is pretty overblown when you actually get down to the biology of it. Most wildcats live in areas without any accessible seafood, so it's actually pretty bad to feed your cat as much fish as the stereotype insists."

...

"Huh?" Blake asked, seemingly surprised by his statement.

"Oh, well, I learned about this when I was doing Survival training at Birch. A tip they actually give you is that you can be pretty certain that you don't have to worry about wild cats snooping around places like rivers or deltas because that isn't where they usually stay... and the stuff that usually does stay there usually isn't as stealthy, like bears and stuff."

Blake just seemed to stare at him for a long moment...

... *Snort*

Izuku blinked as... a sound came from Blake. It was muffled, as Blake quickly brought up her fist to cover her mouth, but... he would swear it almost sounded like a snort of laughter. Though, that seemed impossible; indeed, this notion was backed up when Blake removed her fist and there was just that same old even expression of hers... though with a slight curve at the corner of her lips.

"Yes, right on the money Izuku. That's exactly what I meant. The fish stereotype with cats really is overblown." Izuku couldn't help but get the feeling that Blake's making fun of him, but before he could press Blake just pat her copy of the play the two had been supposed to read. "So, how far along have you gotten?"

"Uh... I've actually finished it already."

"Wow. I'll have to get a hurry on it then so I don't keep you waiting." With that, the conversation moved right along. Whatever had bugged Blake about the commercial previously, something had seemingly distracted her from it.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"I'm telling you Yang, this is totally awesome! Zooming around so fast, on a train! Just think about it, we'll be able to get home to Patch in no time flat once they finish the extension to the island!"

"Ruby, I'm tellin' you, you're not thinking of the big picture. I mean, sure, it's convenient, but... I dunno, it just seems a little... impersonal?"

"What? What's impersonal about a giant metal train that's sending us off flying at hundreds of miles per hour to our destination? That sounds completely, personally tailor-made for me!"

"Uhhh... you two alright?" Ruby and Yang immediately turned to face Izuku as he approached, the two sisters giving him a quick wave as they scooted over to give him a place to sit.

"Hey there Deku! Yeah, we're fine, just having a little sisterly discussion... where Yang's wrong, as usual." Ruby placed her hands on her hips, a smile on her face that told Izuku that many an argument had similarly where Ruby had usually won out in the end. Yang, on the other hand, just rolled her eyes... partly in annoyance but also partly in amusement.

"... I swear if you pick up anything from that dickhead besides Izuku's nickname..." It was hard to hear from under Yang's breath as she muttered, but he could practically feel the chill of Yang's eyes going up and down his spine as she quickly glared past him at Bakugo. Eventually her lilac eyes lost their edge as they returned to Izuku, a friendly glint back in them. "And yeah, nothing's wrong there Slugger. I'm feeling a little woozy from Tsu and Blake-y assaulting me so flagrantly-" Tsuyu and Blake just gave a quick 'meh' from their positions on the train, a slight chuckle earned from Yang as she shrugged, "but yeah, just having a chat with my dear, baby sister here, who just doesn't understand things about the world that us more mature people do."

"... Yang you just made a kitty face while making a cat pun, you aren't that much more mature than I am..." Yang just scoffed as she waved her little sister off.

'The truth from the youth.'

"Oh, what are you two talking about?" Izuku tilted his head to the side, his emerald eyes curious as the two sisters glanced at each other, a silent agreement shared between them, before they turned back to Izuku.

"Well Izuku, we were just so happening to talk about this amazing, magic carpet train that you all have running!" Ruby exclaimed with a great deal of enthusiasm as she looked around. "I think it's pretty super that this thing goes so fast and that it's so sleek and high tech! Distances people couldn't dream of surmounting, places we couldn't think of living, all made possible thanks to the same ingenuity that makes my baby Crescent Rose more than just a common sickle!" Ruby then turned to stick her tongue out at Yang. "But Yang here thinks it isn't good at all! She's being a lubb... uh... lewddite?"

"Luddite?" Izuku offered, blushing slightly from Ruby's misspoken version of the word.

"Yeah, a Luddite!"

"Okay, first off, I ride a motorcycle, alright? Bumblebee is my 'baby', so I'm no Luddite." Yang brought up one finger to accompany her point. "Second, Ruby, I never want to hear you say lewddite ever again." Ruby just frowned a bit, but Yang quickly moved on as she moved into her third finger. "Thirdly, I don't think the train is all bad. Like, I get it... I just think that it loses something, you know?" Yang shrugged as she leaned back in her seat, looking around. "Like, whenever our family's gotten to Vale before, we've always taken a ship. It'd be like a miniature adventure! Sea spray in your hair, the salt in the wind, the sights you get to take in... it's the journey that makes life worth living, if you ask me, and all the stuff you get to take in." The blonde's frown deepened as she looked around.

"With this though? Sure, Ruby and I will be able to get to Patch much faster once the line opens, but... well, we'll lose out on a lot of the journey. Dimly lit tunnels, trains with no windows or anything to look at besides commercials that trigger Blake." Yang ducked the book that time, before tossing it back to Blake. "I mean, that just basically makes the journey... nothing, right?"

"Pffft, what are you talking about Yang?" Ruby asked, opening her arms wide. "Think about it! With all the time saved like this, we can have tons more 'better' adventures than just waiting around to get somewhere! Those ship rides are fun whenever stuff like dolphins or whales pop up, but most of the time it's just dad and me getting sea sick while you laugh at us!" Yang chortled a bit, barely containing the laugh in her cheeks as she brings her fist over her mouth.

"T-That's... that's another benefit, I suppose... *snrk*" Ruby frowned at that as she shook her head.

"So yeah, the train will be way better! Heck, we'll be able to see a whole bunch more stuff without having to worry about spending time just getting to where the real adventure's at!" Immediately, he was faced with a pair of silver eyes that stare defiantly at him. "Right Deku?"

"Hey now, don't go pressuring Slugger into agreeing with you like that! Slugger's free to take the journey of life at his own speed and see all the things it has to offer 'without' you pressuring him into making a decision or hurrying him up. Right Slugger?"

"... Uuuuuh... I think it's really important to get where you need to go, as quickly as you can. As a Huntsman, our job will always be to go out and help people, to be there, when we are needed. It is important to take in the scenery, but that means nothing if the people we are sworn to protect are in harm's way. So this train... it represents the fastest way to bring help to the two largest population centers in Vale, and I would not trade it for all the views in the world."

It was an incredibly mature, well thought out opinion that an adult would've had a very easy time respecting; it showed consideration for others and it kept in mind the importance of his future duty as a Huntsman, something that would be considered quite the pair of virtues for most people.

"Hah! In your face Yang, two to one means we win!"

However, the conversation hadn't been occurring between a perfect set of adults as Ruby celebrated from having her position backed up, 'especially' from having it so articulately argued. It was clear it was another minor sister competition between the two and that Ruby had, for all intents and purposes, considered it her victory. Yang, for her part, certainly hadn't seemed put off or otherwise irritated with the position Izuku put forward or that Izuku supported her sister. Sure, Ruby's boasts had quickly earned the younger sister a headlock, from which the younger girl could only flail uselessly against while Yang looped her arm around her neck, but Yang looked at him with a look of understanding.

"I get where you're coming from Slugger and I feel ya; I wouldn't want to sacrifice people's lives for a little bit of scenery either. I just... I dunno. It's not just going to be during heroic emergencies where this train is going to be used. In the end, I do think Ruby and I will probably end up using it to get to Patch once the connection's up. It's just gonna save a lot of time. But... well, consider me a bit of a Romantic if I won't miss those trips across the sea by the time when the only view I'm getting is from the inside of a tin can." Yang joked as she rapped the knuckled of her free hand against the wall of the train, a bit of an echo produced as he nodded in understanding.

"It's unfortunate... but that scenic ride with a view will always be available, I think, when you'll want to take it Yang. I certainly wouldn't take that away from you or anyone else... I just think that, when push comes to shove, I'd rather some people miss out on that kind of ride because they want convenience than not having the train here at all to help keep Mountain Glenn and Vale safe." With that, Yang nodded as she closed her eyes sagely.

"I can respect that position."

"Then why do you still have me in a headlock, Yang?!" Ruby managed to poke her mouth out from where Yang's arm had wrapped around it, only for her sister to immediately drill her other hand into Ruby's head as she grinned down at her.

"Because right now my darling baby sister is being a spaz and being pretty disrespectful to her older, more mature sister, and so you need to be taught a quick lesson in manners!"

"WITH A NOOGIE?!" Ruby cried out, the rest of the train car watching the scene in amusement, Izuku included.

"Hey, noogies are the best teachers, I'll have you know!"

Izuku couldn't help but smile, even as he went ahead and took that as his opportunity to leave the two sisters be. Though he was but an only child himself, he could tell when a moment was 'sibling bonding' and decided to leave the two young women at it, Yang and Ruby continuing their little display for the time being.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"It's just... you know, growing up where I did, something like this... I mean, I've spent most of my time at Beacon, so I haven't quite gotten acclimated to Vale's..."

"Yeah, I hear ya. I feel more at home when my family went back out for vacation too, ribbit ribbit." That was the ending string of the conversation he caught onto as he approached Pyrrha and Tsuyu. Seeing the two usually more put together members of his group of friends looking so irritated and nervous sent a bit of a signal up, both as a Team Leader in Pyrrha's case and as a friend in general for both of them. So Izuku approached slowly so as to not interrupt them, though it seemed he caught their attention anyway. A smile quickly worked its way up onto Pyrrha's face while Tsuyu just raised an arm in greeting.

"Hello Izuku."

"Hey Izuku." The two offered up their greetings as he nodded back.

"Hey Pyrrha, Tsu, just thought I'd drop by to see what was up." Izuku quickly took a seat that the two offer to him as he did so, the two young women frowning, in Tsuyu's case ever so slightly, as Pyrrha just chuckled nervously.

"Why, nothing's up Izuku. Everything's just fine. Tsu and I were just taking the opportunity to talk with each other and-"

"It was that obvious huh?" Pyrrha practically slapped herself as Tsuyu just flat out confirmed that something had been up, Pyrrha frowning slightly as she looked off to the side.

"Tsu, it's really nothing, we don't need to bother Izuku with it... it's not like he can do anything about it." Pyrrha muttered to herself, while Tsuyu just shrugged as she placed her finger to her lips.

"Well he came over here because he figured something was up, so I think that means that he's willing to be bothered by it. Besides, able to do something about it or not, he'd probably feel better knowing what was what, ribbit ribbit." Izuku nodded slightly at Tsuyu's very blunt read of the situation, a tinge of red on Pyrrha's cheek as Tsuyu laid the case out.

"I-I suppose you have a point." Izuku nodded as he leaned forward in his seat, looking at the two.

"Yeah, she does. I mean, if something's bothering you two, I'd really like to do what I could to help and, even if I can't, I'd like to at least extend a friendly ear. You know, be the best partner and friend I can be." Pyrrha smiled warmly at that while Tsu just keeps her even expression, though a nod signaled her own appreciation. "So, what's up? What's got you two so nervous?"

"Well... I don't want to say anything to make you think we don't appreciate that this trip's going to be done in such short order Izuku, nor are we undercutting the accomplishment-"

"This train's really claustrophobic and it's making us both a bit uncomfortable, ribbit ribbit." Again Pyrrha seemed utterly undercut by Tsuyu's bluntness, as he just blinked in surprise.

"Really?" Tsuyu looked over to Pyrrha, clearly wanting the girl to lead off, as Pyrrha just sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"Don't get me wrong Izuku, it's not terrible, it's not like I'm sitting here hyperventilating... but, well, growing up in Mistral you get used to a certain sense of... openness." Pyrrha extended her arms out about as far as she could without hitting someone or touching part of the train. "The entire city is built in such a way that you always have this view of the sky and the only time the sun disappears is when it dips behind part of the mountain... and even then you could just walk around and get a view of it. The markets are wide open with sprawling spaces for people to buy and sell wares, the streets are spacious... admittedly, when it gets 'really' going they can get crowded, but even then there's a certain sense that you're not necessarily stuck there. There's just so much... breathing space where I grew up. I never really felt like I was stuck in some place."

"At Beacon too; the campus is so nice and wide open, it practically feels like home... well, except for the aesthetic, but still." Pyrrha scratched the back of her head. "Whenever I go into Vale though and 'especially' here and now in this train, I feel... closed in a bit." Pyrrha motioned to her arms. "I realize that I'm a little... tall for a young woman, but still, I'm used to being able to just stretch my arms and legs and not having to worry about knocking into someone... unless they're very specifically trying to get into my space..." Pyrrha practically muttered the last part under her breath before she continued. "Anyway, like I said, I'm not terrified of being in a place like this but... well, I'm just so used to home that this really runs it in that I'm not in Mistral anymore, and that... well, it's just not homey." Pyrrha spoke up, as Tsuyu nodded in agreement.

"My folks way back when my family first moved to Vale had a similar experience. The part of Vale we grew up in... sure it could get marshy sometimes, if not a downright swamp in some places, but it was wide open nature. Moving into a big city... it was a lot to take in for people who'd lived in the country for as long as our family could recall." Tsuyu looked over at Izuku. "Even now, I feel more at home outside of Vale's tall buildings and crowded streets, out in the open woods. It feels more like home to me... maybe it's part of me being a Frog Faunus but... I dunno. It 'feels' right, if you understand me."

Izuku nodded in understanding as he tapped his chin. He grew up in Mountain Glenn, so he was aware of the dichotomy they were talking about; between a more crowded, urban construction and the more open, breathing space. The apartment he lived at was nice, but it wasn't quite in 'the' downtown heart of Mountain Glenn. Izuku could walk outside and not have his vision obscured by huge high-rises or businesses in the rebuilt downtown district. On the other hand, he did always have the Walls on the periphery of his vision, so there was 'always' that sense of being pinned in to someplace, he supposed. He frowned as he really thought about the matter and how he felt about it.

"Mmmm, I understand where you two are coming from. I spent a lot of time out in the wilderness myself, and the place my mom and I stayed is even out in the more suburban parts of Mountain Glenn, so we weren't exactly hurting for open air and space." Tsuyu and Pyrrha nodded in agreement, having expected the conversation to have just about dropped off there. "But... well, I'll have to politely disagree about it being better than the city itself." With that, both Tsuyu and Pyrrha seemed genuinely surprised. "You see... I dunno, it sounds silly, but... whenever I walk through Vale or when I go to downtown Mountain Glenn... I feel like there's a sense that Progress has been made. I don't mean that in a way that belittles the country or nature or anything, don't get me wrong, but... growing up where I did, where just a few decades ago there was nothing there and, not long after, there was almost nothing again…"

"I dunno. There's 'something' about walking through Downtown Mountain Glenn and seeing all these buildings towering up over you, some threatening to eventually even reach over the walls that protect us. Growing up in Vale kind of builds on that sense, like there's something that's been built here. That thing that's been built wasn't built overnight or even by a small group of people... 'all' the people living in a place like Vale or Mountain Glenn have made those buildings and the cities possible. The high rises, the bustling streets... it's all made possible by the people who lived there. More than that, those people... it makes things feel so alive. I can understand feeling overwhelmed by people but... well, in a crowd, in a city, with the lights flashing around, it feels... 'alive' in a way similar to how nature feels alive. There's an energy running through it that, to some degree, I can't help but get caught up in."

"We humans and Faunus... we've made these places. Yeah we've made places like Mistral or your home too Tsuyu, but it's not to the same degree. We turned places that just had potential to be homes for us all and made it a home. Made it a place where people could play and work and just live, safe from the Grimm. To me... I dunno, that just speaks to me." Izuku scratched the back of his head sheepishly as he looked off to the side. "Again, I don't mean to say that I think you guys are wrong or that your way of thinking is just off base, but... to me, that's how all this feels, you know?" Pyrrha and Tsuyu took a moment to consider his words, Pyrrha's brow knit in thought while Tsuyu just placed a finger to her lips. Before long, Pyrrha gave him a somewhat tired smile as she nodded.

"Well... while I can't say I entirely agree Izuku, I do think that's a wonderful reason for disagreement. I don't feel it myself but... that you feel that way, it does sound wonderful." For a moment, both he and Pyrrha practically braced themselves as he waited for Tsuyu to barge on in to Pyrrha's statement, reducing it down to a far more blunt assessment that took out any of Pyrrha's pretensions to being polite in exchange for the actual, blunt reality.

"Yeah, what Pyrrha said. I don't feel that way, but it sounds pretty nice from the way you describe it Izuku, ribbit ribbit." Pyrrha allowed herself an audible sigh as Izuku just chuckled, glad that he could work through a difference of opinion with friends without anyone having left feeling chided or kicked. It had honestly just been how he felt, and what they'd said had honestly been how they felt. No one had meant any harm and it just meant that they all had slightly different views on things. The fact that they all could look from each other's perspective and see the good in it... well, it was nice.

It was nice to have friends like them.

* * *

 _"The City of Mountain Glenn would like to ask that those looking to enter the city please keep a distance of at least thirty feet away from the doors as they open, so as to prevent any accidental injury that may arise from an unexpected malfunction, thank you."_

The same overly polite female voice that had greeted Izuku back in the Vale terminal had echoed out in the Mountain Glenn terminal, a space that for all intents and purposes had almost perfectly reflected the Vale terminal. Still, little things like that had been beneath his notice as he practically shivered in place, a slight sense of excitement having come over him as he watched the great, iron gates that separated the terminal from Mountain Glenn. It had only been a little over five weeks now, but he'd still felt the slight reverberations of homesickness begin to creep in. The prospect that, here and now, they were about to see his home, separated from it for the longest time he had been in a while, really just excited Izuku.

There had only been a few things that had numbed that excitement; first things first, Toshinori had been nowhere in sight. All week Izuku'd heard that he was set to be one of the professors involved in overseeing the exercise, and yet he hadn't spotted a single trace of him. He'd heard that he'd gotten himself pretty busy earlier in the day dealing with some criminals and some, apparent, terrorist activity but... well, he hadn't been entirely certain of that. A thought crossed his mind; what if Toshinori had spent too much of his time and, therefore, couldn't actually get to the exercise today? The thought had caused a slight sinking feeling in his gut as he looked down at the ground.

On the other hand... there had been another thought that stuck around Izuku's mind and gave him a slight feeling of regret; he was in Mountain Glenn and his mom didn't even know it. The one person in the entire city who would've been the most thrilled to know that he was in town at that moment and she had no idea. He hadn't gotten an opportunity to bring it up since the last time he called, his mom apparently having spent the last several days getting together with Mitsuki Bakugo to talk about a potential vacation plan, but... well, to be frank, he hadn't exactly made a strong effort to tell her either. Part of him was afraid that people weren't supposed to know... but then again, Beacon was a pretty open school and it was just a normal exercise, right?

Izuku's thoughts were shaken loose as, suddenly, the grinding of metal brought his attention to the forefront. The metal door that stood before them all, having appeared as if it had been a solid chunk of metal mere moments ago, seemingly split in twain as the two halves slid off to the side... to reveal a second gate. That gate had split horizontally across the middle, the two halves having either risen up or sunk down into the ground as they revealed a third set of gates, this one with a bank vault-esque device set in the front of it. Within moments, the various wheels and cogs of the device began to spin and, much like a wheel, the gate slowly rolled over into the wall... and for the briefest of seconds, everyone had been forced to shield their eyes as natural sunlight blasted into the room.

 _"Thank you for your patience ladies and gentlemen."_ Izuku couldn't help but smile as he was among the first to open his eyes. As he did so, he took in a view of his home city; a view that, quite frankly, he didn't think he'd ever tire of.

 _"And welcome to Mountain Glenn: The City of Hope."_

The skyline of downtown Mountain Glenn, a city that mere decades ago had very nearly been destroyed, stood defiantly in the view of everyone, cast against the huge mountain that gave the city its name. With Fall having settled in, the higher altitudes of the mountain slowly began to signal the approach of winter, as white slowly began to coat the mountains. For anyone who'd never traversed the Railways to Mountain Glenn... it would be their first ever impression of the city.

Izuku Midoriya may have been a bit biased considering he grew up in Mountain Glenn... but in his very honest opinion, it was as grand a view as he thought he'd ever see.

"Dang Izuku, I think you've been underselling your hometown a bit." Yang mumbled as she took in the view, as did most of his friends aside from Bakugo. Izuku chuckled; maybe he had, maybe he had. With the doors open, the full signal of the CCT reached his Scroll. It would allow him to place a quick call or text while his professors did their best to wrangle their entire class of First Years into order. He thought back to his previous concerns and, cracked open his Scroll, he considered the possibilities.

"Hey, everyone?" Izuku casually called out in a whisper as his friends turned their attentions back toward him. "So, I just had a thought; what do you all have planned for Color Week, exactly? I have some ideas myself but I was wondering what you all would be doing?" Izuku saw everyone else blink, slightly surprised by the question, though Yang's the first to pound her fist into her hand with a realization.

"Oh yeah, I suppose when we get done with this exercise they 'did' say we could treat it as if our holiday started, huh?" Yang scratched her chin as she thought for a moment. "Truth be told, Ruby and I don't have plans. A one week holiday's gonna be great, but it isn't exactly enough time to get all the way over to Patch, enjoy some free time, and then get back without spending most time in transit, ya know? The dorm's are gonna be open through Color Week, if nothing else, so Ruby and I were going to stick around Beacon and just see how things shook out." Ruby nodded in agreement with, huddled around with her team as she was. Izuku suspected they were going over a few last minute preparations.

"Same problem for me, sadly. As much as I would enjoy some time with my family back home, it 'would' be rather inefficient and tiresome to spend most of my time traveling between Atlas and Beacon. A holiday away from home it shall have to be... somewhat distressing and exciting at the same time, now that I think about it." Tenya declared with a few hand motions as Weiss, though hesitantly, nodded in agreement with Tenya.

"What he said. I'd... 'love' to go back home for a holiday, but there's simply not time." Izuku took notice of Weiss' hesitation, but was forced to move on as Nora wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

"Ren and I are sticking around the dorms too! Not exactly got much of anywhere to go, after all! Shoto's sticking around too, right Shoto?!" Shoto and Ren looked over at Nora and each nodded silently in agreement; apparently Shoto was in no rush to go home either.

"Same for me. Spending a holiday without much in the way of 'official' plans sounds like it'll be rather refreshing." Though Pyrrha hadn't seemed as lacking in enthusiasm about going home as Shoto and Weiss, there did seem to be some relief that she wouldn't be heading back to Mistral.

"I've actually got plans lined up; my family usually has this great big get away into rural Vale to reconnect with some relatives of ours around Color Week. Usually the time we have a family reunion, given that most everything either has shortened hours or is closed during the week, ribbit ribbit." Tsuyu proclaimed from beside Blake, who just looked up from her book.

"... I don't have plans and was just looking to stick around the dorms myself." Her expression and tone was even and she returned to her book swiftly enough.

...

"What's wrong "Kacchan", not going to answer Slugger's question?" Yang called out at Bakugo, the explosive young man just getting riled up as he glared over at Yang.

"Oh shut up! I don't need to answer Deku's stupid fucking question!" Well, Kacchan wasn't entirely wrong, he probably already had a good idea of his plans. If Mitsuki Bakugo 'didn't' do everything in her power to make sure her son was in Mountain Glenn sometime during the holidays, he'd be surprised. Still, before Yang could further antagonize Kacchan, Izuku watched as Professors Goodwitch and Aizawa stepped forward, drawing a good deal of the crowd's attention.

"Alright! The lottery has been rolled and the first Five Teams into the Underground Training Facility are as follows; Team LPSZ, Team KOBA, Team TABY, Team RSBR and Team MNVW." Glynda took a moment to readjust her glasses with one hand while the other waved over to Professor Aizawa. "Those five teams, please follow Professor Aizawa to the Underground Training Facility. The rest of you, you will follow me to our accommodations for the afternoon. I want everyone on their best behavior; you are the First Year Class of Hunters from Beacon Academy in a City that places 'high esteem' in the Hunter's profession. Do not create bad name for your generation right off the bat; thank you."

'Wow, no pressure right?' Izuku swallowed a lump in your throat as, for the first time in the six weeks since he'd left home, he entered Mountain Glenn as a Huntsman-in-Training, a status that those who knew him in this city wouldn't have believed possible for him for so long. It was momentous... and the fact that it was mixing with his nerves over this training exercise just made the pit in his stomach even deeper.

'Please don't throw up from being so overwhelmed... that would be just about the worst thing that could happen today.'

* * *

 **E/N: Yang's Catty remark had a ... unique visual accompaniment made by Gorilla, I don't know if it's a blessing or a curse that FFN doesn't allow for imbedded images.**

 **-Shovern**

 **Blessing.**

 **Definitely Blessing.**

 **-Wind-Waker**

 **A/N: Being even remotely able to use Photoshop or GIMP is like being cursed with knowledge; it's about learning not just about if you 'could' do something, but whether or not you should...**

 **That said I totally stand by that shop, haha.**


	52. Tales of Beacon VII

Glynda scrunched her eyes as she looked over the paper in her left hand, tapping her fingers as her eyes moved back and forth along the paper. On the other side of her desk, Toshinori sweated, nervously shifting his jaw back and forth, trying to not look her directly in the eye when she stopped, looked up and glared.

"Really Toshi," if Toshinori actually had the spine to look her in the eye, he guessed that her eyebrow would be half way up her forehead, "This is the hundredth time we've gone over this. There is no mention of time tables, no explicit measurement of how grades are handed out, not even a backup plan for if you have an emergency elsewhe-uh," she then looked right at him, her arms folded across her chest, "Have you even paid attention to me the past few months?"

Toshinori had spent those past few months alternating between training Young Midoriya to eventually take on the power of One for All, and working with Glynda to get accredited to become a teacher at Beacon. For all that he was the Symbol of Peace, Toshinori had never really understood all that went into the process of becoming a teacher, and these past few months had driven into him just how difficult a profession it could be. Even if a good portion of that was due to the fact that he needed it to get approval by the Council of Vale, an organization that...was not fully on board with him spending his time at Beacon. They were simply adding more problems for him to deal with alongside all the actual useful stuff he was having to learn to be a teacher.

The Council had never really appreciated Beacon, and had long attempted to slowly...circumvent Ozpin and his methods. That's not to say that they might not have a point about not being overly reliant on an enigmatic school master who sits in a white castle, a literal ivory tower, but at the same time that often lead them to disregarding Ozpin when perhaps they should not. That was on top of Toshinori being, in their collective mind at least, the main form of defense of Mountain Glenn, and thus moving him a great distance just to teach in his off time seemed...foolish.

Eventually, they allowed Toshinori to teach, but on the condition that he passed his teacher's exam, and became accredited. Now, that seemed all very reasonable, everyone needs to be accredited, right...well no. The accreditation process and test had long been seen as restrictive and outdated a system, and most simply ignored it. It was so ignored in fact, that only one member of Beacon's staff had been accredited.

That of course was Glynda Goodwitch. So, in order to get Toshinori his position as a teacher, Ozpin had assigned Glynda as Toshinori's tutor. Thus, Glynda had set to work, teaching about protocol, arranging lesson plans, and generally getting his ass up to speed.

Glynda rubbed her eyes, her glasses moving up and down corresponding to her motion. She looked back at Toshinori, who shrugged his shoulders.

"Look Glynda, this isn't what I'm good at. I've really been trying to do well, but some of this stuff...wouldn't it be better to focus on my strengths, and then do well enough on that that I get my 60 points from that, rather than trying things I'm probably never going to get."

"No!" a riding crop slammed into the table, "We don't know what proportion of this test will fit your strengths and which won't," she adjusted her glasses, "Though I must admit, I'm surprised how well you do on socializing properly with your students. Inspiring growth, athletic training, those I get, but that one is rather hard for someone your age."

"Glynda...," Toshinori stopped himself from continuing that line of thought, recognizing that last comment might not actually that smart to prick her on, "I, well when I met the kid, I just...I felt like I had to do my best to work with him."

Glynda sighed, before looking Toshinori directly in the eye.

"This kid means a lot to you huh."

"You bet Glyn."

"...So," Glynda pulled out a drawer, and removed two small glasses, and place one in front of Toshinori, and one in front of her. She then pulled out a large crystal bottle, half way filled with an amber liquid. Toshinori's hollow eyes widened.

"Want to talk about it?"

"That Mistral Brandy?"

"My special order, get one delivered each month," she then adopted an almost dead look in her eye as she popped the bottle open, "I have never had any left over by the next delivery."

"Isn't that stuff pretty expensive?"

"Eh," Glynda poured out some liquid into Toshinori's glass first, and then into her own. She picked up her glass, and stared at it for a second, "With how big Beacon's budget is, and how much my colleagues spend on coffee," Toshinori coughed, those coffee jokes from back when they were students were true? "I think I can treat myself a bit," and then, with one quick motion, she tossed her head back and downed the liquid in one gulp.

Toshinori felt sweat bead on the back of his head, before finally chuckling, "Nemuri has been a bad influence on you, huh?"

"Ha," Glynda laughed, beginning to refill her glass, "She's probably my best friend, she and I have a girl's night out at least once a week," she leaned in toward Toshinori, "The poor woman is still upset that's she's past her thirtieth birthday. Complained to me about it basically every day."

"I looked over her file," Toshinori had looked over the files of every faculty member, "Isn't she almost 32 by now?"

"Yeah," Glynda rolled her eyes, "she's been a bit...obsessed."

"Riiiiiiiight," Toshinori nodded, "any way, about Midoriya," he took back his glass and took a sip, "So I was in Mountain Glenn about a year ago, thought, hey, might as well visit the place that is filled with statues of me, and then I find this Ursa in the city. Now, no problem, small creature, take it out quickly. I lay the smack down on this thing, as it has this kid cornered, and then wham, smack it across the road, heard it collide with the wall, thought it was dead. Really should have check, but standing in front of me, was this kid."

"This little stick nerd, with wild hair and shaking shoulders. I looked down at his book, sign it of course, because I never mind making collector's items, and then this nerd finally gets some steel in his spine, and then asks me to give him an autograph, opens up the book that he had, and then freaks out when he sees my big old Hancock right there," He threw his arms out, and began to laugh, "And he starts bowing. Bowing to me, I mean it's just so awesome. I love it," he looked her in the eye, "Seeing a kid so happy just being there with me for a second, my day had already been made. And I mean it just got better from there."

Glynda had stopped listening. Not because she wasn't interested, because she was interested in all of her students. Not because she was drunk...no, no...she had once drunk Qrow under the table. No, because she saw something she hadn't seen in a decade.

Toshinori had smiled.

Not his Bright Shine Smile that was on all the posters, the one to make the public go crazy. But his real smile. The one he had given when Nana had complimented him during training. The one he had when EGNT went out for pizza night. The one that he had shown when he had finally accepted Enji as the team leader. The one he had when the two had worked long nights on Toshinori's training, him tearing every muscle and ligament in his limbs, and her grumbling as she stitched them back together.

She couldn't remember the last time she had seen it, but she could remember when she had thought it had died.

" _Toshinori what happened to you!?"_

 _"I got him," all his teeth were shining, but his eyes were filled with nothing but sadness and anger, a hold through his chest where his stomach had been "I got that bastard."_

 _"Someone get him on a bed. I'm not sure if my semblance can fix him."_

 _"I got him. I got him."_

 _"I know, I know," she place her hand on his chest. It was cold as ice._

 _"I got him. I got him."_

She had thought he had been dead. That his body had simply been driven by some fractured piece of his soul stubbornly hanging on. He had been alive of course, but that had been the last time that the Toshinori she knew, the lovable idiot, had been seen.

And now, as he talked about some little broken kid from Mountain Glenn, that wonderful, stupid boy was in front of her once more. She felt the sides of her mouth turn upward, as Toshinori finished up his story.

"So after telling this kid that he could be a hero, and being about to compliment him on the size of his balls," Toshinori's face had become red with a blush. He had always been a bit of a lightweight, "He starts crying. Like dude, you just made yourself look so awesome and you go and act that lame just because someone says something to you, I mean jeez."

"Sounds like a great kid," she offered, before pouring Toshinori another glass.

"Oh, you bet," he laughed, his true smile mixing with his public, forming something that for a second, she found truly beautiful, "This kid man, this kid. He's going the be the greatest hero the world's ever seen."

* * *

"What are you two doing here?"

Ruby turned her head to the very familiar voice, and saw her partner in a tank top and workout shorts. He was scowling, though Ruby could tell it was a "Got up in the morning" scowl rather than, "FUDGE YOU DEKU!" Scowl. That she could now categorize his different levels of pissed-ness was proof that she was developing as a leader.

It was also slightly worrying all things considered, but hey, every one develops at their own pace.

"He-ey Kaach-an," Ruby wheezed, placing her bar down in front of her. She coughed for a second, as Tsuyu patted her back, no where nearly as sweaty as she was, "Tsu and I-we were doing cleans today."

"Ch," Bakugo turned on his heal, and headed towards a nearby punching bag, "I've got the punching bag for the next ten minutes. After that, I'm doing cleans."

"Don't worry," Ruby waved him off, Tsu just staring at her, "We just finished our last set, we'll get out of your way."

Bakugo didn't say anything, continuing to walk towards the large sand bag. Tsuyu looked the old thing over, and suddenly almost felt bad for the inanimate object. Thing probably wasn't ready for the bad case of explosions it was about to go through.

"You're getting better," she added out loud, which caused Ruby to look at her. Tsuyu smiled, and then looked back at the retreating form of Bakugo, "Not just the weights. But I can already tell that you have done a good job in getting that...Bakugo to actually be a better person. That's the first time I've seen him in a conversation that didn't involve copious amounts of swearing."

"Really, it's still a challenge," Ruby looked down, not defeated but clearly exhausted, "I mean, he's a wiz at combat. And he has listened to me ever since I beat him in the match. Heck, he's actually gotten better since Deku beat him. But still...in some ways I wonder if Kacchan may actually be more antisocial than Deku."

"That does make sense," Tsuyu nodded, placing her finger on her chin, "For all of Izuku's nervous habits, Ribbit, he seems to put others before himself, and is actually willing to work with others. Kacchan is so self absorbed that he can't really work well with others."

"...I'm not really sure it's self absorption," Ruby admitted, as the two walked over to a set of treadmills. The three were pretty much the only ones in the entire facility, so they were able to continue talking as they began to hear the tale tell sounds of knuckle colliding with leather and sand. Ruby continued as she started the machine, "It's more like...too high a standard."

Tsuyu stared at her for a moment. The machines had started up slowly, and the two began to lightly jog as the speed approached four miles per hour.

"I mean, he thinks that everyone should be really, really strong. But well," She tried to think of the correct way to say this, "He thinks that he isn't really, really strong yet."

PLASSH-CHING!

The two stopped when they heard a chain break, and a litany of curses carry across the weight room. Tsuyu looked over, and saw the punching bag had been knocked off of the hooks, and Bakugo was pissed at his set being disrupted. She could also see a hole where the sand that was inside the punching bag began to flow out from. Tsuyu then looked back at her mentee and raised an eyebrow.

"Really."

"Yeah," Ruby nodded, picking up her pace as the speed of the treadmill increased, "He wants to be the greatest hero ever. The strongest. The one that beats up all the bad guys and slays every last Grim in all of Remnant."

"But that's the same dream that both Izuku and you have," Tsuyu was keeping pace with the younger girl. She would normal go on all fours for her maximum speed, but right now it was more conducive to conversation that she remained upright. Ruby nodded, and then Tsuyu asked, "So then, what differentiates you two from Bakugo?"

"Well, if Bakugo wants to be the strongest hero. Izuku wants to be the hero that saves people. To him, it is taking care of those who need his aid, that's what he finds fulfilling. I think he may just have a bit of a hero complex."

"You don't say," she looked on, a slight pink appearing on her cheeks, though Ruby thought the workout was finally starting to affect her, "So what about you. You're competing with them, why do you want to become the greatest hunter."

"That's...you're going to think this is silly."

"Come on, Ribbit, tell me."

"I want to be the best hero so I can inspire people," her hands clenched, and the arcs of her arms swung slightly higher, "I want to be the one who gets kids dreaming that they can be a hunter too. To be the one who everyone dresses up as for the Long Night to scare the Grimm away. To be the hero who most shows others what it means to be one," her gait had increased substantially.

"Why is that?"

"Because," Ruby seemed to almost slip, but caught herself, and then placed her feet on the non-moving sides of the machine, "Because I think that's what my Mother would want."

Tsuyu repeated Ruby's movement, and then began to walk off the machine. She placed her hand on Ruby's shoulder, and walked her toward the locker room. Bakugo had just finished up the punching bag, and walked over to the clean board, and was oblivious as the two walked out of the weight room. Tsuyu closed the door behind her, found the nearest clear metal bench, and sat Ruby down next to her.

"My Mom," Ruby continued, tears having started to form on the bottom half of her eye, "She was the greatest of her generation. My Dad and Yang and Uncle Qrow are always talking about how great she was, how fast how strong, how good with people. I...I," she swallowed hard, "I am supposed to look just like her. And more than anything, I wanted to be like her."

"That's why I wanted to become a hunter, that's why I got into weapons so early, that's why I worked every day to become the best in my class," she scrunched up the fabric of her shorts in her fists, "I wouldn't be here right now, if it wasn't for her. Her image that I have always been chasing."

"Sounds a little like Izuku, Ribbit," Ruby chuckled a bit, wiping away her tears, "He's chasing Toshinori, wanting to be the most like him."

"I guess so," Ruby looked down again, "But the thing is...not everyone has someone like my Mom, or Toshinori," she shook her head, "I look at Yang sometimes, and you know what, she is stronger than me," Tsuyu nodded, "If she really put her mind to it, she would be the strongest to ever live. But she doesn't. And I think, "Maybe she doesn't see Summer Rose the same way I do. Maybe she just sees the best Mom she could ever ask for, and not the image of inspiration I need to chase.""

"You may be selling your sister a bit short," Tsuyu cut in, "She has certainly seemed to follow your mother's example in raising you. She isn't the natural sort to become an expert in cooking, but she took that on probably because Summer Rose inspired her to be that way."

"That...is true," Ruby nodded in admission ",But still, I just feel like she just never had the drive to become the best hunter ever, even though I know she could. She didn't have that idol to work towards."

"So," she smiled, "I'm going to be that idol for everyone who needs it. I'm going to drive them forward, so that everyone will say, "I just have to work harder, and the world will be a better place,"" she then stopped, and rubbed the back of her head, "Sorry, that seems a bit silly, huh Tsu."

"Not at all," Tsuyu nodded, smiling, "That's a great reason to want be the best, Ribbit," she then clasped the younger girl's hand in her own, and smiled, "And I am going to help you in whatever way I can."

Ruby smiled back. Maybe Yang had been right about making friends with older kids. You just had to put your right foot forward, and show them who you really were.

* * *

"Why are we up so early again?"

Taiyang groaned as he looked back at his two compatriots in suffering, the Branwen twins hair both equally messy. He glared at them, before he was pushed aside by a small but forceful push. As he flew to the ground, he saw the form of his leader, currently about to explode with excitement as she ran up to the two groggy siblings

"Because Toshinori is going to be appearing at the Garden in Vale in three hours," Summer then reached into her white cloak, and pulled out four tickets, "and I got tickets. We have to hurry, people are going to start filling up the seats."

Both the Branwen's groaned, though Qrow was far more dejected than his sister. Raven rubbed her temples, and then looked the slighter girl in the eye.

"Listen, Summer," she brushed her hair out of her face, "I get that you got a crush on this To-"

"It's not a crush," she then turned around, and stared off with stars in her eye, "It's true love!"

"Riiiiiiight," Raven rolled her eyes, while suddenly Qrow pulled out his "Special" flask and downed quite a bit of "Coffee", "I get that you think really highly of the guy-"

"Have you seen that video!"

"Yes, you've sho-"

"Never fear! For I am HERE!" Summer shouted, likely waking up half the floor. She placed one hand over her head, and the other on her side, mimicking the motion that Toshinori had had when he had saved Mountain Glenn. She then opened her mouth wide, **"** **HA HA HA HA!** **"** and laughed so hard that she had ensured that the entire floor, as well as the one above them and the one below them. Taiyang groaned as he pulled himself to his feet.

"Look," he finally offered to the small girl, who turned her attention back to him, stars shooting across her pupils, "Let's just go and get this guys autograph. I'm sure you'll sign it if we can get there."

Both the twins groaned, with Qrow giving they blonde a look of betrayal. But Taiyang knew that there was no escaping this, and wanted to get out of there before-

 **SLAM!**

-a frazzled looking blonde woman appeared in the doorway, hairs all out of place and fire in her eyes. She looked at them with such fury that Taiyang was quite sure that even a Grimm would fall back in fear.

"Ms. Rose," anger bubbled, "I hope you have an explanation for waking up all of Beacon at 5:15 in the morning?"

"I have very good explanation," Summer nodded her head...

...And then a split second later had made a 180 and had somehow thrown herself out the window. Her three team members and their angry teacher just stood in place for a moment, utterly flabbergasted.

"You'll never take me alive!" they heard called from the window, and Summer's teammates turned to see a deep red starting to climb up Glynda's face. Deciding discretion was the greater part of valor, the three followed their leader in their defenestration, and managed to book it to her before Glynda could even move. As they all broke out in a sprint towards the garage and Taiyang's car, the heard a scream that somehow traveled over a square mile. Summer's three teammates looked at their leader, who shrugged while she ran.

"If she didn't want people to wake others up, then she should set a better example."

"Sometimes," Raven slapped her forehead, "I wonder what it says about us that despite this, you are still clearly the "Good One"."

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"Well, what do you know," Raven observed, whistling in surprise, "it actually might have been a good idea to get here early."

They had arrived thirty minutes after their escape, and already there had been a line forming. They had officially been let in at 7, with an hour and a half to find their place. And by the time that they were let in, there were hundreds of people in the audience. Young kids with giant posters, older adults sitting thoughtfully in the back row, and well...

"WE LOVE YOU TOSHINORI!"

...fan girls. Of whom Summer was the loudest, and the closest to the metal bars that separated the garden stage from the audience, which was standing room only. On her head, sat a hat with two golden antennae standing up, which all three of her teammates had though she was stupid to pay money for. She then pointed out that they were surrounded by a sea of the antennae. To which the three agreed only probed that people were quite easily parted with their money.

"Two minutes...two minutes..."

"So," Raven looked back at Taiyang, "Bet you fifty the instant the big guy gets here, she faints and we have to carry her out of here."

"I'll take that-OOF"

Both of them fell to the ground, as without turning around, Summer had punched them both directly in the gut. Qrow winced, before attempting to take another swig from his flask, only to curse under his breath as he felt no more liquid come out.

"Gonna have to sneak into Glynda's office again," he muttered, looking up for a second, "Better wait a week, maybe let her kill Tai fir-OOF"

And then he also found himself on the ground, though this came from Taiyang's fist colliding with his stomach. The two glared at one another, but before they could start arguing, the lights went out. Suddenly, spotlights began to shine down from the towers surrounding the garden, and then, suddenly an explosion of force emerged as something landed in the center of the room.

"Do not worry concerned citizens, FOR I AM HERE!" Suddenly, a figure stood up, and then placed his hands on his hips proudly. Two truly large pieces of hair stuck meters into the air over a large muscular man wearing a gaudy mix of red, blue, white and gold. A smile that was pure shining ivory adorned his face, and everyone in the room had to cover their face. Raven stood in awe for a second before whistling.

"Hey, maybe Summer isn't as crazy as she seems," she let out a low growl, "Guys got muscles you could grind meat on."

"You see it too!" Summer shouted, before suddenly pulling out a second hat, "Now if you would just pu-"

"No."

"It is truly great to see you all here!" Toshinori continued. He waved his arm at the gathered crowd, which was cheering very loudly, "Remember, your good feelings are key to the good of all of humanity. It saps our enemies of their strength. By doing your best to care for each other, and find good in life, you are just as great a set of heroes as I could ever be!"

The crowd roared. Hats began to be flung into the air, as the cheering grew louder. Even the three unwilling huntsman in training started to feel it, there was some kind of raw charisma behind the giant standing before them, and it felt like something truly special was occurring.

 **BANG!**

And then a shot went off. One of the security guards had raised his pistol to the ground, and fired into the air. The shot caused the crowd to grow quiet, and suddenly every security guard in the room raised their weapons as well. The man who fired walked calmly up to Toshinori, and placed his gun in his face. While the crowd grew nervous, Toshinori never stopped smiling, which actually caused some of the other weapon wielders to look around nervously.

"Excuse me," Toshinori asked, "What do you think you are doing?"

"Shut it," the man declared, putting the gun in Toshinori's face, "One more word and I'll have the boys take a few of your fans out."

Toshinori stopped, and then looked the gunman directly in the eye, "Don't you mean you'll blow my brains out."

"Nah, ya see," the man gained a rather large smile, "That's actually the goal here. I know that you could dodge my bullets or tank every single shot in this here pistol of mine. So, if I am trying to kill you that presents a conundrum," with his free hand, he began to rub his chin, "How am I supposed to kill some near invincible showboating dumbass if he can stop my bullets. Answer," he pointed his free hand at Toshinori's face, "I make him take it. So here's the deal. You lower your aura, and let this bullet kill you. Then nothing happens to the hostages, and we walk out of here happy. If not, well...I got ten guys here armed with enough firepower to put casualties in the dozens. So, why don't you just lower your aura, and we can all go our separate ways."

"Heh," Toshinori chuckled, looking over his assailant's shoulder, "I really don't think that would be a good idea for two reasons."

"Humor me," the trigger cocked.

"Well first," a bit of distaste appeared on Toshinori's features, "You all clearly aren't security, so if I had to guess, you have already committed several murders to get this far."

"You have a point," the man raised his arm, "Blow um to pieces boys."

Nothing happened. There was not gunfire, not screams, nothing. A second later, the man heard a clatter of something land behind him, and felt sweat begin to drip down his face.

"The second reason that would be a bad idea is that those ten men have already been taken care of."

The man turned, and his eyes widened when he saw what was in front of him. There stood a rather petite woman, with a long white cloak, a black dress and black hair highlighted by cherry red. Beneath her were the ten rifles of his comrades, scattered around in a heap. Behind her, he saw his men in a similar fashion, with three other figures standing above them, all looking only mildly off put by the situation.

"You bastard," he returned his attention back to the girl in front of him, and the look of fury in her eyes, "You messed up my CONVENTION!"

Before he could even register what was going on, the man felt his nose cave in. His last question, as he drifted into the realm of unconsciousness, was how the hell something so small could pack such a wallop.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"Thank you very much concerned citizens," Toshinori gave a thumbs up to the four as he tithed them all up in rope. They had come outside, since Toshinori needed to allow the crowd to breath after the incident, "You helped a lot in preventing any unnecessary injuries. I could not have done this without you."

"Ah...ah...ah," the smallest of the four continued to stare up at him completely flabbergasted, though the others only seemed to be mildly blushing in embarrassment.

"As shucks," Taiyang rubbed the back of his head, "We're just glad to help."

"Could I get all your names?"

"Oh right," Taiyang placed his hand on his chest, "My name is Taiyang Xiao Long."

"Qrow Branwen," Qrow nodded, even he was mildly taken aback by the stature of the man in front of him. Maybe this whole thing had been worth the loss of his alcohol.

"Raven Branwen," the taller girl smirked as she looked him over more closely. Ah, he knew that look, those admiring One For All's great physique. He could not blame them. After all, these muscles had been passed down from one user to the next for generations.

"..." the fourth remained completely flabbergasted, unable to really process what was going on. Raven then elbowed her, causing her to respond, "Su-summer Rose."

"Xiao Long, Branwen, Rose," Toshinori nodded, finishing tying the captured terrorists to his waist, "I'll remember those names. I'm sure each and every one of you will be truly great heroes," all four of them suddenly took a step back. There was something so...affirming about being told that by a man like this.

"Now, if you will all excuse me," he turned around, back towards center city, "I will have to deliver these ne'er-do-wells to the police. It will take a few hours, but don't worry, you all will have free access to tomorrow's show," the crowd cheered again, and just before he took off, Toshinori raised his fist to the sky, "Now remember what I say. Feel good about your friends and neighbors, seek the betterment of all people, and GO BEYOND! PLUS ULTRA!"

And then he took off, flying through the air, followed by the screams of the captured criminals. For a few seconds, everyone just stood there, before suddenly the whole crowd broke out into a roar. Summer turned back, and looked happily at her compatriots, and then sadly Qrow sighed.

"Okay fine," Qrow nodded, "We can come back tomorrow."

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

They did not make it back the next day.

In retrospect, perhaps returning to Beacon had not been the wisest move. By the time they had arrived, Glynda had gathered the whole of the faculty together, and was preparing to throw the book at team STQR. Luckily, Ozpin had stepped in, and reminded Glynda that she had actually been the one to cause a bigger disruption than the four of them. Though this had almost caused the young woman to punch his lights out, expulsion was quickly off the table, as was suspension.

Instead, for the next day, the team would have to simply spend time with Glynda washing all the windows in Beacon castle. Without their semblances. IT had started at the crack of dawn, and ended well into the night. By the time they had returned back to their dorm room, each of them was exhausted. But of them all, Summer was truly dejected.

"I know this is my fault," she groaned, falling down onto her bed, "If I had just kept quiet, none of this would have happened, and I could really get a chance to meet Toshinori."

The other looked at her sadly. She had taken the punishment as well as they could expect her to, but even they acknowledged that she had been the one to be most hurt by it. She then grabbed onto her Toshinori Antenna cap, and looked it over, tears welling up, only for suddenly, as she looked inside the cap, her mouth popped open.

"Ah," she began, mouthing out nonsense, "ha...ha...hahahahahah,!"

She then flipped the cap around until the inside was facing them. And on the inside the cap read...

 _ **TOSHINORI YAGI**_

"He signed my cap!" Summer yelled, waving it around in the air, "He really signed my cap!" She then threw her hands in the air, "HE'S THE BEST HERO EVER!"

* * *

 **E/N: This chapter of TOB has a... Let's call it a thing. A thing that wind should be able to explain.**

 **-Shovern**

 **Wow...three of mine. I think this might be one of the two that are just going to be stuff I wrote, though that other one will probably just be one story rather than three, mildly related stories. Which is strange, because I didn't write these as three related stories, but I guess they work really well together. The theme for these three is Toshinori and the Roses and I might as well talk about it.**

 **The first one was actually something of an attempt to get Toshinori and the adults more screen time. I thought it might be fun to explore the relationship between Glynda and Toshinori more, seeing as they are old teammates in this story, and are the two most active members of that team in the story, and thus probably have a bunch of history, both good and bad. Glynda sort of ended up representing the one person, who actually remembers the real Toshinori, the one who first became the symbol of peace. She doesn't just remember the image, but she remembers the man, the boy really, who she saw tear himself apart, and then use everything he learned to make the whole world the best it had been in centuries. But that also means when Toshinori had his injury, she was hurt more than perhaps anyone, in some ways worse than Toshinori himself. So, seeing how much Izuku has managed to rebuild Toshinori, she begins to believe a bit more that our main character just might have what it takes to be the symbol of peace.**

 **The second part continues my attempt to keep Ruby from falling completely out of the spotlight. She and Tsuyu are still working on getting her physically up to speed, all so she can compete with her rivals, Bakugo and Izuku. At the same time, I thought it would be kind of neat to see the competition between how Izuku is instructed by Toshinori, and Ruby is driven by the memory of her mother. Just neat little differences between the two.**

 **And then there is** _ **Fangirl.**_ **I was sure this was gonna be non-canon when I wrote it. I totally didn't think GF was gonna let me put out the first actual look at Toshinori and Summer's relationship, since Summer is so important to RWBY, and making her act like a stereotypical fangirl seemed a bit out there. I, however, thought it was both slightly hilarious, and also a neat little idea that Summer was inspired by someone she admired, just like her daughter was inspired by her. It is a connection the two could share, and a little better way to just contextualize how this universe's history is laid out.**

 **Also, starting on Toshinori signing Izuku's book, and ending on him signing something for Summer works way too well for some reason.**

 **-Wind-Waker**


	53. Tunnels I

"Hello there students from Beacon Academy! It is a pleasure to meet you all: my name is Ju Mittsu, and I'll be Mountain Glenn's resident Hunter overseeing your exercise today." That very friendly person, Izuku'd just learnt, was Ju Mittsu. While he hadn't heard 'too' much about her from his time in Mountain Glenn, that was more a result of her own lack of really 'huge' famous ordeals rather than a lack of effort on his part. After all, just about every Huntsman and Huntress in Mountain Glenn was one he knew about, except for those who had just started fresh or were 'really' obscure. Ju, for her part, was more well known in Mountain Glenn than not simply because of her Semblance: a form of control over gravity which, to the naked eye, seemed to allow her to produce 'black holes'. Of course, the extent to that power depended entirely on a source of Gravity Dust that she had to keep on person, which contributed to a slightly bulky suit she'd taken to wearing. Having too much Gravity Dust on one's person at any given time was quite difficult, especially in the amount needed to synergize with a Semblance like Ju's. A bracing suit, with multiple points for containing some amount of Gravity Dust so it wasn't concentrated in one spot, seemed to be her answer.

At any rate, the woman's incredibly friendly attitude seemed to put a lot of the group Izuku was in at ease as, having approached the gigantic set of doors that were built into the very ground itself, seemed to put everyone on edge, especially as they started to slide open. "Now then, I regret to inform you all that due to some... business that Mr. Yagi had to take care of earlier today, that he will not be available to oversee your exercises. This isn't a cause for alarm; Mr. Aizawa and myself are more than capable of overseeing this exercise. So please, just try and do your best!" The genuinely warm reception that had been given seemed to pretty much numb everyone, especially as Aizawa just nodded in easy agreement as they all approached the ground gates.

After a moment of sliding metal, the metal gates on the ground in front of them all slid open, exposing a set of well carved out stairs that had been wide enough for everyone to stand shoulder to shoulder with each other and still be able to make it down. Of course, no one actually did that as the various teams filed in with each other lightly grouped and fell in behind Professor Aizawa and Ju. The stairs went down a ways, with a solid few areas where the stairs leveled out into a plateau before continuing their descent. All the while, they all heard the doors slowly close behind them. It hadn't formed a huge problem as, even while the doors were open, a great number of lights lit the pathway down magnificently. He was initially quite surprised when his Scroll didn't suddenly rang out, signaling that it had lost a connection to the CCT.

Izuku supposed it wasn't exactly that much of a surprise, though, all things considered; if something happened in the Tunnels or in the Training Grounds that people 'absolutely' had to know about, it'd be a pretty bad design choice if no signal could get out from either location back up to the surface. There must've been some built in hub or connection to the CCT or a signaling device down here, somewhere. Finally, after a few flights of stairs, they all came to another door which, after a code punched in by Ju had been submitted, slowly crawled open themselves. They all walked on in and, again, the doors closed in behind them all soon after the last of them crossed the border.

The Underground Training Facility looked pretty much exactly like the picture shown to Izuku by Professor Goodwitch earlier in the week; it had varied, artificial terrain, mostly made out of stone or concrete, that spanned a wide, 'wide' area of the space in front of them. If Izuku absolutely had to guess, he'd assume that the training grounds immediately in front of them, alone, was 320 Feet Wide by 900 Feet Long. The one most immediately in front of them also seemed to be more focused on flat terrain with some rolling ground here and there meant to upset it, something like hills or rocky ground in the natural world. While Izuku and his friends marveled at that and, indeed, the entire facility... it didn't take long to notice that Professor Aizawa and Ju Mittsu seemed... very, very 'very' uneasy.

"Something's not right... where is everyone else?" Aizawa whispered to Ju, who just narrowed her brow slightly.

"I'm... not sure. Sure, some of them should be back in The Tunnels getting the Grimm ready but... there should've been some here to greet us and help divide the students among the training fields for their exercises. Slowly but surely, the silence of the training grounds drew in everyone else's attention... and when they found Professor Aizawa and Ju seeming tense and worried, the feeling slowly spread among everyone gathered. You couldn't help but feel a pit form in your stomach."

That pit seemed to bottom out when Nora spoke up, though.

"Hey... what's that thing over there?"

All at once, everyone attention was drawn to an area pointed out by the bubbly bomber... and truth be told, Izuku wasn't sure at what they were looking at either. For all intents and purposes, what Nora had pointed out was just a... black spot. Not on the ground or on a wall, but just hanging right in the middle of the air. What started as merely odd and a bit unnerving soon, however, became a 'huge' cause for concern as that spot, that dot, that orb... it grew. It grew and grew and grew until it was a wall of pure 'black'. In Izuku's entire life he'd seen none, none more black than the space that... whatever it was occupied. It was like looking into pure darkness, as if he could sink into it himself if you attempted to go through... or that any number of unspeakable horrors could pass through.

And then they did.

The collection of people pouring out from that wall of darkness was eclectic to say the very least. From what Izuku could tell at the distance he was standing, there were a good number of Faunus mixed in of various traits, a man who took the traits of a long-horned ram most notably standing out. There were other, more normal humans stepping forward too, people just in masks to hide their identity or in armor to protect themselves... from what? Izuku'd been afraid to consider that thought at the moment. However, of everyone and everything that had crossed that dark voice, three things had stood out in his vision.

The first was that hulking... 'thing'. It looked like a man; it had two arms and two legs and it stood up straight... but that had been about where the similarities ended. Its skin was almost pure black, with only deep, crimson stripes having interrupted its skin patterning up until its head. It's head had been an entirely different issue; a bone-white beak contained sharp fingers, serrated and perfectly lined up with each other. A slightly yellow tint had contrasted them against the beak, but that only made Izuku wonder what exactly it was that had stained them. Then there was the real kicker; an exposed brain, with two eyes planted firmly on the sides of the head in the brain matter. Even from the distance he stood, the eyes looked 'red'. For a moment, the thought crossed Izuku's mind that that thing, that... person? Looked more like a Grimm than a man.

The second was considerably more normal, a guy who didn't look that terribly much taller than Izuku was. His hair was silver, sure, and he wore all black, but aside from that he seemed perfectly normal... besides the hands that covered him from head to toe. A thought crossed Izuku's mind that those hands might not have just been mere decoration... and he sincerely hoped that his mind was just getting ahead of itself.

The last of the three that stood out came out of the tunnel... in a matter of speaking. After everything and everyone else that had seemed to be waiting on the other side of that darkness came through, two bright glowing points of light formed on the top of the darkness. Slowly but surely, the darkness collapsed in on itself... until only a 'vague' shape, a shadow of a thing, stood behind all the other Faunus, humans and... the thing that had stepped through.

"All of you, stay together and stay back. Juu, protect the students." A voice more alive than any that Professor Aizawa had spoken with previously suddenly snapped them all out of their state of shock, all of them having turned to face the man, the Hunter, who now slid those eye coverings of his up over his eyes. "Whatever happened to the staff that was supposed to be here... I'd wager they're the ones who'd know."

Professor Aizawa's words sent a chill through just about every single last student gathered there, Izuku included. Not just because of what he overtly implied, but because of what had been unsaid. They'd all come here with the expectations that, while they would be under threat from Grimm, that the threat was going to be managed.

And that now, they all were in 'real' danger.

It isn't even a question, there wasn't even a moment's hesitation as Izuku immediately slid his Scroll out and, with his thumb, tapped in the combination of commands he'd practically 'memorized' over the past few days. It was an emergency situation; his friends, his professor and who knows how many innocent people were in danger because the Underground Training Facility was under attack. If that didn't qualify as worth the use of his emergency function on the Scroll, he didn't know 'what' did. Izuku slammed on the last button, biting his lip as he closed his eyes, waiting for the seconds to pass. 'Please, please, _please_...'

Izuku could 'feel' the jubilation in his chest as, seconds after that last button press, he heard it. All of a sudden, Aizawa's and Ju's Scrolls went off the hook, a rapid ringing, bell-like signal being given off from both. For a moment, Izuku saw a look of surprise on both of their faces, though the look of surprise ebbed on Aizawa's as he turned to look in Izuku's direction. Before he could speak however, the signal suddenly died out. The sound ceased, with only a bit of static before the end of it signaling that something was going wrong. Aizawa bit his lip... but there was the faintest sign of a grin at the corner of his lips.

"Well if that doesn't get someone's attention..." He muttered to himself, pride welling up in Izuku's chest as he turned back to the host of ne'er do wells in front of them. "Alright: Ju, get them out of here. With that signal having been sent, it shouldn't be long before 'some' measure of help arrives. The rest of you... just stay safe and let the Hunters handle this."

"Wait!" Izuku called out, hesitation clear in his voice as Aizawa steps forward. "Professor Aizawa... you can't mean that you're going to try to take them all on yourself. Your Semblance can erase theirs but... your power, it's only really effective in stealth or one-on-one situations. Your fighting style... it isn't going to help with a group." He was not exactly keen to watch one of his Professors run into a situation like that, especially with help on the way... but with these evil doers bearing down on them all...

"You can't be a Huntsman if you only have one trick."

Izuku'd seen Toshinori pull out 'some' of his power in a lot of situations, doing at most what he needed to do in order to handle a situation and no more, lest he accidentally hurt or break something. So, for the first time in his life, he watched with a little bit of awe as a Hunter on the level of Shota Aizawa did his work. Fearlessly, the experienced Huntsman just leapt into the fray... and with a combination of his bandages and his punches and kicks, took out a whole host of goons within the first few seconds of the fight. It seemed like their Auras weren't even stacking up to the power he brought, as he skillfully weaved, dodged and, most importantly, lashed out at the group of would be villains.

It was enough of a sight that it actually left him momentarily breathless.

"Izuku, let's go! You can analyze this all later!"

Before Pyrrha snapped him back to reality.

'Oh right; running away!' Izuku immediately turned on his heels as they all ran after Ju, the Huntress busy reciting the code number in her head as they all made a mad break for the doorway. As Izuku tried to suggest to the various teams to consider grouping up and staying together or, even more distantly, the idea that Kacchan should blow down the door with his Semblance to save them all some valuable time... something stopped them.

A black vortex opened up on the ground in front of them, and that inky blackness spilled out in a thick, impenetrable mist.

" **There is no escape for you...** "

Again, the mist took that same shape, that same vague shadowy form, as its two, glowing yellow eyes greeted them. Vaguely in the distance, Izuku heard Shota Aizawa attempting to run back... though by the sounds of combat, he gathered that he had his hands full... which just left all of the students and Ju to deal with the thing.

" **Greetings, a pleasure to meet all of you. I believe introductions are called for: we are the Monochrome League. Now, I know it must seem so impolite, but we simply 'had' to invite ourselves into this Home of Hope to say hello. I mean, after all: what better Tomb in what better Graveyard could serve as Toshinori Yagi's, The Symbol of Peace, final resting place.** " It was a grave threat, a threat that seemed... impossible to Izuku. Or, might have little under a year ago. The idea that someone might attempt to 'kill' Toshinori, The Symbol of Peace, in a place like Mountain Glenn.

Knowing what he knew now... well, while he couldn't speak for everyone, the threat threw him off his footing.

" **Now... I do believe he was supposed to be here today... and yet he seems strangely absent. There must have been a change in plans we could not have foreseen.** " With that, the shape opened up what he could 'vaguely' call its arms as it seemed to spread out. " **Ah well. I suppose it doesn't matter; in the end, I still have a role to play.** " Izuku watched as a few subtle actions were taken by Ju; a quick button pressed on the palm of her hand and, from one of the points containing Gravity Dust on her person, a solid chunk of the stuff was dispersed and caught. They watched as she brought her fist up, clenching hard around the Dust, seemingly ready to crush it in the palm of her hand...

At least, up until Yang and Kacchan immediately jumped into the mist's face, fists reared back as they both let out a battle cry.

Izuku momentarily averted his eyes as a huge cloud of smoke and heat ended up enveloping all of them, his emerald eyes burning slightly under the combination as you raise his arms up to protect your face.

"Hey thanks for the monologue there, if you hadn't just stood around yappin' I might've... Mist-ed."

"... You know what Yang, just this once, I'll let you have that, ribbit ribbit." As Izuku opened his eyes, he saw Yang shooting an overconfident grin back to Tsuyu as the smoke slowly cleared. He flinched as he saw the darkness still there, and especially when he saw it's yellow eyes pierce through the veil of smoke.

" **Hmmm... your school's reputation for combat is held up I see... if not its word play**." Before Izuku could even take in Yang's insulted shout, he noticed something off; in the mist, there seemed to be an actual, solid shape; a fine set of clothes, some kind of sweater vest with a dress shirt and tie underneath. Above it, yet below the mist's glowing yellow eyes, were several metal braces. Before he could commit that all to memory, the mist swallowed it all back up again. " **Still, children your age should be more careful... otherwise someone might get 'hurt'**." The glowing yellow eyes narrowed and, again, he couldn't help the chill that ran up his spine.

"You two, get out of the way right now!" Ju shouted at both Yang and Kacchan... but it proved to be too little, too late. As the mist suddenly began to widen and disperse around the entire group, practically swallowing them all whole as it spun and spun and spun around!

" **Now then... allow me to scatter you all throughout this Tomb, so you may meet your deaths!** " The voice of the mist echoed all around them all and, suddenly, Izuku found himself being pulled in various directions.

Izuku could practically feel himself being lost to the void. Being sucked up into the darkness itself.

'It's…'

'cold…'

Izuku screamed as the void pulled at him, a significant chill pulling at his body as he felt himself being lifted off his feet and into the mist itself. The darkness threatened to completely cloud his vision until he could see nothing, the mist brushing against his skin until it was all he could feel... but for a brief moment, he was given a reprieve. He felt a slender arm grab onto him, wrapping around his waist, and he could hear the sounds of metal swishing through the air accompanied by a few grunts of exertion. For a glorious second in time, a flash of light occupied his vision and he thought that, perhaps, the Void will not be the last thing he'd have seen, that he wouldn't have to worry about the darkness taking him. However, that feeling of ease, that sigh of relief, ended up caught in his throat as that flash of light immediately shattered, the Darkness swallowing it whole.

For a moment, there was nothing.

Nothing but the darkness...

And then, all at once, Izuku could see again.

Large, blaring lights filled his vision as he felt himself free fall from the Void, screaming at the top of his lungs as he, now, finally felt as if he was no longer being suffocated. A second scream, a definitely familiar scream, soon joined his as he and whoever had accompanied him end up dropping for some distance until they hit some solid ground with a decided 'thud'. A groan escaped Izuku's lips as he took a moment to look up and around to take in their surroundings.

Lights that he'd have mistaken for Stadium Lights were periodically patterned across the smoothly cut stone ceiling above him, their hum being a constant sound in his ear. The light ended up greatly illuminating the area around him, making it quite easy to make out the various facilities that he saw. The smooth, stone floor beneath them seemed to be of the same color as the stone that made up the walls of the Underground Training Facility, as are the walls and ceilings of the very large room. They were still underground... if they ever left, discounting the void. The thing that caught his notice next was a loud thrumming sound, which drew his eyes over to one of the walls on the room. Seemingly jutting out from the very walls themselves, a large machine roared with life as Izuku saw various lights and sparks of electricity dancing within it. A gyro seemed to be spinning some substance around at a rapid pace, arcs of electricity being formed against a metal rod placed right in the middle of it. Aside from that, a large workstation that surrounded the machine also dominated the room, with a handful of monitors that seemed to be measuring various outputs of the great machine in front of him still on screen.

Furthermore, while several small, far more roughly-hued exits were available in this room, Izuku noticed that standing out among these exits are three smooth tunnels, more in line with the overall quality of the 'construction' of the wall, ceiling and floor of the room, that disappear off into lit hallways in various directions of the room. Finally, on the machine and on the walls of the room itself, a great '16' was emblazoned.

"Oww... jeez, this just... this just really isn't my day..." The voice Izuku recognized as 'definitely' belonging to Weiss ended up drawing his attention over to her, watching as the Heiress just rubbed at her back slightly as she forced herself up into a sitting position. While the fall he too had taken definitely hadn't been bad enough for either of them to be seriously hurt by it, especially with their Auras, it had definitely been awkward falling out a void and just onto some hard, stone ground. Izuku himself felt just the slightest bit sore over the entire thing. He winced as he slowly forced himself up onto his feet and extended a hand down to Weiss.

"I think that's safe to say for everyone... thanks for trying to help Weiss, I appreciate it." Weiss took his hand readily as she pulled herself up to her feet, the young woman having winced as she rubbed her back again.

"For all the good it did... I was 'hoping' we'd be able to stay near the entrance so we could actually do something or get everyone to safety... just ended up getting pulled here regardless." Weiss clearly sounded disappointed, though more in an annoyed way than in a self-deprecating way, as Izuku just did his best to smile through the situation. After all, it was like Toshinori said, being a Hero in situations like that, Izuku just needed to smile and reassure people.

"Well now, I wouldn't be too upset little miss, if you didn't get sucked through then you wouldn't have gotten to meet us!"

...

Izuku and Weiss both stiffened as they both turned on their heels and faced the source of the voice. Unnoticed by Izuku initially, having been slightly dazed by his fall, near Generator 16 were an odd collection of people, similar to those they saw warped into the Underground Training Facility with those three weirdoes. A collection of Faunus and Humans, six of the former and four of the latter, they all grinned at the pair as most of them brandished some combination of baseball bat, club or other blunt instrument. Izuku saw, somewhere behind them, a handful of people tied up, some of them bleeding from the head. Two in particular, one of the Faunus and one of the humans, were carrying guns; simple pistols sure, but guns nonetheless. The Faunus in particular seemed to take 'keen' interest in his arrival, as some elbowed each other in the ribs.

"Hey, Red, doesn't that little piece of crumpet look just like..."

"Weiss Schnee? Yeah, I think she does." The Faunus with a pair of red, drooping hound-dog ears confirmed for his friend, casually slapping his club against the palm of his hand as he did so. "Well boy howdy, little psycho didn't say anything about someone as high up in the food chain as a 'Schnee' poking her head around here." Some of the humans chuckled a bit as the Faunus seemed to get riled up, Weiss having just narrowed her gaze into a glare as they spoke.

"Oh, would you look at that, she's gettin' angry. Probably never had someone refer to her as a piece of crumpet before. Wonder how she'd take being called a tart." Oof, even Izuku felt the absolute 'chill' that was coming off Weiss' glare. "Hah! Well, looks like the Schnees are every bit as stuck up and up their own asses as we've heard boys." The pistol-wielding Faunus declared as he cocked his gun. "How about we take a break from setting this up to fix that?" A general nod of agreement seemed to be reached among the ten goons in front of them as they, variously, started to make their ways toward them.

"Suppose it would've been too much to ask that we don't have to deal with this kind of trash after having what we've already had to go through..." Weiss muttered as she pulled Myrtenaster out, the Dust Chambers of the Rapier spinning in place. "But it seems that today is just bound and determined to test my patience..." Weiss said coldly as Izuku nodded, readying Emerald Gust. "Izuku... I guess we're getting a more live-fire test of your abilities as a leader than we thought we were today. What's the plan?"

"Alright, here's what I'm thinking." His emerald eyes immediately glanced around the room as he took in the entire situation. "Given that there's hostages nearby 'and' the generator that supplies Mountain Glenn most of its power in the room, we really can't afford for them to get back to either of those nor can we really afford to damage either, so we'll need to hold back a bit as it concerns what we can do." Weiss nodded in ready agreement as Izuku stretched his fingers a bit. "I bet we can move faster than them, even while keeping an eye on them, so the initial plan would be for us to slowly walk back and draw them deeper into the chamber. Once they're a good distance away, you make an Ice Wall between the hostages and the generator and these bad guys. From there, I'll try to pick off the two guys with ranged weapons with my shotguns. From there... well, you hang back and support me, wait for me to actually whittle these guys down a bit and then you come in to help clean up. I'll put some punishment on them in the meantime." Izuku slammed his fists together slightly as, already, Izuku and Weiss were slowly backing away from the group who seemed all too happy to pursue them all as if it were a game of cat and mouse.

"Sounds like a plan to me." With that, Weiss seemed to be drawing some focus into herself as she reached a hand down to touch Myrtenaster's blade. The whole lot of them, he and Weiss plus the ten goons in front of them, continued that little dance of slowly retreating while the mob slowly lumbered forward, ready to lay a tremendous beat down and, perhaps, collect a chance to revenge themselves on a Schnee. As some distance crossed that seemed to catch Weiss' attention, without much warning to the enemies, she ran her fingers down the blade of Myrtenaster, a cloud of Ice Dust following them. With a practiced flourish, the cloud of Dust was launched from the tip of Myrtenaster's blade and soared behind the group of enemies, a large wall of Ice having formed right behind them, surprising the whole lot of them.

It was in said surprise that Izuku immediately cocked both shotguns of Emerald Gust and 'swung'. His two fists punched right at the two pistol users, both of whom seem quite distracted with the wall. His shotgun blasts blared out nice and loud as the crackling Lightning Rounds soared through the air. The two failed to notice in time and they were both 'chunked' by the rounds. Izuku watched as a bright flash of white shined momentarily and the sound of shattering glass reached his ears as the very color seemed to drain from the two goon's faces, their Auras completely shattered. Needless to say, they were both downed in an instant, their muscles spasming from both their utterly broken Auras and from the electricity charging through them.

Even the Faunus members of the group seem to suddenly switch focus from Weiss over to him after that quick disposal of their comrades, the various members of the group grinding their teeth in frustration as, all of a sudden, they all charged. Their various weapons, all crude and blunt, were raised above their heads as they tried to bring them down on his skull; in the end, a good number of them got in the other's ways, causing them to swing wildly off course. The others however, were far more on point... but then again, so was Izuku. With a deep breath he immediately started ducking and slapping his hands around, sending their weapons flying away from him or dodging around them himself. There was one blow so close to clipping him about the shoulder but, with a burst of Aura, he managed to push himself past it by mere inches.

Izuku immediately tried to turn that into his own advantage as, with a deep breath, he drew upon 5% of One For All to help try and connect with a few judo throws. He reached out and, though one of the more impressive goons avoided him for a moment, managed to latch onto another and toss him. However, the hope for stun didn't seem to connect and the goons he threw him into, while a good sized group, end up not being too bothered by the entire affair. In the end Izuku and Weiss just ended up withdrawing a bit, not looking to stick around to be encircled... though how long he could keep that up was uncertain.

It seemed as though, however, that Weiss had a similar idea as he watched a dark purple Glyph form above the various goons in front of him. The goons seem to gasp or otherwise stumble in confusion as their weapons glowed a dark purple, it having become abundantly clear that Weiss had very much increased the weight of their gear. With a smile, Weiss finished flourishing Myrtenaster as she kept to a short distance behind Izuku.

There was a moment where the goons tried to decide between trying to fight Izuku barehanded and keeping their weapons and, in the end, it seemed like they were more prepared to fight with what they had on hand than with their bare hands as they charged Izuku. From there, however, the fight devolved into a brawl. Goons tried to hit Izuku with their newly weighted weapons while he lashed out and tried to hit them back. It was a back and forth for a little bit, as they failed to hit Izuku and, while yes he did hurt the big guys pretty sorely, it wasn't quite the pace he was looking for... especially as one of them got a lucky hit in across his side, causing Izuku to groan in some pain. He was hesitant to use a smash; sure, the 5% Smash wasn't anything that would likely seriously cripple someone on its own, not by a long shot... at least if he didn't aim at its head. Still, the idea of throwing it around, throwing 'One For All' around, Izuku hesitated at the idea.

As that lucky blow landed, however, Izuku realized he really didn't have much time to hesitate at all. So, with a long drawn out breath, he turned on one of the big guys he hadn't struck yet, not wanting to completely break through one of the more injured fellows, as he pulled 5% of One For All into his fist.

"Imagine the egg in the microwave... it won't break!" Izuku felt the heat in his fist as he charged One For All into it and the guy, stunned by his sudden change of pace, couldn't avoid it.

"Beacon... SMASH!" The grunt did his best to get out of the way, but the blow still solidly landed in his side. The boom of energy that followed through ends up knocking him a few yards away and onto the ground, as the force of the blow just too much for him to overcome. Still, while he'd taken most of the hit damage wise... he hadn't been the one sent flying furthest away.

No, a scrawny little guy just behind him had been the one who got stuck with that honor. With no time to adjust for the shock wave, the guy ended up taking it right to the center of his chest, which had ended up flinging him bodily away, skittering across the ground still he came grinding to a halt over a dozen yards away.

'That' seemed to get everyone's attention. There was a very noticeable change in the air as the various lesser goons glanced over at Izuku. With some of their betters still getting up and charging at him, a good number still followed in... but a noticeable chunk seemed to just stand and wait to see how the next few seconds panned out. Even Weiss who had momentarily joined the fray to help him start to whittle down the last of them seemed to pause, holding Myrtenaster at the ready. Those seconds didn't pan out any better as Izuku took notice of the two more battered goons who had ran up to him. With a serious expression Izuku brought both fists back and, to their shock, drove them both into their torsos. Within seconds of his shotguns going off, the goons Auras shattered and they end up stunned on the ground, jerking around just like the other pistol users.

"Ah... you bastards! Don't you look down on us! We're going to break you both, isn't that right fellas?"

...

The sounds of various weapons hitting the ground drew the last big goon's attention behind him, as his remaining back up dropped their gear and immediately raised their hands in the air, spooked expressions on their faces as they took Izuku's little group in.

"... Are you shits fucking serious? You're 'actually' giving up? Sons of bitches, they're two friggin' kids!"

"Yeah, two kids who've been kicking our asses. You really want to take one of those punches?"

...

The last remaining bruiser among them just let out an aggravated shout as he dropped his weapon. It seemed he wasn't fool enough to try to fight Izuku while he was, effectively, outnumbered and the two had proven to be nuisances. Thus, between those goons who were stunned and seemed fit to stay that way for a while, and those whom had thrown in the towel, Izuku and Weiss found themselves having overcome the little gaggle of grunts.

The next few minutes were filled with a sporadic dance of motions as Izuku and Weiss both sought to keep the Goon Squad he'd so recently put under wraps down. Weiss shook her head at his offer of her taking some time to reload; Myrtenaster's current canisters still had far more Dust for her to go through before she had to think of reloading the thing. Thus Weiss kept the tip of her rapier pointed at the various goons while Izuku reloaded Emerald Gust's Gauntlets, seeking to empty out the Lightning Dust rounds. Once completed, Izuku made a show of cocking both Gauntlets as he handed his various supplies over to Weiss and gave her instructions on how to approach the various hostages and Hunters. With a firm nod, he'd left to them to their own devices for a moment as he kept his eyes locked on all ten Goons. Thankfully, having nearly half of them utterly wiped and unable to summon forth even the barest hint of an Aura, it seemed to leave them all in a mood to just sit back and 'not' get beaten up.

About a minute later Izuku heard footsteps approaching him, heavy boots by the sound of it, and for a moment he glanced off to the side, worried that he might've been having someone try to sneak up on him. A great deal of relief filled Izuku as he saw the Huntsman that he had previously tagged as uninjured approach, a tall and lanky man wearing an attire that seemed more at home in the forest; various dark greens and browns meant to help camouflage him in.

"Well hello there gentlemen. Not so fun when you're the one having unexpected company dropped on your head, is it?" The man coughed into his fist, a slightly raspy, smoky sounding hack as he looked over at the Beacon students. "Keep your eyes open there young man, your friend's filled me in on your idea there." Izuku nodded as he watched the Huntsman approach one of the previously pistol wielding grunts. With a grab the man was picked up by his collar and bodily dragged away from the group, about five feet away, before the Hunter produced some rope.

It was a bit of a show to watch as the Hunter seemed to practically work the rope in his hands like magic. In a matter of seconds Izuku watched as the goon went from relatively unsecured and still a potential threat to just utterly hog-tied, the rope done up in such a way that any stress that the goon would put on it would only end up with him hurting himself trying to get out.

"Fuckin' humans... you practice hog-tying Faunus a lot, you bastards?"

"Not really but hey, it's always nice to try new things." The Faunus seemed more annoyed by the gravel-y's Huntsman's glib attitude than anything as he went about repeating the process with the other goons. "So, I'm to take it you're part of Beacon's First Year Class right? The group that was supposed to have the Training Facility all to yourselves?" Izuku flinched a bit as the man suddenly spoke up in the middle of his task.

"Uh, yes sir." The man nodded as he shoot they huntsman in training an appreciative look.

"Well I gotta thank you for... well, I suppose you couldn't help getting dropped in here, but I'm grateful nonetheless." The man finished tying up another goon as he moved on. "These crooks here just dropped right out of the ceiling on top of my associates over there, pretty much caught them completely off guard. Didn't even have time to raise their Auras before they got wailed on and when they finally did... well, blows to the head can be nasty to defend against, even for Aura. Round about the time I was ready to do something, the two swinging around those pistols like they knew how to use them threatened the civilian workers that we were watching over and... well, ain't proud to admit it, but I didn't quite think I could handle nine guys and keep them from running around me to 'take care' of the others." Izuku winced slightly at that as he looked over past the ice wall where Weiss had, presumably, been doing her work of freeing a couple civilians.

"Are you guys going to need help? Is it-"

"They'll probably have themselves some concussions and bruised ribs, but they should be fine. We have some supplies stored away around here somewhere that we can use... but they probably aren't going to be good for a fight for a while. Good thing you kids showed up when you did."

"Please don't refer to us as kids, we're Hunters-in-Training after all." Weiss rejoined the group, giving him a firm nod as he took his queue to walk up and help tie up the remaining goons.

Despite not being that particularly well-versed in tying knots, he actually managed to do so rather passably, or at least to the degree where the Hunter next to him didn't immediately redo them once he was done.

"Weiss, the others, how are they holding up? Any idea what these guys were setting up?" Weiss gave a nod on both counts as she kept her rapier pointed at the remaining goons.

"None of the civilians were doctors or anything of the sort, so I had to handle checking over the other Hunters myself. They're out cold and it didn't seem like they'd be snapping out of it anytime soon... but their injuries don't look severe, at least. There was a first aid kit that the civilians pointed out that I was able to use to patch them up a little bit, but I can't say how much that's going to help us right now."

"Probably isn't but hey, you work with what you've got." The older Hunter said as he finished tying up the last sucker among the goons.

"And the device?" Izuku asked as Weiss frowned.

"That some of them were ready to identify; it was definitely a bomb but it seems like our arrival ended up cutting their preparations short; they didn't have time to properly set it up." Weiss crossed her arms. "It isn't too fancy, a timed detonator set for an hour that was made up of some... very fine Fire Dust." Weiss frowned as that as she looked down at the grunts on the floor.

"You guys... tell us what you were up to and... well, we won't have to come to any more blows!" Izuku did his best to try to sound rough and authoritative... but the effort completely fell flat as far more of the goons seemed ready to laugh.

"Come on kid. You might've looked like a lion in the middle of a fight, but you look more ready to cry over the prospect of trying to actually 'interrogate' us than anything. Run on home squirt."

"Hey, that 'squirt' just beat most of you to an Aura-shattered pulp! I suggest you all straighten up and tell us what you're doing and where you've gotten this Dust from!" Weiss stomped her heel onto the stone floor, a show of petulance that just seemed to cause more laughter than anything else.

The laughter immediately stopped when the Hunter grabbed a part of one of the ropes tying a particular goon down and pulled on it, causing him to howl in pain as the ropes all around his body tightened and pulled at him in various directions.

"Now now, it isn't polite to just laugh off the people who've been kind enough to let you surrender without taking a beating. I'd suggest you show a little more grace and answer these two's questions." With that, the grunts seemed to bend to the honed edge of an experienced Hunter as they all glared but, after some time, relented.

"Look, we honestly don't know that much. The psycho with the hands, Shigaraki he's called, he just paid a whole bunch of us to do some work here in Mountain Glenn, said we'd be doing our part to help knock that self-satisfied prick Toshinori Yagi down." One of the goons spoke up, causing Izuku to narrow his gaze. "We were supposed to just be dropped in here, set up that bomb, and then have Kurogiri get us out when everything was said and done. At the end of the hour, boom, bombs go off and then that's a big old fiasco for Toshinori and Mountain Glenn... presumin' the former isn't already dead by that point."

"And the Dust? Where did low lives like you all get such good Dust?" Weiss demanded as one of the goons just sneered at her.

"Oh wouldn't you like to know prince-aaAAAH!" Another tug on another rope caused the grunt in question to scream in pain as he shook a bit. "Fuck, look, I don't know alright! Kurogiri and Shigaraki gave us the stuff, we have no idea where it came from, now just let go of the fuckin' rope you asshole!" After waiting for a moment and seeing that the grunt in question wasn't changing his story despite the continued pressure, the Hunter did, indeed, let go.

"So much for that..." The Hunter dusted off his hands as he turned to the two. "What about you two? I presume you want to get back to the entrance?" Izuku frowned for a moment as he looked to the side, but shook his head.

"Back at the entrance, this guy... I think he might've been the Kurogiri this guy referred to, surrounded a lot of my friends and teammates. They're probably scattered about here to. I want to be able to find them all and make sure they're okay before heading back." Weiss nodded in agreement as they both looked up to the Hunter in question... who just nodded.

"Brave of you. Maybe not smart all things considered, but brave." The Hunter pointed over to the civilians. "None of us can give you a good layout of all the Tunnels, I'm afraid. When my associates and I 'are' shuffled into Tunnel duty, we're assigned to this Chamber in specific, and same goes for these civilians. Now, we 'can' give you an idea of what our commute looks like on the way here to give you some idea but... well, after that, you're kind of on your own." Nodding in appreciation, Izuku and Weiss listened as the Hunter described to them all, in some detail so they all could remember it, the path he and these other Hunters and Civilians take to get from the Entrance to Chamber 16.

With about all the information they'd wanted to gather in his hands, he and Weiss quickly packed up and make ready for their continued journey. It might take a little time, but their current goal couldn't be stalled; they needed to get back with their friends, to make sure they were safe. As he thought about his options going forward, Izuku's mind couldn't help but wonder how everyone else was doing...

* * *

With a grunt, Shoto Todoroki lifted himself up off the floor, shaking his head slightly as he recovered from the vertigo of his sudden... teleportation and fall, was perhaps the best way to put it. He took an opportunity to look around and frowned at what he saw; a handful of Hunters and Civilians, unconscious and just laying out on the floor in an otherwise mostly empty chamber. Before Shoto Todoroki could ponder much of anything about his current predicament... a sound reached his ears. With a slight turn, the half-and-half young man faced down one of the many tunnels that led out of the chamber he was in, a deep, dark tunnel that seemed vaguely lit. Black shadows moved amongst the lights... and soon enough, red eyes shined through the darkness.

A sigh escaped Shoto's lips as he pulled out a chunk of Ice Dust. He supposed the entire affair 'was' meant to help test his skills against the Grimm. Still, it would've been better if he had his entire team with him, especially the wily instincts of his leader...

* * *

"NOW TSU!"

Ruby Rose gave a mighty cry as she swung Crescent Rose violently through the air, the blade of her scythe having practically sung as it sliced straight through the neck of one Beowolf that had dared to challenge the silver eyed Huntress. As the rest of its little group sought to immediately take advantage of Ruby's open position, a pink, fleshy limb stretched out, wrapped around the young girl's waist and 'immediately' pulled her out of harm's way. As Ruby was being pulled, she quickly grabbed onto a few little round objects that the tongue had slipped onto its end and tossed them out into the fray of the Grimm, a few clouds of light explosives being left in her wake as she was pulled away. With a bit of a roll Ruby hit the ground and soon jumped back onto her feet, Tsuyu Asui having pulled her tongue back into her mouth as she pulled her machete out of the head of some would be attacking Grimm.

"Well they're tenacious, I'll give them that, ribbit ribbit." Ruby nodded in agreement as the pair of slowly growing friends readied themselves again as the Beowolves proved to be unbowed by their initial show of force. Ruby couldn't believe it; another exercise, another time she was separated from the people she wanted and needed to be beside. Not that she hated being with Tsuyu, far from it, the Frog Faunus had proven a great trainer and a growing friend in Ruby's eyes... but these Grimm... they were supposed to be fought under safer conditions, when criminals weren't threatening to kill so many innocent people, like the group of civilians she and Tsuyu were doing their best to keep said Grimm distracted from.

More than that, she was supposed to be taking care of them with her Team. Ruby gave a sigh as she rapidly switched Crescent Rose into its sniper form, looking to quickly pick off a Beowolf Alpha in the group. Even if her mind was set on her team, her heart had stretched out to family. To her sister...

* * *

"Don't worry, everything's going to be okay..."

Huddled up with a group of people, hurt and scared, using his Semblance to hide them from the Grimm... boy, if that didn't bring back memories. Lie Ren took a deep breath, using up his Aura to keep his Semblance active so that the civilians and injured Hunters wouldn't need worry about the small herd of Grimm that had stormed into the Chamber, a mix of Boarbatusks and Ursa. Ren himself was keeping calm under the situation for two reasons; his Semblance first and foremost and, secondly, the 'very' powerful young woman who was currently diving into that group of Grimm and beating them all senseless.

Perhaps not the young woman he was used to having protect him, but Lie Ren would gladly take Yang Xiao Long's combat prowess as she successfully punched an Ursa's head clean off as he would have taken Nora's. Still, Ren sighed at the thought. He hoped Nora was doing okay or that, at the very least, she wasn't 'too' worried about him...

* * *

"WHAT THE FUCK IS EVEN HAPPENING RIGHT NOW?!"

"HEE-HAAAAAAAW!" The clang of heavy metal slamming against a flesh and blood torso as a goon was sent flying across the room caused many jaws to drop as a variety of humans and Faunus watched the scene play out before them. "GO MY TRUSTY STEED GO, BANDITS HAVE TAKEN TO ASSAULTING YOUR QUEEN'S GROUNDS, WE CANNOT LET THIS OFFENSE GO UNPUNISHED! NOW GO!"

"MISS VALKYRIE, I WILL SAY THAT THIS IS 'VERY' INAPPROPRIATE... AND KICKING MY RIBS DOES NOTHING THROUGH MY ARMOR!"

"GALLANT STEEDS DON'T TALK, NOW KEEP MOVING!"

The sight of one Nora Valkyrie riding on top of Tenya Iida's shoulders, occasionally kicking the armored knight's ribs as she swung Magnhild around and knocked about the various goons and grunts as if they were balls in a polo match was a very... interesting sight indeed. However, as 'interesting' as it was, the goons were more preoccupied with not getting beaten into next week by Magnhild as the weird combination Nora and Tenya had brought to the field, while bizarre, was effective; between Tenya's speed and Nora's strength, none of the goons would make it out of the experience without broken ribs.

Despite its effectiveness, Tenya could only sigh and wonder how his own partner was doing. Surely she wouldn't have put him through such an embarrassing display...

* * *

"DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!"

Blake winced as the loud battle cry erupted some odd feet away from her again. Despite the energy and gusto that Bakugou seemed to give that shout of his with, from what she could see, the explosive fighter wasn't putting too much power into his blows; rather than huge explosions like she'd seen him unleash against Ruby or Izuku, these seemed the more controlled explosions that could just be forced out with no pressure on his part. It seemed even he recognized that these low level goons were not worth the effort of seriously pressing themselves or wasting their energy on.

"You looked away you filthy human bitch, big mistake!" For a moment, Blake hadn't even entertained that the insult had been meant for her, before she remembered, right, she was disguised. As she was about to just disappear away under the cover of her Semblance, a round, metal shield 'slammed' into the face of the Faunus who had tried to sneak up on her, bouncing away and back into the waiting hand of one Pyrrha Nikos, who skillfully turned around and slammed the face of the shield into another goon as he tried to take advantage...

Yeah, Pyrrha Nikos was every bit the fighter that people said, Blake could attest to that personally now. Blake sighed as, with another swing of Gambol Shroud, she managed to catch another criminal by his ankle and send him falling to the ground, at which point Bakugou practically jumped on top of him and started viciously beating him into unconsciousness.

Yeah, she could've been stuck with worse people as far as fighters go... though she did wish she was still with her team...

"DIIIIIIIE!"

... Or at least Izuku. The guy knew how to keep quiet during a fight, at the very least.

* * *

 **E/N: Yo Gorilla you got anything to say about this whole dungeon thing? - Shovern**

 **a/n: So in my style of running a Quest I tend to have two different modes of handing out conflict; player driven and structured. Things like the spars or the exercises you've seen so far were structured, though very lightly, as just kind of practice challenges to prepare everyone for thinking around certain problems. Other things like the Socials, Cardin, etc. I mostly left up to the players in the thread to decide how they wanted to handle it or if they even wanted to handle it at all.**

 **Dungeons, however, are the epitome of the structured challenges, the things I spent a lot of time tinkering on. They're usually the big high stakes trouble that I force on the players (or at the very least heavily incentive them to take part in as they tend to be pretty important). They usually have some gimmick or the other and are pretty plot centered; unless the players go out exploring and find trouble, Dungeons are pretty much the big set piece moments.**

 **This technically wasn't even the first dungeon, fun fact; the first one was actually The Entrance Exam and the Emerald Forest. But the Tunnels were definitely a big second one that, thankfully, people seemed to really dig.**

 **Also, sorry for this one being late, end of class stuff has me super busy. Will upload next chapter on May 8th, as it normally would've been uploaded.**


	54. Tunnels II

With their decision made and their affairs settled, Izuku and Weiss finally set off toward the East, to unknown pastures and, hopefully, their friends. Before they left, however, the civilians finished looking over the things that the goons had brought with them when they attacked. No new weapons aside from the ones they'd obviously been carrying were found and the only other thing they'd had on their persons of technical value were Scrolls. However, what they all did find was a rather large collection of Lien: each goon had 1,000 Lien on each of their persons, apparently forward payment from Kurogiri and Shigaraki of a promised 10,000 Lien payout if they succeeded at their jobs. For obvious reasons, the full amount couldn't just be looted... after all, it wasn't exactly lawful to take from people, even if they were thieves.

So, with all that settled, they made their way down through the tunnel to the east. Izuku was not entirely sure how long each individual tunnel went, he knew for certain that some were longer than the others, but given that everything was underground and the only way he had of even coming close to measuring distance in the tunnels are the lights that illuminated his path forward, he was really not sure exactly how long the tunnel he'd taken was. Still, after some time of walking they ended up coming out of the opening of the tunnel and into a new chamber.

The chamber before them was actually quite oddly lit, though not thanks to the lights themselves. The chamber lights, exactly the same as the previous chamber's Izuku noted, shined down as usual, a blanket of white that illuminated what would otherwise be pure darkness. Unlike the previous room, which also had additional light from the generator, these lights served as the only light source... it was what they reflect off of that casts the room in a rather unusual color. A vast, swirling body of water made up a huge chunk of the room, a fan-like device attached at several layers of blades from the center of the pool out. On one end of the body of water, water that had the unmistakable tinge of river water was being poured in through a series of huge pipes that disappeared into the wall and up onto the surface. A filter was on either side of the pool, one end capturing large amounts of debris and gunk that might be coming in and the other capturing what was really unique about the water aside from the natural materials in it; chunks of Dust. Dust that was being poured in from another device, a combination of Fire and Lightning Dust that, when struck by the fans, activated, burning or magnetizing the odd material that might've gotten dumped into the water from the pipes leading to wherever the water was coming in from. The magnetized material stuck to the fan blades and was slowly swung off to receptacles on the side of the great body of water while the burnt material was caught on the secondary filter, with only fresh, clean, pure water being funneled up, looking to go straight up into the city itself.

However, the pretty scenery was only able to distract them from the chaos for so long.

"FUCK ME, YOU'RE THE PROFESSIONALS, DO FUCKING SOMETHING!"

"OH BIG SHOT, WENT FROM LORDING OVER US AFTER A SURPRISE ATTACK TO BEGGING FOR HIS STUPID FUCKING LIFE, WHAT A FUCKING MEME!"

In a word: anarchy. Dozens of wings beat in the air as Nevermore after Nevermore caw and circled in the air. He thought he counted out about twenty spread out into five groups, with three free flying in the air. All of them were pecking, grabbing with their talons or otherwise pestering two Mountain Glenn Hunters, one much more obviously injured than the other, who had been the one 'loudly' cursing at the moment. Cursing at who? Why, one of the seven grunts, desperately swinging bats around at the monsters around them, both in the air and on the ground.

For, indeed, it wasn't just the Murders of Nevermore in the sky that they had to contend with. On the ground there were three Adult Beowolves, fangs dripping with that red ichor that came from inside the beasts and claws rending out towards their prey. Two more Beowolves, clearly just out of the Larval state, were running about too, nipping at the heels of the various fighters. Thankfully, it seemed as though none of these Beowolves were Alphas. In addition to all of this was a sight that, momentarily, had Izuku and Weiss stop breathing as memories of their forest exercise resurfaced.

An Ursa was meandering around as well. Thankfully, much like the two Beowolves, it seemed to only be freshly out of its Larval State, in no way the huge threat constituted by the Adult Ursa Izuku encountered in the woods. Still, it was big and clearly stronger than a lot of the goons as it threw what weight it had around. The Hunters in question seemed to actually be purposefully riling up the goons with their taunts and cursing, as well as riling themselves up. It didn't take long for Izuku to imagine why: with the Goons and the Hunters forming a focused area of negative emotions, it was drawing the Grimm's attention away from a group of civilians hiding behind the raised machinery around Reservoir 17.

And that also kept the Grimm's attention away from them as well.

Izuku looked at the situation along with Weiss and, immediately, his mind went at a mile a minute. There was no other choice, after all; spend too much time thinking and lots of people could end up hurt... or worse! He had to step into the situation now to help, and he needed to do so quickly. With so many Nevermore flying about, his mind immediately flew to what, he thought, might be one of his more viable choices; he needed to clear the air.

"Weiss, listen." The Schnee Heiress looked over at him as he immediately switched his Gravity Dust Ammo out for Flame, hoping the explosions caused by the ammo would be of better help in this situation, between the Murders and The Grimm. "Switch out some of your Ice Dust for Flame, it'll be useful against the Grimm and especially the murders if my first idea doesn't end up getting results." Weiss raised an eyebrow as she noticed Izuku undo the safety on his left gauntlet.

"Izuku-"

"The Nevermore will tear them all apart if we let them stay in the air, Weiss. I need to do this." Weiss flinched a little as he spoke so certainly, though the Heiress nodded as she slowly plopped out one of Myrtenaster's ice canisters.

"Right, of course. Anything else?" Izuku thought for a moment as he looked back up.

"I need to be able to take advantage of this as quickly as possible Weiss. Do you think that you could..."

There was a feeling that forms underneath him, a minor light that shone underneath his feet as he looked down, seeing a Glyph form up on the ground beneath him. "Way ahead of you, Izuku." Weiss commented as, slowly, he watched the Glyph rose from its position on the ground, going over him inch by inch.

Izuku... he 'felt' it. Running through his veins and across his skin. It was almost hard to describe, so odd and foreign, and yet... it felt like it was touching a part of him. The Lightning Dust that made up Weiss' Glyph feeling like it was interacting with the Dust that made up 'him'. Making him faster. A lot faster...

In that moment, he almost 'felt' like he 'was' speed. His skin glowed with a hue reminiscent of a bolt of lightning as he clenched his fists together, his form practically vibrating slightly under the amount of energy that was coursing through it. Weiss sighed a bit as she wiped her brow. "Go ahead and get in there Izuku, I'll follow you in."

Izuku didn't need to be told twice, not with the power coursing through him. Going faster than he ever had under his own power, he broke off into sprint. The amount of distance he covered in the blink of an eye, while nowhere near as impressive as what Toshinori or Ruby could pull off, still left him breathless as he covered dozens of yards without much thought. His impressive speed seemed to have left most everyone and everything with little to no time to react to him as, when he brought up his left hand, he could tell that only one of the Murders of Nevermore had actually turned their gaze on him. Before they could so much as squawk out a word of warning, Izuku pressed his index finger against his thumb and he 'pushed'.

"GLENNSMASH!"

The words bolted out of him, as if his own voice had been sped up by Weiss' Glyph, as he flicked his finger in the air just above the heads of the goons and hunters. Immediately a torrent of air and power 'boomed' forth from his finger, Smashing into the air above everyone's heads and absolutely 'decimating' the horde of Nevermore above. The Murders caught in the blast slammed and cut into each other, talons piercing into other Nevermore and their bodies snapping against each other as the great torrent of force spun them round and round into each other, breaking and killing all of the Murders caught in the blast. Three other Nevermore, that hadn't joined in any group, were blown away as well. Izuku vaguely caught out that one of them managed to right itself in the air before being blown all the way back, but the others simply dropped limp on the ground a far distance away. They were not dead, but that didn't matter.

Because he'd already turned to the one remaining Murder, finger pulled back, as he pulled up the power of One For All into another Smash before he'd even registered the pain of the first.

"GLENNSMASH!"

A tornado of feathers, talons and beaks immediately erupted in the spot where the Nevermore had been, the force of the Smash impacting on them, twisting them into each other and then decimating them. Only moments after his taking the field, the air was clear of all but a single Nevermore still flapping its wings in the air.

...

"HOLY SHIT!" The cursing Hunter, now more easily identified as a relatively young woman now that there weren't so many Nevermore making so much noise, exclaimed in a mix of shock and awe as feathers from the Nevermore drifted down onto the ground before dissolving. The Goons seemed utterly shocked as well... and there was a moment where the remaining Grimm just 'looked' at Izuku.

As their eyes started to glow an even deeper read, their fur raised and they uttered a low, guttural noise from their throats, it was clear that he was very much succeeded in prying their attention away from the Goons and the Hunters.

Izuku couldn't even take a moment to feel proud of his accomplishment as his mind, going at a mile a minute, immediately turned onto the rest of the battle. Izuku watched as the Hunters, while momentarily distracted by his show of force, immediately turned on one of the Adult Beowolves and just laid into it, one of them bringing their mace around twice and slamming it into its back while the other, glaive in hands, missed one swing while immediately sinking a second into its side. The Beowolf howled in pain as it turned its attention back on the pair, its teeth bared as it roared at them. Izuku took that as his cue to 'get in there', using the considerable speed boost from Weiss to run up to one of the Beowolves, who seemed considerably surprised by his sudden movement, as his mind moved into his next plan.

He moved fast and could do so again, which kept his momentum from throwing him out of a punch. With that in mind, he looked up at the Beowolf and he prepared a swing of his left arm, the Beowolf moving to protect itself from the sudden move. All the while he charged 5% of One For All into his right hand; a ploy to attempt to get it to move its guard to the 'wrong' location so that he could 'drill' his fist into its head.

And the Beowolf seemed all too happy to oblige Izuku.

"BEACONSMASH!"

Izuku's voice, sped up still, echoed out as, rather than throw his left fist, he drilled his right one into the Beowolf's head. It was easy to tell that the explosion of fire that came from his ammunition did 'nothing' to the Adult Beowolf in front of him, not even scorching it... but it was 'very' easy to tell that his Smash more than compensated. All of the teeth on the left side of the Beowolf's mouth 'shattered' in an instant and the bone plating on the top of its head threatened to break away completely as his Fist, Smash and the Shockwave from his attack drilled right into the skull. The Grimm stumbled for a moment as his punch finished its arc back with him and, after a moment's hesitation, the Grimm utterly collapsed onto the ground... it wasn't dead and, Izuku could tell, it wasn't even 'really' unconscious as its eyes were still drifting about lazily and without direction. Izuku just stunned the beast, but for him, that was good enough for now.

Especially with the lone Nevermore flying up to Izuku and trying to get in his face. He did his best to bat the giant bird away with his arm and succeeded in doing so, keeping it off of him before its talons could rend his flesh. That, however, wasn't the only creature intent on having a piece of him; the last Adult Beowolf and the Larval Grimm immediately ran up to him, with the young ones trying to surround him, and all attack in near unison. Thankfully, their aim was either completely off or Izuku 'just barely' managed to get away from them without taking any damage.

"... FUCK THIS SHIT, WE'RE OUT OF HERE!"

He was snapped out of his combat trance for a moment as his eyes looked over at the various goons in shock; apparently, the goons had taken the opportunity afforded by his entrance in the fight and the thinning out of the Grimm as an excuse to get out of there. Immediately the other two Hunters turn to watch them leave, the young woman visibly 'fuming' at this.

"OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE, YOU ALL ARE 'GOING' TO GET BACK HERE WHETHER IT'S UNDER YOUR OWN POWER OR NOT!" With that, the both of them moved on to finish off the Adult Beowolf in front of them, the creature having failed to inflict further harm on the injured and somewhat exhausted Huntsman from before. Izuku, likewise, immediately turned his attention on the adult in front of him and, with a deep breath, drew both fists in. The Beowolf had overextended itself on its previous attack, there was no way it was going to be able to avoid his assault.

"BEACONSMASH!" 5% of One For All gathered into both of his fists, he roared out in a very quick manner of speaking and drove both fists forward...

And with a *pop* the Beowolf's head flew off its shoulders and soared several yards away, leaving him gaping somewhat at the sight.

From there the fight just devolved; the Nevermore tried to strike out at him again but, again, he was able to just barely avoid it even as he expended some of his power to do so and the Larval Grimm just kind of do their best to be a nuisance... and were promptly punished for it. The Nevermore was swiftly attacked by the two Hunters who pretty much proceed to smash the thing into the ground until it was 'very' dead, the Ursa got the head popping treatment, the downward stroke of a punch just 'caving' one of the Larval Beowolves' heads into its torso and Weiss just came up from behind, thrusts Myrtenaster forward and impaled the last Grimm's head on it.

"Well, good to see you put my Glyph to good use." Weiss says, a satisfied smile on her face as she withdrew Myrtenaster with a bit of flair... only to notice that the Beowolf's head was still stuck on it. "AGH!" Weiss wildly swung Myrtenaster around a bit until, between the force of the swings and the dissolving of the Grimm, the head flew off.

"NOW, ALL SEVEN OF YOU ARE GOING TO GET BACK HERE OR SO FUCKING HELP ME I'LL FINISH THE JOB THOSE GODS DAMNED BIRDS STARTED!" Before Izuku could even speak up, the young, cursing Huntress immediately readied her Glaive and 'bolted' for the fleeing Goons, wildly swinging it about as she sliced them across the back, causing some to collapse onto the ground while she chased the others.

"... While my associate there runs off... allow me to thank you for your aid." Both Izuku and Weiss were immediately snapped out of their reveries as they turned to the Hunter with them; getting a closer look at him, he was an older man, with a bit of salt having settled into his beard and hair as he holds firmly onto his mace. "Were it not for that rather... impressive display, we would've certainly faced far more trouble." The man nodded his head slightly. "If there's anything I might be able to do as thanks, just ask... perhaps while we deal with some of these Grimm that aren't quite dead." He said as he slammed the head of his mace into the head of the stunned Adult Beowolf, killing it.

"Well... one thing that might be able to help us is if you could answer a question, sir." The older Huntsman nodded as he removed his mace from the Beowolf's dissolving skull, as the lot of them moved on to the handful of Nevermore that had merely been knocked unconscious by the blow.

"Shoot." The man said simply, which gave Izuku the go ahead.

"Well... do you have any idea where these Grimm came from and how they got in here? Did they come in one large burst or have they been funneling themselves in here?" He asked, tilting his head to the side. If he could get a good idea as to how many Grimm might be about and if this was just one wave of them, maybe he could think of some solid advice for these people, considering what he'd just gone through. The Hunter nodded slowly as he seemed to take a moment to think.

"Well... if I had to bet my last Lien, I'd probably say that these are a group that happened to come together in and then leave the Pit."

"The Pit?" Weiss asked, curious, as the man looked back over at the two students.

"Sorry, slang term for those of us old enough to have been around the block a few times here. You see, The Tunnels were originally designed as a combination training ground and trap: if any Grimm broke in through the rail system or if some of them just tried to dig under Mountain Glenn through this pass here, like those Creeps, then this place was meant to draw them. The Grimm tend to be attracted to two things: each other and human misery. So the idea was that we'd dig out a series of tunnels, stuff some of them with cages full of Grimm, and use that as a magnet to draw an invading force in. Once they got into a sensitive position 'bam', we'd collapse The Tunnels and then the Grimm would be dead."

"Now a days though with them adding these here utilities chambers, the design changed a bit; according to what I've heard, you could get around the outer-edges of The Tunnels, connected to the Underground Training Facility, and never encounter a chamber that had a Grimm Holding Facility connected to it. The Pit, then, are a series of chambers that sit almost dead center of this little outer circle of The Tunnels that made up the original holding cells." The man stroked his chin a bit. "Yeah, these Grimm here came in through one burst... but I doubt that means what you think it means. There's 'a lot' of Grimm in The Pit... Hell, I know for a fact that Chamber 12 down there is one of the ones with a Grimm Holding Cell connected to it; we pass through it every day, twice, on our commute." The man pointed out one chamber in particular, to which Izuku couldn't help but smile.

"Is there any more you can tell us about the layout?" The man scratched his head a bit.

"Well... only so much as I know. Even being here as long as I have, I've only got hearsay myself. The higher ups have been very insistent that only people that need to know have a full picture of what The Tunnels look like. Everyone just knows their escape routes... still, I can give ya that at least."

"Well thank you anyway, we appreciate it."

"Not a problem young man, now, if you would be so kind-"

"And keep an eye out while we tie these chuckle fucks up and make sure they don't try to pull this same bullshit again, that'd be 'great'." All three of them turn to watch as the glaive-wielding Huntress walked back toward them all; a couple goons were being bodily dragged in one of her hands while she kept her glaive at the ready in the other, the rest of the Goons, bleeding from various spots, just stumbling along as they seemed to have been thoroughly broken in by the woman. Izuku and Weiss just nodded as the two Hunters got down to business.

Again, the pair seemed quite adept at their craft, easily running the rope around all of them and hog-tying them to make sure they all stay in place. As this went on, Izuku stepped forward, a worried look on your face.

"By the way, sir, if you're injured... well, if you don't have supplies, my teammate and I here have some and we're both relatively trained in first aid. If you need-"

"Don't worry about it youngster. We've got some emergency kits around here somewhere; good to have when you're working around machinery, you know." The man chuckled as he finished a knot. "And I'm pretty good at patching myself up after all these years. Prefer it too; not that I doubt your education boyo, but I just prefer to look after myself if I can."

"He's a stubborn old bastard like that, so don't take it too personally." Izuku and Weiss nod again as Weiss looked over the goons.

"Listen, we were in Chamber 16 earlier and we saw that guys like these were trying to set a bomb up on a generator. Were these guys up to anything similar?" Weiss asked, crossing her arms, as they all heard a short 'gasp' from the side. Izuku and Weiss turned their heads to see one of the civilians run up to them, gasping for breath slightly before giving they both a polite nod.

"Ah, yes they were Hunters." Both he and Weiss blushed slightly at being referred to as such, the obvious deference offered to them by the civilian engineer clear in his tone of voice. "Excuse me, I'm Engineer First Class Clarke, I'm supposed to oversee the operations here in Chamber 17. While they didn't bring a 'bomb', per say, they seemed intent on smashing up a lot of the equipment to make sure it'd stop working... I believe their intention was to break the machine so that it wouldn't purify the water going into Mountain Glenn... or worse, so that they could easily poison it with something..."

That snapped all four of them to attention as they immediately set about searching through the goons and their pockets. While most of them had the standard stuff, no new weapons but Lien cards forwarded to them, Izuku did find something slightly unsettling on a handful of the Faunus: poison, and a lot of it.

"I suppose this time The Grimm acted as an almost saving grace." Clarke spoke up as he wiped his brow. "While they did do some damage to the filters bringing water in from the outside, they didn't quite do enough that this sort of material would've gotten in easily. The Grimm stopped them from accomplishing their work."

"What a time to be alive..." The older Huntsman said with a grimace as he stood up, kicking said goon in the gut. Aside from that reveal, there was no new information to have been gotten from the goons other than what he surmised.

"Hey listen, we got here form Chamber 16 and managed to help them secure their own problem before moving on this way. It's probably safer there for you all; there'll be two more Hunters there waiting and if you all continue to gather up, you'll have at least some safety in numbers. I've also sent off an emergency signal earlier before all this fully went down, so all we need to do is just wait it out." Izuku quickly filled the others in. The Hunters seemed to nod slightly, taking careful interest in the suggested plan, though Clarke shook his head.

"Though they managed to only slightly damage some of the filters, that could still present a problem for the machinery and for Mountain Glenn's water supply. As... bad as the situation is right now, it'd be a dereliction of our duty to just leave it." The younger Huntress and older Huntsman just nodded, the young woman resting her glaive on her shoulders.

"Well, the civvies are the bosses in this case, so it sounds like we'll be sticking around here for a bit." The young woman said as the older Hunter turned his gaze onto Izuku and Weiss.

"What about you two?" Izuku frown as he looked off to the other tunnel exits.

"Our friends are still probably scattered around. We really need to find them and then get back to the entrance." The older Huntsman nodded as he stroked at his beard slightly.

"As soon as Clarke and his men and women are done making some quick repairs, we'll probably fall back to Chamber 16. It isn't much, but getting ourselves further away from The Pit should keep us out of the worst of it should the Grimm take to roaming again." The man offered a quick bow of his head. "Good luck to the both of you, I hope you all find your companions. Gods' speed." The older Huntsmen returned to the goons, carrying some of them over to the civvies so they could keep a close eye on a number of them.

Plans made and everything secured in Chamber 17, Izuku and Weiss gave their well wishes to their senior Hunters and the civilians they're charged to look after and soon were on their way down the tunnel to Chamber 12. On their way down there Izuku swapped out his Fire Dust Ammo for Gravity Dust once again, all the while focusing on doing his best to heal himself up. It took a while into the tunnel but, soon enough, he felt the telltale warmth building up in one of his fingers and, within seconds and with a 'loud' snap, the bones in his finger all pop back into their place, his skin returned to a far more healthy color and the pain numbed in one of them.

"I still find that pretty unsettling. It can't feel pleasant either." Weiss commented as she crossed her arms, while Izuku just nodded in agreement as he flexed his hand a few times, wincing as he flexed his other, still broken finger.

"It isn't... but doing this gave us a pretty big advantage back there in taking out all those Nevermore. Without it, the fight would've gone on longer and everyone would've probably gotten badly injured. It was more than a fair trade off, I think." Weiss nodded slowly, though the young woman did sigh as she ran a hand through her hair.

"Just... don't make a habit out of it, okay? Pointless to ask I know, you're going to use it if you feel like you have to, but... well, it's not exactly fun for the rest of us to see you break yourself over and over again." She was quite serious about that and... yeah, she was right, if he needed to use his most powerful Smashes to save people, he would. However, it wouldn't hurt to promise that he wouldn't just use it without cause.

"I know Weiss." Izuku said with a firm nod as he clenched his fist again, Weiss just sighing as she accepted that answer while the two continued to move along. Eventually the tunnel they had been traveling through opened up into Chamber 12, both of them wincing as the much brighter lights hit them both at once. Once they blinked the spots out of their eyes, it was easy to notice a few things different about that chamber than the others. First and foremost, the chamber was 'relatively' more empty than the others, without big, huge machines operating in some corner of it or another like the generator or water purification device. Instead, a large chunk of the room was taken up by many, many, 'many' tables, with bird cages of varying sizes sat at one end of them. Knives, pins, shackles and restraining devices were on top of the tables and, scattered about them, errant notebooks and pens were on the floor, presumably with notes taken. A few odd substances were also on the table, though he couldn't exactly tell what they were from a distance.

Mostly because of the battle going on at the center. Throughout the chamber, dissolving corpses of various Grimm were scattered about, all in some state of destruction or decay as a fight went on. His eyes caught on to seven people in the room: five of them were Hunters he didn't recognize, the only 'personnel' he thought were in the room at the time. If other Hunters he'd come across looked 'beaten up', then three of them looked like they'd been knocked down for the count; heavy wounds on them, not even the shine of their Aura remotely covering them and it seemed like they were another few knocks away from being sent under. The two others weren't much better, though they still had the grit to stand up and take the fight to the various Grimm.

Of which, while they weren't as numerous, were still causing some havoc. Three Murders of Adult Nevermore cawed and shrieked as they flew through the sky, many of their brethren laying dead on the floor as they continued their assault... on one target in particular, obscured by the cloud of vulture-sized birds. A pack of six Beowolves, four Larval and two Young, were running about the arena, the Larval Beowolves having jumped up to distract the hunters from the front while the two young adults circled in from behind to cut deeply into their backs. There was a Larval Ursa running around too, doing what it could here and there and, with a heavy swing, managing to land a blow. It was clear that there had been 'a lot more' here at one point in time, but that their numbers had been whittled down.

However, that wasn't the last thing that seriously caught your eye. For the Grimm hadn't been huddled around the deeply injured Hunters trying to finish them off. Instead, the deeply injured Hunters... well, they almost seemed lacking in color. In addition, they had someone treating to their wounds with a First Aid Kit.

Someone with a very familiar pink stripe in his hair.

Ren.

Then there was the 'bang' of Fire Dust exploding amidst the Murders of Nevermore, the birds having ducked out of the way of the attempted blast as you heard shotguns being cocked from within the cloud. It hadn't taken long after the birds momentarily flew away from their target that he spotted a young women inside the crowd, an all-too familiar battle cry reaching his ears after that. However, distantly, he caught something else; the glow of the figure's Aura hadn't seemed particularly strong at that moment, and what's more, scratches had appeared on her skin. The last thing he caught before the Murders of Nevermores closed back in around the young woman was a mane of golden hair.

Yang.

Immediately Izuku and Weiss tensed up, realizing they'd come across the first of their friends.

As his mind tried its best to come up with a plan... something happened. A 'huge' banging and crashing sound echoes from down the tunnels, something that momentarily drew his attention.

'What was that?'

* * *

Hmmm...

First it was 23 Seconds.

Then it was 24 Seconds...

Yes.

Tomura Shigaraki had just about gotten a handle on Shota Aizawa's Semblance, he thought. It was interesting; while a great deal of Semblances were born outside of physical limitations, based more on one's Aura, there were some that were built directly into physical aspects of the body. Shigaraki's, for example, depended on his hands; while he had little doubt that he could perhaps evolve his Semblance one day so that the limitation was no longer necessary, for now, he absolutely needed to get his hands on someone in order to activate his own Semblance. It seemed that Aizawa had a similar problem; however powerful his Semblance was that it allowed him to nullify the Semblances of people he looked at... he still needed to look at them.

Shigaraki had been watching him fight and, slowly but surely, formed a picture in his mind of an opening... the tell was his hair. Whenever he used that Semblance of his, the force of his Aura pushed his hair up out of his face. Whenever it was down, the man was probably blinking to give his eyes a rest. That's additionally why he wore those goggles; to obscure that fact.

Tomura couldn't help but grin wickedly from underneath the hand that covered his face, tensing his body. Now that he had that information, now that he knew for certain, he could get up there and 'ruin' that man. From there, it'd be all too easy to accomplish the rest of his goals; if Toshinori Yagi didn't see fit to come to the place and die... then he could go right ahead and kill the city that loved him so dearly, right from underneath it.

The despair of the people locked inside these Tunnels... it wouldn't be contained to them for long.

As Shigaraki prepared for a charge however, something happened, something no one had expected.

First, a loud crashing sound 'roared' from behind the gates up towards the Entrance. For a moment, all the fighting stopped as everyone turned their gaze to the Entrance. Silence reigned for but a few seconds.

And then the metal doors that had locked the training facility away from the Surface had been blown right off their hinges, the huge chunks of metal soaring through the air before crashing into the ground. Shigaraki watched as Kurogiri disappeared from his spot by the entrance and, soon, reformed right beside him, having retreated... it didn't take long to see why.

Everyone, the students, the Monochrome League, Aizawa and Ju, all watched as, through the smoke, a figure slowly strode through.

"Have no fear, students..." Through the smoke and the dust, a giant of a man stepped through, dressed in a dress-shirt, pants and a tie. An all too familiar set of antennae-like blond hair crowned his head, as the legendary figure finally stepped fully into the light. The Symbol of Peace and Hope, The All Mighty Huntsman.

Toshinori Yagi.

" **I AM HERE!** "

Aizawa sighed as his hair dropped back down into his face, the professor reaching into his pocket to produce a vial of medicine. "About time..." As the goons and criminals, for the moment, took their focus off of Aizawa and to Toshinori, attempting to figure whether they should run or fight him, Aizawa dropped his goggles and revealed a pair of bloodshot, red eyes. He heard the brief 'flicker' of sound as Toshinori disappeared from sight behind him and, as he dropped his medicine into his eyes, Toshinori reappeared at his side... and several dozen criminals and crooks were soon left unconscious on the ground around them. "Took you long enough Toshinori. Need to give an interview on the way or something?" Aizawa remarked dryly, though the relief had been evident enough in his voice.

"I came as soon as I got the signal, apologies that I was so far away." Toshinori remarked as he cracked his knuckles.

"The rest of the cavalry?" The Eraser Huntsman blinked as he finished applying the medicine, Toshinori just staring on ahead at the remaining villains.

"An emergency signal being sent off in the middle of Mountain Glenn, in the Training Facility no less, has a lot of reinforcements tied down with the city's usual operations. As soon as Glynda and the others finish making sure the rest of the students are ready to evacuate if things do get that bad, they'll be here." Aizawa watched as Toshinori's eyes scanned about. "Midoriya was the one who sent the signal... where is he and the rest of the students?" Shota sighed as he brought his goggles back over his eyes, pointing out Kurogiri with a somewhat lazy gesture.

"I do believe that's the man you'll want to speak with... he sent them off somewhere. Who knows really." A great deal of tension suddenly entered Toshinori's posture and, if the lack of a smile on Toshinori's face had been disquieting before, then the new flow of anger that appeared as he reached a hand up for his tie had been almost frightening.

"Is that so?" With that, Toshinori easily tore his tie off from around his neck, the garment shredding into dozens of pieces. "Then let's have words."


	55. Tunnels III

"Weiss, repeat the old plan!" Weiss immediately looked over to Izuku, a slight grimace on her face as she immediately started working her Semblance, a Glyph appearing under him crackling with electricity.

"Izuku, your-"

"I know, I promise, I'll only use one finger this time!" Izuku called out, feeling the familiar energy wash over him as the Glyph rose over his person, charging his entire body with energy.

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT BY SHOWING RESTRAINT, YOU DOLT!" Still, if Weiss was 'actually' angry at him, it seemed buried underneath the fact that they had two of their friends right in front of them, one in the middle of being attacked by a cloud of Nevermore and the other doing what he could to help some very badly injured Hunters recover. The situation, as it were, was a little too hot for semantics over his fingers to come into play. As he felt the energy of the Glyph finally fully enter his body, the familiar charge of speed flowing through each of his veins, Izuku broke off into a sprint. The fight was taking place a little closer to the entrance of The Tunnels that time, allowing him to cover the distance in a much shorter period of time.

As he arrived, there seemed to be one Murder in specific that saw his approach and gave a mighty caw from its ranks even as Izuku raised up his left hand again. As he did so, and as the Murder peeled away to avoid whatever attack it seemed to imagine was incoming, the cloud of vulture-sized Grimm broke away just enough for Yang to actually be able to see him.

"Slugger, when did you-"

"YANGJUSTDUCKNOW!" It seemed she hadn't entirely got what he said in his sped up state, but a look at his finger and its glow, Yang grasped the picture quickly and ducked down. "GLENNSMASH!" With a violent explosion that broke a finger, a huge shock wave was unleashed just above Yang's head, her blonde hair billowing slightly from the very edge of it as the two Murders of Nevermore that were caught dead center practically disintegrated. Izuku barely even stopped to register the pain as he immediately turned on his feet and faced the last remaining murder, tightening his fist as he pulled 5% of One For All into his right hand.

"BEACONSMASH!"

With a bolt forward he drove a fist into the body of one of the Nevermore, before all at once the force of his Smash, his Fist and Emerald Gust carried through. A smaller shock wave banged through the ranks of the creatures and, though they weren't dead or even unconscious, it was clear he'd hurt them badly. Enough to enrage them, even.

"Man, you're a sight for sore eyes there Slugger... and sore everything, really." Yang said with a bit of a laugh as he just nodded.

"Yang,focusongettingthetwohurtguysoutofthecircleofGrimm,ifwedon'ttheycouldhurtthemevenworse!" Her eyes just blinked as, again, his sped up speech proved a slight impediment to getting his message through. However, as he threw a powerful punch into the Murder of Nevermore and, actually destroyed it, Yang seemed to get the picture as both Izuku and Weiss immediately bolted off for the Larval Ursa. In a bit of a comedy of errors, Izuku swung and wildly missed it, his attempt to call 5% of One For All to helped him adjust the momentum of his swing having been for naught, while the baby bear Grimm actually managed to avoid Weiss' rapier by 'jumping' to the side.

It was only when Yang, slightly slower than Izuku knew she could move, ran up to the Ursa and, fist reared back for only a moment, blasted the Ursa's head with such force that it 'popped' off, that he was reminded that yeah, Yang was pretty friggin' great in the 1v1. From there, the Hunters took advantage of their position opening up and, turning and stepping away from the crowd of Grimm that formerly surrounded them, quickly slaughtered the two younger Beowolves that had come around for them at the back. From there, it was actually a pretty simple affair of cleaning up the Beowolves. It was clear that most of the fighting was done by the time Izuku and Weiss showed up, if the numerous dissolving corpses that surrounded Yang were any indication, but he was still glad that his presence could help end the fight even quicker.

"Alright... everyone good?" Yang asked, seemingly out of the blue, as slowly the Glyph that had supercharged him faded out, leaving Izuku just in his normal state. He nodded slowly at that, and Weiss did as well, while the two Hunters held onto their wounds and give a slight nod. Injured but not put too badly into place, it seemed like they were still quite capable of being up and moving around. Which just lead Yang's lilac eyes to roam over toward Ren and the three Hunters he had under his care. "Ren?" Yang called out, her skin going a bit flush as she looked over at the young man.

"... They're still badly injured, especially this one here, but between the two of us, none of the Grimm came over here and I was able to apply first aid. These two should be able to walk without too much pain now and the last one... well, we should be able to wake him back up. You've done it again, Yang." Ren offered with a nod, which just caused Yang to give a wide smile.

"Great... then if you all don't mind..." Izuku flinched as, without warning, Yang suddenly fell backwards, collapsing onto her back as she took some deep breaths. "I think... I'm just gonna lay down for a second... hoo boy..."

"Man, it looks like whatever you two got up to it really took a lot out of you guys." Izuku said somewhat worryingly as he brought his bag down and looked through his supplies, Ren just having shook his head.

"As much as I've put my Semblance through its paces to help ease concerns, Yang's been the one doing the heavy lifting... and yes, it has been a bit rough." Ren said with a sigh as he scratched at the back of his head, Yang just having given a slightly tired laugh as she gave a big old thumbs up.

"Kicked plenty of ass though, tell you what. Between seems like the Goons that let them loose really didn't know what they were getting their hands full of, so our 'friends' that we came across ended up being pretty badly beaten by the time we came through." Yang said, looking over at Izuku and puzzling over him as he messed with his bag.

"You'll find that much the same's true here... although to a lesser degree." One of the older Hunters said firmly as he tightened up a bandage on his body. "The people who let loose the Nevermore from their cave ran as fast as they could when they did... we barely got out of our ropes in time to start resisting, but they were long gone by then. Caused whole schools of Nevermore to follow them out into the various Tunnels." The man went quiet after that, as did everyone else, the likely fate of these men going distinctly unspoken.

"Well, we'd appreciate any information on where they might've gone or where we can go from here... also, a point of curiosity." The man blinked slightly as he spoke, turning his attention away from his bag as he looked up at him. "I've been wondering about this; how do you all keep in contact down here anyway, especially for emergency situations? Is there a PA system or something to do with the Communication Hubs or... what?" The Hunter tilted head at this, obviously confused.

"Where have you come from so far young man?" He blinked as he informed him; Chambers 16 and 17. "Ah, that explains it, the Hunters in those Chambers wouldn't know the protocol for stuff like this; if emergencies transpire from 'their' neck of the woods they're expected to evacuate and make a call in so the guys up top can send down the heavy machinery for fixes." The Hunter winced slightly as he pointed off in some direction. "In short young man, you're actually surprisingly spot on: there's a P.A. System that goes throughout The Tunnels connected to The Communication Hub. Should something happen where any of us Pit Hunters lose control of the Grimm down here, we're supposed to send one of our number off to the nearest Hub in order to sound a Tunnel-wide alarm. For us here that'd be good old Chamber 14." The man turned his attention back to Izuku. "Now, that's just a way to do it if we keep the Grimm in their areas after they break out... if they've obviously gotten out into the Chamber proper, then the folks over at the Hub will notice... they've got cameras locked onto it."

"... Then shouldn't an alarm have gone off by now?" Weiss asked, crossing her arms, while Ren just frowned in thought.

"I think we can take the state of the rest of the Tunnels to assume that the Communication Hub might not be in Mountain Glenn's control right now." The older Hunter nodded as he crossed his arms.

"That's about how I'd figure it." Izuku returned the nod at that as he turned back to his bag and produced a couple items: a Lightning in a Bottle and some Fire Dust Salve.

"Hey, Ren, you need an extra bandage? I got some over here?"

Ren shook his head as he applied the last of his bandages to the man beneath him, lightly slapping his cheek in order to stir him. "That shouldn't be necessary... I do believe that this should do it. He'll be able to walk under his own power... admittedly with some difficulty." With that he gave a slight nod as, instead, he turned his attention back to Yang, still fixing him with that puzzled look. A look that turned surprised when he extended out his hands.

"Yang, here, take these. You're looking pretty banged up so you could use them a lot more than Weiss and I can right now." Yang blinked slightly at the offer, though a grin soon formed on her face as she nodded.

"Appreciate it Slugger. We were running pretty dry ourselves after the last couple Chambers we've been through." Yang appreciatively took the supplies offered and, after quickly downing the Lightning in a Bottle, began to apply the Fire Salve to some of the wounded areas of her body, an audible 'hissing' sound being made as he watched the wounds slowly burn away at the edges.

"Speaking of, maybe we should all figure out where we've been, get a good idea of where things are." Ren nodded in agreement with that as the young man started to spin his own tale, along with the older Hunter.

As all the information was shared, he was sitting there, nodding his head, as he took it all in. Eventually he started to come around to some kind of decision when, finally, he looked over to Yang who has just finished applying the Fire Dust Salve. The Lightning in a Bottle hadn't had quite the time to kick in yet but, already, Yang looked better without those wounds.

"Listen... Yang. I know you can take a few more hits and that you've got a wicked punch, trust me, I still remember that quite clearly." Yang blinked as Izuku started off with that, seeming slightly confused as he spoke. "But with the condition you're in, you don't look like you can take 'too' many, while Weiss and I are fresh as daisies. We really don't have the time and the resources to get you back into such a fresh state yourself..." Yang furrowed her brow as he spoke, turning to face him.

"Now hold on Slugger, you aren't about to have me run off and-"

"Which is why, if you do come with us... I'd appreciate it if you let me take the brunt of it." That seemed to take Yang by some surprise as Izuku looked at her seriously. "I'd want you to take out targets of opportunity, you've still got a wicked punch... but if you did come with us, I wouldn't want you right in the fray, especially not when I've still got plenty of kick left in me." He looked over his shoulder at Ren. "If you two don't want to come, if you'd rather split up again so you can rest or look around some more, that's fine, but... well, if you do come with us, then I'd want you guys to be safe." Yang seemed slightly caught off guard by his answer, as if she had been expecting something slightly different. Ren just shrugged his shoulders as he packed up himself.

"Well, you're the only one of us who is actually a Team Leader Izuku. While I can't speak for Yang... I think it'd be best if I went with you. I'm best in a group and I would like to find Nora myself." Izuku nodded at that and turned back to Yang, expecting to find her a bit resilient. Instead he saw an amused look on her face as she shrugged.

"'Pick off targets of opportunity huh'? Way to call 'Sucker Punch them' something that sounds a little cool at least Slugger." Yang offered an overly dramatic sigh as she just nodded. "But I guess if those are your terms, I'll have to agree. Ruby's still out there after all and... well, Ren and I have had a good run together, but I think a few more numbers might be best for us." Izuku gave a smile at that as they all gathered around... though Yang was still seated on the ground. The Hunters, either having not been so critically injured or having been patched up by that point, took their information about safe zones in Chambers 16 and 17 and immediately made off for them, leaving the four students to their own devices.

"So... Yang's not exactly had time for that stuff to kick in yet, and if we have her up and walking on her own with her Aura already so exhausted, it might not be 'given' time to do so." Weiss muttered to herself as she brought a hand up to her chin. Izuku nodded; it wouldn't take too much longer for Yang's Aura to kick in for recovery, but given her current state, pushing her to keep up with them all might negate that.

"We could go at a slower pace, let Yang move at a more comfortable rhythm until she was back in top shape... or, if we're not dead set against allowing some time to pass, we could rest here and let it happen." Weiss frowned as she crossed her arms.

"Given that so many of our friends and teammates are still out there, plus with who knows what else the Monochrome League is up to, I'm not sure if that's a good idea." Izuku hummed to himself as he considered the idea, turning down to look at the ground.

"What about you Yang, what do you think you'd be more comfortable with?" Izuku turned to face the blonde brawler... only to soon feel a mixture of confusion and dread as Yang just fixed him with a grin. Izuku felt like she was getting ready too-

Before he could even finish the thought, Yang, draped a hand across her forehead as she leaned back dramatically, swooning. "Oh my, what a predicament. I'm just so frail and in need of a rescue. If only there was a Strong, Heroic Huntsman who was just so brave who could carry my poor self during this arduous time. One with green hair and solid abs to boot..." A wide grin stretched across Yang's face as Izuku immediately turned a shade of red, the blonde having cracked a big smile and laughed while Weiss just sighed.

"You know, forget what I said, she seems fine enough to walk..." Yang waved Weiss off as she shook her head.

"Oh relax Ice Queen, I'm just kidding. The stakes are high, but worrying about it too much isn't going to do us any good." Yang shrugged as she placed her hands on the ground. "But Weiss is right; I can walk on my own... I'll just sit back in the next fight or whatever. I don't want to slow you guys down or anything."

Izuku bit his lip slightly, his cheeks remained flush as he looked down at Yang. The young woman was pushing up on her hands, forcing herself up onto her feet so she could stand up; it was clear that either they were going to have to slow down or Yang would have to exert herself in order to keep moving forward. As much as Izuku wanted Yang to have her rest, he didn't want it to come at the expense of moving around quickly and finding his friends... so, he decided to go with Yang's idea.

Everyone blinked in some surprise as he quickly turned around, back facing toward Yang, and got down onto a knee, extending his hands out behind him. "You're really out of it... there's no helping it if we want you up and ready for the next fight and want to keep going forward. So... hop on Yang." He said, trying to keep his voice from cracking too much as he felt his ears heat up. Back facing away from Yang he couldn't see her expression, though he could see an amused grin crossing Ren's face while Weiss just watched the scene with a raised eyebrow, her expression pretty well neutral.

"Hey now Slugger, I said it was alright... you don't have to do something like this, I can get over just fine on my own. I'll just-"

"You'll hate just sitting out of the next fight Yang and I wouldn't blame you. So rather than that and rather than us slowing down... let's go out and find our friends. I'm fine, I can carry you on my back for a while." While he couldn't see Yang, he did hear a slight, nervous swallow come from behind him. The sound of long locks of hair being ruffled, likely from Yang running a hand through them, also reached his ears before he felt a distinctly feminine hand on his back.

"A... Alright there Slugger, can't exactly argue with that logic." Izuku nodded as he kept his eyes forward, doing his best to fight down his blush. Izuku was fine, it was fine.

'Just let Yang onto your back,' he thought, as Yang stepped behind him, her legs positioned for him to scoop them up, 'I'll be able to carry her without this getting awkward, for sure,' was the thought going through his mind as, with a tap, Yang told him she was in position. 'There was no way I've screwed this up,' had been the words on his mind as he stood up, scooped Yang's thighs into his waiting arms and hefted her onto his back…

…

'I've made a huge mistake.'

It wasn't that Yang was too heavy for him; goodness no, the girl was just around his weight considering her height and similar training regimen. It wasn't that she was taller than him and that made it uncomfortable, far from it; she wasn't 'hugely' taller than him like Pyrrha and, with a some slight adjustments, he was able to easily position her on him back.

No. It was two things he hadn't immediately thought of when making his decision. Two things that now pressed into his shoulder blades and neck.

Two things that made his face turn a crimson red.

"Hey Slugger, if this isn't working out for you, I can get off and walk, it's-"

"N-No! I-I'm fine, everything's fine." Izuku's voice was cracking so much at this point that Ren's usually calm exterior gave way to a slight smile, one that he tried to hide behind his hand as he shook his head. Weiss, meanwhile, just rolled her eyes as he gave one last readjustment... which didn't help things. "It's really okay Yang. You're pretty easy to carry..." Not discussing the slightly more obvious issue, Izuku did feel Yang nod behind him as the young woman... jeez... she reached forward and lazily draped her arms across his shoulders as she gave a relaxed sigh.

"If you say so Slugger... gotta say, way more comfortable than being on my feet... even if you are more rock solid than I thought." Izuku gave a slight nod as he immediately turned towards the tunnel leading off to Chamber 7 and began to move on, Ren and Weiss soon following up on him. As he walked off, Yang hummed a bit as she leaned forward slightly. "Seriously though Izuku... thanks. I do appreciate this." The sincerity in her voice caused him to smile slightly and, for a moment, his blush even died down as his more embarrassing thoughts and emotions were replaced.

"Sure thing Yang... we're friends after all. This is the least I could do." Izuku could practically feel Yang's smile from behind him... and then he could promptly feel that smile turn predatory.

"Oh? Even if this is the least you can do Izuku, it still is an awful lot for you to be pulling off at once..."

'Huh? What does she mean by-'

"After all, from where I'm sitting, this seems like part of a juicy long con you've been pulling." Izuku arched an eyebrow as, suddenly, Yang dropped her chin on his shoulder. "I mean, giving me a ride, getting me a little something to drink and being such a gentleman... I know that I said it'd take more than one date to get me feeling butterflies in my stomach Slugger, but I didn't think you'd be so slick about it. Now you have me on your back, so defenseless, but still being such a proper young man... is this what you had in mind the entire time?" With the way Yang was practically whispering, and the feel of her breath on his ear, he couldn't help but immediately turn a brighter shade of red than he'd ever been before.

"Wait, Yang, that's not, I'm not, you're-" Yang gave a slight, throaty laugh as she pinched his cheek.

"You're a pretty dangerous guy there Slugger, but I guess I should've expected it. You are the guy who has all these plans after all... get me dinner after this and I might just be putty in your hands." Yang leaned forward slightly as she spoke, pronouncing certain issues with the position the two were in, and by that point his ears had to have been 'glowing' at this point.

"Oh would you stop. If you keep that up I honestly think he'll have a heart attack and die." Weiss said, sounding exasperated, as Yang just belted out a laugh as she patted Izuku on the top of the head in a reassuring manner.

"Come on Weiss, I'm just kidding. You gotta learn to live a little." Izuku sighed as he, immediately, started doing his best to think 'very' cold thoughts in an attempt to keep the situation from getting... worse. Unbeknownst to him, the tinge of red on his ears seemed to be reflected on Yang's cheeks.

* * *

Entering Chamber 7... it was safe to say that he'd come across probably the most distinct Chamber in the entirety of The Tunnels. Not necessarily for what had already been there, though that was certainly one aspect, but also for what had been 'added' on top of it all. The Chamber itself was rather plain as far as a Pit Chamber went. Some tables, some cages and a whole lot of restraints... however, the tools seem different. Less tools of scientific experimentation and more, what seems to be, items and objects meant to help transport something or to hold it in place. Something larger than even an Adult Beowolf Alpha.

Perhaps it had something to do with one of the tunnels leading off from Chamber 7 being closed behind great iron doors, the first he'd seen for such a Tunnel entrance/exit in his entire time down here. There were other Tunnel exits too, all of them kept normally open and available to travel through... but there was another oddity at that.

One wasn't part of The Tunnels, quite clearly...

It was hard to imagine how a giant series of ice spikes and pillars could have been included in the original Tunnel design. The huge chunk of ice that easily took up at least 1/4th of the entire Chamber blocked off another tunnel, one which it was plain to see amidst the ice were some Beowolves either frozen solid within or trying their hardest to break through the ice.

"I'm going to take a shot in the dark and say that Ice King came through here." Yang said from behind Izuku, the scene having taken his thoughts off of other matters as he just nodded in agreement, figuring that she was referring to Shoto. It was also clear that, while she was still somewhat out of it, she was no longer as extremely tired as she had been, and even Ren and Weiss seemed much more up to speed.

"I certainly wouldn't disagree... though if this is Shoto's work, it looks like he really let go... he couldn't have gotten far, then..." Ren remarked as he looked around.

"What makes you say that?" Weiss asked, curious, though Ren bit his lip slightly.

"I don't feel entirely at liberty to speak about how Shoto's Semblance works but... let's just leave it at the fact that, if he produced this much ice at once, there's no way he started out of this chamber immediately after... or if he did, that he was going at any kind of speed we might expect from him." they all just nodded in understanding as they continued to look around, looking for signs of Shoto or where he may have gone. Before he could get too deep into their investigation, however, they noticed a loud, rumbling noise coming from down the Tunnel that Izuku knew led to Chamber 5. As they all ducked down and waited to see what came through. What ended up coming through was a singular Murder of Adult Nevermore, followed up shortly after by... well, a pack of Beowolves.

And 'pack' certainly fit the bill considering what was up front. Three Beowolves, all taller than the other adults in the pack, that stood greater in height than them and all seemed to command the respect of some of the Beasts behind them.

Beowolf Alphas.

They watched as the whole crowd of Grimm came into the room from Chamber 5, all sniffing about and looking around, as if trying to spot out their prey. They hadn't spotted the students quite yet and, Izuku realize, that there didn't seem to be... 'anything' for them to spot. They didn't locate any civilians or Hunters. The room, it seems, was clear.

That left them with more options than before, Izuku realized.

As much as he might've wanted to deal with those Grimm here and now, that being his job as a Huntsman... he also had another job. A job to do as a Hunter, a Hero, a Team Leader and a friend.

"If that water track is leading off to where Shoto's headed, then we can't just leave him hanging. As much as leaving this Grimm behind might feel off, we know Shoto's somewhere close and could be in trouble. We need to catch up with him and we need to make sure he's secured." Everyone looked down at him and then to the Grimm, their thoughts running through their mind.

"Well, I'm in no position to speak on this as I obviously have a bit of a bias going in... but if that's your decision Izuku, I'll gladly follow it." Lie Ren said, a clearly grateful expression on his face, while Weiss nodded in agreement.

"It seems like Shoto's done what he could with the Hunters that would've been in this room at any rate, so it isn't like these Grimm are an 'immediate' threat. If he's run off somewhere, then... well, we should make sure he's alright." Yang nodded from on top of his back.

"Yeah, Ruby'd kill us if we left Shoto hanging, plus the guy could probably use some help. I know I had a rough time of going up against a bunch of these guys... especially if he's doing it on his own." Izuku could feel Yang smile from behind him as she pointed down the tunnel leading to Chamber 1. "Well then, it sounds like we're all behind this decision! Onward, Slugger!" Izuku nodded as he turned to Ren and it seemed the young man already knew what he was thinking before he'd even asked. Ren closed his eyes and, after a moment, the all felt... well, not emotionless but... muted. Even their colors seemed so, as a shade of grey overtook all of them. There was a certain peace to it as Izuku could feel his negative emotions, his embarrassment, his shame, his worry, just kind of... slip away.

It was with that that they ended up easily crossing the room without the Grimm even noticing them... and they 'also' decided to blame that for not remembering the fact that, feeling as embarrassed as he had, he had the opportunity to let Yang off his back so she could walk on her own.

It wasn't until Ren dropped the field someway down Tunnel 1 that the embarrassment rushed back. Izuku 'almost' didn't say anything, red faced as he was from his emotions just rushing back to him, but then Yang patted him on the shoulders a couple time to stop his movements. As he did so he could feel her shifting around and, though for a moment his mind went blank from other things shifting around because of this, he figured out her intentions in short order. Izuku kneeled down and Yang's feet hit the ground for the first time in a little while, the blonde young woman moving around to face him again with a wide smile.

"As much fun as I'm sure we were both having there, Slugger-" Izuku's voice cracked as he tried to let loose a myriad of assurances that 'no', he wasn't doing that for enjoyment, Yang dropped the predatory edge to her smile as she just patted him on the shoulder, "-but I'm pretty sure it'd for the best that I get off your back so you can actually get some of your wind back too. It's been fun watching your ears glow though Slugger, we'll have to do this again sometime." With that, Yang reached out and pinched his cheek slightly before turning around and moving forward, stretching out as she walked to work out some cricks from having been on his back for so long...

He didn't really understand why his face was even 'more' red now that she was off his back, but regardless, he quickly got to moving forward as well.

* * *

The trail of water goes a surprisingly long way into the tunnel before petering out, only a few droplets here and there remaining that haven't evaporated under the lights that made moving through these tunnels bearable. Passing through all these obstacles, they eventually found the much brighter, fluorescent lights of an open Chamber at the end of the Tunnel and, with a burst of speed, they all soon passed through it. Somewhat more invigorated following their sojourn, and with Izuku having fixed up one of his two broken fingers, They all enter Chamber 1 expectant of any kind of trouble...

And boy, was there some.

Chamber 1 was about as was described by other people; it was a transport hub. Trucks and cars of various shapes and sizes, some meant for the surface world and some meant for The Tunnels, were parked across varying places in the Chamber. Crates upon crates of Dust were lined up in various places, bags of concrete mix, bits of metal and steel in a variety of shapes or in just plain old sheets, boxes of supplies for varying purposes, lengths upon lengths of chains, belts and rope scattered about the room. It looked more like a warehouse than any of the other Chambers Izuku had come across thus far, that much is for certain.

What was equally for certain was that it's a certified 'warzone'.

Twenty men dressed casually, much like the rest of the grunts he'd come across so far, were fighting it out in the room... and nearly a dozen more were in various states of unconsciousness or being frozen solid. Most of the frozen ones had some pistols in hand, or in ice, leaving only a handful of others holding onto pistols that they're firing at small handful of Hunters, two of them, that were doing their best to fight off the small squad. It was clear that a good number of them weren't like previous goons they'd come across before; stronger than a good deal of their counterparts, though still not eclipsing the strength of a fully trained Mountain Glenn Hunter on their own... though, that didn't so much matter when there were only two fighting, while another two were grouped up with civilians, clearly unconscious.

However, what did matter was the fact that those injured Hunters and Civilians weren't being held hostage; no, they were behind a thick wall of ice. What's more, more and more ice was forming across the room, catching a goon here and there. The source of all the ice was one Shoto Todoroki... who himself seemed in a bit of a state.

It was hard to say whether he was tired or not; on the one hand, it was clear that his Aura wasn't up to full snuff, the full glow of it not surrounding him... but he didn't look to be in the exhausted state Yang had been. Rather, what made Shoto appear like he was winded was... well, the fact that he moved so slowly, his breath was coming out in misty gasps of frost and that large patches, and even whole chunks, of ice were hanging off his right side. A stoic, serious expression still remained on Shoto's face though, his movement, and his ice, may have been significantly slower than what Izuku had seen him pull off, but the young man was still proving to be a considerable headache for the goons, especially as Shoto seemed to have taken the strategy of setting himself up some minor fortifications, keeping him shielded from gunfire and allowing him to quickly shut off paths coming in toward him using his Semblance.

Still, how much longer two fully trained Hunters and one Shoto could hang on against twenty men wasn't a question Izuku wanted to wait around to see answered.

Yet still that didn't cover the entirety of the 'warzone' feeling he got from this room. No: that feeling came solidly from the fact that it sounded like two wrecking balls were smashing against each other. Izuku couldn't 'quite' perfectly pin down the sound... but it sounded like it was coming from the tunnel that he had come to learn lead back into the Underground Training Facility. Loud crashes and bangs could be heard echoing from down the hall... it made him wonder, and worry, for what exactly was happening in there.

But, for now, Izuku shook off that wonder and took to looking back at the scene before him. Now wasn't the time for distractions... now was the time for a plan.

Izuku's mind was whirring at a million miles a minute.

'Okay, I need to think of something and I need to think of something 'now'. There were nearly twice as many thugs in this room as there are us, and a good number of them look far more experienced and threatening than others we've seen. If I just run down in there and try to fight them, we all will get surrounded and then... well, that'd be bad. I need a good plan, but a quick one too... think...thi-'

As he thought, however, Izuku blinked in confusion as something threw a wrench into his careful thinking: namely, Weiss propelling herself off of her Glyphs to literally soar through the air over towards where Shoto was.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

Weiss stared down at Todoroki, one of the many reasons why she had been having such a bad day, and she knew she was about to do something stupid.

And she of all people knew when someone is about to do something stupid. After all, she was Nora's partner.

And a member of Izuku's team.

And she was an acquaintance of Yang.

And she knew Bakugou.

And even she knew, deep in her soul, that she was about to do something really fucking stupid.

'Shoto... dammit.'

She had been having one of the worst days of her life so far. Not THE worst, mind, but one of them. First, she had gotten in that death trap of a train, and been shot across a country at far too great a speed to be considered rational. That had meant that she was completely unable to try and get Shoto alone to talk about their...confrontation.

After that, she had been sucked up in a vortex with Izuku, and then been forced to fight a bunch of White Fang wannabes. Then she and her leader had been traveling room to room, all the while she had been forced to watch her leader, teammate and friend tear himself to pieces fighting whatever monsters they faced. She looked down for a moment at Izuku's hand, and felt a pang somewhere inside her about how much pain he must be in each time he uses a finger. She had actually gotten to see a few of his fingers, and she was terrified of the fact that he hadn't been able to recover fully.

Then there had been the next of her issues. She looked over at Yang, and felt the corners of her mouth dip even further. That mo... her classmate had been far too coy for her liking. Forcing Izuku to forego his own healing so she could rest up. Izuku had so far proven to have been far more valuable considering he could do more than punch wildly. That h... Yang had then spent quite a bit of the past few moments flirting with her teammate, who was clearly had far bigger things to worry about. Weiss winced on that word as she remembered Izuku's stammer.

'Stupid boys,' she made sure not to look downward, 'I'm just a late bloomer.'

But then, after all that, she ends up fifty feet away from the guy who she was supposed to talk to, to work out the stupid Aerokreet and Falcon shit. But, it looked like he was about to be skewered by a dozen or so thugs that just happen to think that whatever little worries they were dealing with are more important than Weiss actually getting a stupidly large amount of guilt and frustration off her chest. She could see one of the enemy slowly creeping up behind Shoto, a dagger in his hand, and a gleam in his eye.

'Sorry Izuku,' She materialized two glyphs on her feet, and pulled out Myrtenaster, 'But no time for strategy this time.'

An instant later, she was in the air, and diving across the room. She could hear Izuku gasp, taken out of his thinking, and she pushed herself further, hoping to maintain the surprise.

"WEISS, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"

'Dammit,' Weiss cursed as she could see all those below her suddenly look up in surprise, 'Only got one shot at this.'

A glyph emerged at the end of Myrtenaster, and in a second, a shot of ice emerged from it, directly at the sneaking thug. He had been so entranced in the thought of taking Shoto out, that he only just looked up after the glyph had activated, and only saw it for a second.

"What the f-"

And then he was delivered a body blow, one that sent him careening off several yards away until he landed in a wall. Weiss, caught herself on her feet, and aimed her blade at the remaining goons. She saw some still in complete shock from her actions, a few even backing away. But she also saw the few Faunus in the crowd reach a dawning comprehension, and their murderous eyes narrowed further. Those thugs moved forward, raising their weapons.

'Great. More Schnee haters.'

"Weiss?"

She recognized the voice, though she hadn't actually heard it address her since for a couple of weeks. Without turning back, she replied.

"We'll talk later, right now, we can finish these guys off."

"...Right."

* * *

 **E/N: Ending us off we have something that was written by Wind, don't know what it's titled, and I'm not going to check.**

 **-Shovern**

 **It is called** _ **Weiss takes Initiative**_ **. It was something I wrote spur of the moment when I read the part just when they arrived near Shoto. I thought it would help complement the arc that Weiss and Shoto had going.**

 **-Wind-Waker**


	56. Tunnels IV

"WEISS, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Izuku's voice cracked as he watched Weiss swing Myrtenaster around a few times, a new Glyph with a growing, 'large' chunk of ice at the center of it being formed. His eyes turned towards where it seemed like she was going to land and, sure enough, he spotted what Weiss had seen: one of the Goons had successfully snuck around Shoto's mini-fortifications in an attempt to stab him in the back. Unfortunately for that goon, the stabbing would be on the other foot: the ice shard 'blasted' out of Weiss Glyph and sunk itself into the guy's chest, a small spray of blood flying out as the guy was sent flying back bodily, crashing onto the ground. His Aura hadn't been pierced and, judging by his jerky movements, he wasn't dead... but it was also 'quite' clear that he wasn't intent on getting back up again to rejoin the fight.

'Okay, so Weiss was reacting to save Shoto's life, good, but now what?! Weiss is down there away from us and next to the action with Shoto, not here with me, and I needed her... in place... for whatever plan I…'

Immediately a bolt of inspiration struck as Izuku stood up from his hiding spot, fists clenched as he roared at the top of his lungs.

"WEISS, SHOTO, BREAK THEM UP WITH A PAIR OF WALLS, WE NEED THEM SEPARATED!"

If Weiss or Shoto seemed hesitant to follow his orders, or slow to see the logic in his plan, they sure as Hell didn't show it. Immediately the pair stood up, Weiss doing her best to move a good distance from Shoto while Shoto... well, he shuffled a bit, obviously slow on his feet. As the two got a good distance from each other, Izuku watched as Shoto crushed something in his grip while Weiss finished forming another Glyph. Before his eyes, 10 yard wide patches of Ice slid out across the ground away from Weiss and Shoto at an angle, the two intersecting in the middle of the goons before continuing on further and further. Eventually it stopped and, as it did, Izuku's eyes shot open in some surprise as pillars of ice, so close together they formed walls, sprouted up from these sheets of ice. Easily standing nearly twenty yards tall, if not slightly more so, their girth and their height made them a foreboding obstacle, impossible, quite likely, for anyone in the room to scale with ease.

The grunts were all broken up into groups of five, split off from each other in their own sections of the wall. Perfect.

"Yang, go back up Weiss, these guys are mostly Faunus and I'll 'bet' that they'll do their best to try to deal with her first. She'll need you... I have to imagine Shoto and the Hunters will be busy with their own trouble." Yang nodded firmly as Ember Celica unfolded from its form, Yang slamming her fists together slightly before she sprinted off. Meanwhile, Izuku locked eyes on some goons in front of him and Ren, the two just staring at the crowd as Izuku switched off Emerald Gust's safeties.

"Ren, shall we?"

"I'd be delighted, Izuku." With that, Izuku charged forward as the goons took notice of him.

As Izuku and Ren moved in or, more accurately perhaps, Izuku moved in while Ren stayed back and readied his weapons, pointing the pistols of StormFlower at the nearest guy to him. Izuku reared a fist back, gathering 5% of One For All into it, as he looked to land a blow... and ended up finding himself coming quite short. Rather, the guy actually avoided his hit. Ren, it seemed, had better luck as, with a quick shot, Izuku watched as one of the Grunts stumbled back a bit, their Aura glowing in rhythm with the hit of the bullet as it absorbed as much of the hit as it could. Having thrown himself into them, it seemed the Grunts were all too ready to accept him. A couple broke off to Izuku and tried to take him down, while another couple went toward Ren, one of them holding his own pistol that he took careful aim at Ren with.

Izuku had been overtaxing his ability to call on One For All. His failure to do so earlier signaled that much and he could 'feel' how exhausted his body was becoming as pulled on it more and more. Which was demonstrated in his attempts to block, dodge and just avoid taking any hits from the three villains in front of him, all of whom were aiming for him. There was a close call, a very close call, as Izuku pulled on One For All to help him duck out of the way, But a flicker in the power left him barely doing so as a blow sailed just past his chest. Ren, it seemed, had much better luck in pulling it off, the young man was quite graceful in his movements.

Finally, Izuku turned on the obvious 'leader' of the small pack, a particularly strong looking fella who was looking at him with a wide grin, obviously confident in his ability to tango with the young hunter. Izuku decided to teach him not to mess with a Hunter as he reared both fists back, intent on Smashing him with 5% of One For All. However, while he did manage to land a solid hit on him, Izuku's other swing suffered from Overuse of One For All and was way too far off to even be in the same neighborhood as the guy's torso, a slight wince on Izuku's face as he considered the failure.

"Alright small fry, face facts, you're even scrawnier than that kid over there. So how about you face up to reality, put the little knives down, and just go ahead and let us tie you up?" One of the goons facing off against Ren directly taunted him as the two faced off, Ren just spinning his weapons in hand as he looked on.

"I'll admit, I'm not amazing in a fight. I'm not my friend, Nora. However, this should concern you more than amuse you..." The man sneered for a moment... only to be met with Ren 'quickly' slipping inside of his guard and 'stabbing' both blades of StormFlower into the guy's sides, right where some 'very' sensitive parts of him would've been located. His Aura 'lit' up, as if massively overcharging itself in an attempt to protect those very vital areas, while Ren just looked at the shocked man in the eyes. "Because that means to stand a chance against thugs like you, I've had to learn to fight a bit dirty."

"You little son of a bitch!" The goon brought back his club and tried to bash Ren across the head with it, only for Ren to easily move out of the way. However, he overstepped and ended up being caught slightly by a pistol round to his side. Despite wince from Ren and the glow of his Aura, it was clear that the blow wasn't awful. Izuku, on the other hand, just continued dancing around his Opponents, doing his best to avoid or parry hits before coming back in on the big guy.

"Beacon... SMASH!" The Goon gasped for breath as he drove his One For All powered fist into his gut, the man now glaring at him as he tried to break him in, only to find that Izuku had moved 'just' out of his grasp. Admittedly, it took some Aura and another Strained pull on 5% of One For All to pull off... but he did it. Ren, on the other hand, seemed to continue to earn the ire of the man he was engaged in a knife fight, as he ducked around him to jab a knife into his back, the man's Aura lighting up bright again as he gasped.

"You psychotic little bastard! Get the off of me!"

"I do take exception to that. While I'll admit that I might not be completely well adjusted, I hardly think I'm psychotic. I think you're just being what my friend Nora might describe as a 'sore loser'." Ren answered back as he spun only one of the StormFlowers in his hand, the other positioned awkwardly, leaving him unable to use it immediately.

"FUCK YOU!" Another gunshot dodged, another swing of the man's weapon avoided by Ren. That continued for another couple seconds, Ren ducking and weaving and Izuku throwing powerful punches. It wasn't long before a sort of damn broke.

"Beacon SMASH!" Izuku delivered a powerful hit into the goon's chest and, finally, it seemed his Aura gave just ever so slightly. His body crumpled as the glow of his Aura diminished and, while the shockwave Izuku produced was by no means very powerful, it seemed the goon didn't have it in him to resist it as he was blown far away from the fight. Izuku imagined he wouldn't be rejoining his friends; it would take him ages just to get up off the floor. However, while the feat might've been demoralizing for the Goons beside Izuku, it paled in comparison to what he accomplished next.

"BEACON SMASH!" Izuku continued to draw his semblance into his worn body as he turned on the goon who hasn't been shot and who by all means had been fresh as a daisy. Izuku didn't know what quite possessed his fist in that moment, but what he did know was, after he landed a 'solid' blow on the guy, his opponent was sent 'flying'. Flying so far and so fast that, in a second, he 'crashed' against the ice wall put up by Shoto. The ice cracked just a bit behind him as the goon gasped and slid down... it was abundantly clear that he wouldn't try to get up again anytime soon. The fellow that Ren had shot at the opening of the fight, seeming like the weakest of the crew before Izuku, immediately threw up his hands and dropped to the ground, muttering something about how he was not paid enough to be shot 'and' have that done to him.

Soon enough ya grunt of exhaustion was heard as Ren drove his knife against another sensitive spot on the goon he's been dancing around with, the man dropping onto a knee as he took deep, gasping breaths, Ren having utterly exhausted his Aura. Before the gun wielding goon could blink, Ren moved right on top of him, a yell and one last errant bullet being all he fired off before Izuku followed up on Ren's example... only with slightly more.

"BEACON SMASH!" Once more a fist drove into a thugs side and he was sent flying off, skidding across the ground and coming to a grinding halt just short of the ice wall. The guy Ren'd been attempting to stab with StormFlower seemed to get the picture as he just dropped onto the ground, throwing his weapon off to the side as he placed his hands behind his head.

However, Izuku felt as though he was in no position or mood to celebrate... not when his friends could still be in danger. Doing the best he could to see through the ice, Izuku turned his gaze out on the situation... and Izuku shivered slightly at the sight. He'd wondered why none of the last five goons had ran his way...

It was because the whole lot of them, Faunus all, had went Weiss and Yang's way. Five fresh faced and eager Faunus criminals backed up a handful of their own, three of the stronger looking guys who, between them, looked either fresh and ready to go or were still standing and able to fight. Weiss had, somehow, covered the blade of Myrtenaster in flames, likely with her Dust... but, if Izuku had to guess, if Weiss was down to using Fire Dust, she was probably out of Ice Dust in Myrtenaster and had no time to reload. Yang was standing tall and proud but... well, even through the ice he could see her taking some deep breaths.

Izuku looked around, trying to see how Shoto and the Hunters were doing and, to their credit, the two Hunters moving to backup Weiss and Yang, and Shoto... he was doing his best. It seemed like he was being heavily weighed down and, even at a distance, it was not hard to guess why; so much of the right side of his body was covered in Ice. He was still far off from being able to effect the fight and, even if he could, he's breathing deeply, mist pouring out of his mouth as he does so. Even the Hunters, brave as they were being, looked like they were about on their last legs, having cleaned up their group quite well, with one of the Goons even frozen all the way up to his neck and the back of his head in ice.

All in all, even if Shoto did get there... they were outnumbered by some completely fresh Grunts.

And Izuku was all the way over here on the other side of the Ice Wall, unable to help them or back them up...

What was he supposed to do?

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

Shoto was admittedly shocked that out of all the people who he could've meet up with, Weiss Schnee was the first one to come to his aid. Especially after their little 'discussion.' Still when he heard Izuku's order he didn't hesitate to follow it, it wasn't the time to hesitate.

It was a good plan, Made sure the grunts wouldn't be able to surround them. It took some time but he and the Mt Glenn Hunters were able to deal with their opponents. As the two Hunters rushed to try and help the other groups, Shoto walked as fast as he could given the Ice weighing him down. Of course he could've just melted it... **but he wasn't going to be like his old man.**

Shoto gritted his teeth, while he didn't show it to his team, Weiss Schnee struck at his nerves with that remark regarding the old man's flames. He wasn't going to obey that old man's wishes, no he intends to use the power he got from his mother to be the number one huntsman.

' _Still,'_ Shoto wondered _'Why did she rush in so recklessly to help him of all people? I don't think she's the type to get over grudges quickly. While I don't think she's the type of person who would abandon someone she hated to die, why was she the one who rushed in suddenly and not Izuku.'_ It didn't make sense, based off what he's heard and seen, Izuku Midoriya wouldn't have hesitated to do a similar act. He couldn't get why Weiss Schnee someone who preferred to act logically, why was she the one who acted so irrationally. Considering her attitude and personality, she wouldn't let go of her previous anger with him for no reason at all. Especially if she felt that it was justified, so why did she jump to help him? While the situation looked bad, he definitely could've stalled long enough for them to come up with a plan, not that he's ungrateful for the help but...

Shoto shook his head, and scolded himself.

' _Focus.'_

IT wasn't the time for him to be reflecting. They were in live combat after all, and when they got out of the situation then he would ask why she was angry at him. Because he could tell that she was pissed originally and he's curious as to why she was pissed off to begin with, and then suddenly cooled it down.

He tried to get a better look at the situation, and despite being covered in ice, he suddenly felt much colder, when he saw what was going on. Shoto tried to go as fast as he could for once, cursing his decision not to use his flames as his speed was hampered by the ice on him.

' _Don't you dare die. I need to find out why you choose to act so irrationally and for to reveal why you grew angry at me all of a sudden. Though if you have no good reason for your anger and you choose to bring up_ _ **that**_ _matter out of spite...'_

Shoto shook his head, trying to get rid of the currently unnecessary thoughts and tried to reach the group in time, before it was too late.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

Izuku gave it his all as he sprinted across the Chamber, going around the long, tall walls of ice that Izuku had Weiss and Shoto set up as part of his original plan. While they had once been their salvation, splitting up the considerably group of goons in order to prevent them from swarming his friends and surrounding them, now they proved to be an obstacle to him on so many levels. As their angle forced Izuku to run away from his friends, their obscuring effect made it harder and harder to see the combat going on way across the room, to the point where Izuku could naught but barely see the red glow of the fire around Myrtenaster... and when that began to slowly fade, a small panic overtook Izuku. Pushing his body as hard as he could, all the way to its physical limitations, he put on a burst of speed as he rounded one corner and begin just booking it for the next, the fight coming closer and closer into his vision. He'd well since left Ren in the dust by that point as the young man ran to try and follow him.

"Guys!" Izuku yelled at the top of his lungs as he could finally take in direct sight of the fight. Shoto finally managed to shuffle his way to within a reasonable range, at least one where he could start taking pot shots with a pistol he'd kept to his side. Izuku imagined he was either nearly out of Dust himself or that, with the buildup of ice around him, further ice might not be particularly worth the risk. That sight was further compounded by what Izuku saw of the four direct combatants: Weiss looked absolutely haggard, the glow of her own Aura dim as scuff marks and tears had formed on her dress and skirt, her breaths deep as she kept Myrtenaster at the ready, it's flames on its last legs as the blade continued to glow. Her other hand... it was holding onto a spot on her ribs. Yang didn't look much better; though she hadn't taken another hit, it was clear she'd been forced to push herself past her own limits in order to try and avoid that.

And the two Hunters? Both were in a sorry state too... one of them bleeding from a large gash on his torso. Everyone was a lot worse for wear... but it hadn't been without successes of their own. At some point, it seemed one of the stronger goons swapped his gun with one of the weaker ones, so that the pair could hang back and take pot shots while the rest charged forward. That group had been somewhat diminished last Izuku checked... and now it was down to two relatively fresh faced gangsters, still looking to make their mark, with the two gunmen backing them up. Izuku pounded his feet into the ground as he was finally within distance to do something and he 'charged' forward into battle.

It was a desperate duck and grind as the fight entered its last, heated moments. Almost everyone was exhausted, almost everyone was to the point of breaking. One solid hit on anyone could potentially shatter Aura or make them bend a knee. The only one in the fight right now who wasn't in that state was Izuku, and to a lesser degree Shoto. So he took it upon himself to try and make himself as big a presence as possible by just getting right in there. The two Hunters clobber at the guys in front of them, their weapons crunching bone as they take deep, strained breaths to make their move. Weiss herself, despite her state, still handled Myrtenaster with grace as she swung it about the air, puncturing the fresher of the pair at least once before, finally, her flames went out. Yang, of everyone, was the one doing her best to make as many of her swings count and, by the Gods, the girl was constantly 'landing them', a hurricane of blows that just battered the guy in front of her as she gave out a battle cry. Bullets sung back and forth across the field of battle as Izuku managed to duck out of the way of a shot... Weiss just 'barely' managing it by drawing upon her already exhausted Aura.

Then it happened, the dominos began to fall. It started with the Hunters: as the more badly injured Hunter took his swing, one of the Goons finally crumpled, his Aura completely and utterly drained as he fell to the floor, stunned and shattered. Weiss followed up, doing what she could but now, without her flames, Myrtenaster just uselessly plinked off her opponent's Aura. Izuku... forwent 5% of One For All. The fight was nearly over and, while Izuku wouldn't relish giving the guy a chance to hurt his friends, too strong of a hit might just be too much in this case. Izuku slackened his attack and, with a powerful swing, drove his fist into him. Between the shotgun and his blow it was clear he was on his last legs... and with one last powerful punch from Yang, the guy's Aura shattered and he fell to the ground, unable or unwilling to get back up.

Izuku looked over to the two gunmen remaining... and the look in their eyes was all too familiar to him at that point. They were beyond wanting to fight, beyond wanting to potentially get as badly hurt as their fellows. The last straw seemed to be an errant gunshot from Shoto, who fired his pistol toward the pair with poor results, the bullet uselessly flying off away from them. Still, the gesture seemed to be enough to drive the pair off as they immediately broke out into sprints, desperate to get away from them all... especially as Ren finally arrived to join the fray.

Izuku was not exhausted... but he was winded. These had been long, drawn out fights and his use of One For All today had damn near pushed his ability to call upon it at will to its breaking point. Still... there were goons left... but there was also his friends to take care of. That became especially apparent as he watched, with a shocked expression, as blood slipped from between Weiss' fingers as she held onto her ribs, the young woman biting her lip slightly. However slightly, she'd actually been injured.

Finally, Izuku found it in him to speak up.

"Weiss, Yang, Shoto... are you all okay?" He asked them, turning the safeties for Emerald Gust on as all his friends turned to look at him. Weiss and Shoto both gave surprisingly similar, calm nods as they tried to maintain their composure, with Yang giving him a big old grin, it clear that the victory had lifted her mood despite her being so tired. Izuku sighed, already thinking of a plan before any of them opened their mouths to answer him. It was time to make plans for the room, about how they were going to proceed... and how the Hell they were going to catch those two guys.

Before he could go any further however, and before any of his friends could speak up... Izuku 'felt' something. It drowned out any of the noise around him as, slowly, Izuku's eyes glanced over to the tunnel leading back to the Underground Training Facility. Somewhere, deep down in his chest... he could feel it. A spark... no, not a spark, that would be too diminishing of that feeling. It felt like a flame. A roaring fire. An energy that... that sang to his very being. That spoke to Izuku's very soul. Before he even had an idea of what was happening, before he even could guess as to what was actually happening... there was a thought that ran through his mind. A thought that professed a single notion.

' _That Hunters always find a way to ignite hope in others…'_

That is when, finally, he heard it; echoing from so very far away.

"You may have heard these words before... but I'll teach you what they really mean!"

 **GO** **BEYOND**

 **P** **L** **U** **S** **U** **L** **T** **R** **A**

And that was when the world around him suddenly felt like it was falling apart.

Within seconds of that roar echoing through the Tunnels, 'everyone' in the room was immediately thrown off their feet by a wild shaking and rattling, feeling as if the very ground itself was being moved. Bits of rocks and debris falls from the ceiling above them from the force while the Ice Wall ominously creaked just behind Izuku. It didn't shatter and it didn't fall, too far from the source of the overwhelming power to be broken... but even it felt the overwhelming might that seemed to pervade the very ground. One could've very well been forgiven for believing that the very world was ending with the sheer force they were feeling transfer from the ground and into their feet...

Yet, as soon as it came, it also stopped. The Tunnels stopped shaking, the ground 'stopped' feeling like it was going to give out from under their feet. It all just stopped as suddenly as it came, leaving everyone in the room stunned by the sudden and inexplicable show of power.

...

"WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?!" Unsurprisingly, Yang had been the first one to speak up, the young woman apparently having been utterly blown away by the event.

"... We'll get there in a moment... for now, I'm more worried about all of you." Izuku gave a firm nod as he spoke. Izuku knew that was Toshinori at the other end of that tunnel and, he suspected, that he was likely behind whatever ended up causing those tremors. As much as his soul screamed at him to go check on his mentor, to go make sure he was okay, Izuku's mind held him back. He was a team leader, what's more, he was a team leader responsible for the lives of several of his friends and other injured Hunters. Moreover, there were twenty people all parked around him and, though most seemed unwilling to fight, there was still the threat of what they could do to injured Hunters or Civilians in the room as he worked to get everyone freed.

With that goal in mind, Ren pretty much immediately got to work patching everyone up, applying salve and bandages where he could to the worst injuries on everyone. Thankfully, being in Chamber 1 pretty much put within their reach numerous supplies that, while it wasn't necessarily ordered for them to have access to, the Hunters seemed perfectly willing to let them crack open in the name of making sure everyone present would at least be able to walk.

There was still the matter of the two Goons who got away though. As Izuku brainstormed and tried to think of a way to catch up to them... he heard something.

"OI, YOU CRAZY HUMAN BITCH, PUT US DOWN, WE'RE NOT SOME TOYS FOR YOU TO SWING AROUND AS PART OF YOUR DOMINATRIX BIT!"

Whoever the voice was shouting at, it certainly hadn't seemed to pay them any mind as Izuku eventually heard high-heeled footsteps begin echoing down the hall. Everyone in the room turned their gaze to the hall and, after a moment, Izuku could see the wide smiles of relief on Weiss and Yang's face, the relieved looks of victory on the Hunters and just the calm that overtook Shoto and Ren as Glynda Goodwitch strode out of the opening in the tunnel, the two Goons who had made an attempt to run hanging uselessly in the air above her, surrounded by the glow of her Semblance. It didn't take long at all before Glynda spotted her students and, as she did so, the professor readjusted her glasses so that a slight glares off the edge.

"Students. You're to report to the Surface immediately. A path has been cleared through the Underground Training Facility and the rest of The Tunnels shall be secured in short order. Medical staff is waiting outside to attend to your wounds." While Glynda Goodwitch had always been authoritative in the way she led class and instructed them all, that was a whole different level. Izuku could tell from his extended time with Glynda that it was probably a better reflection of her 'angry' than any other time. Though the anger, quite notably, wasn't directed at him. Far from it: it seemed the anger and frustration was aimed more at the villains both in her grasp and tied up on the floor, as she quickly secured the other two with her Semblance and then just tossed them right into the pile. Before long, more Hunters started to flood through the tunnels; some were armed with more conventional weapons meant to deal with Grimm and Humans alike, but others... well, others were armed with flamethrowers.

"Your cooperation and haste would be appreciated: Mountain Glenn wishes to do what's necessary in order to secure the Tunnels and make sure the Grimm are either back in their pins or exterminated as soon as possible. It'll be far easier for them to do so without having to worry about 'any' students or non-Hunter personnel." They all nodded in understanding as they all quickly gathered up and, some of them supporting the others who just couldn't fully walk under their own power, began making their way out of the Tunnels. It was a long process and one that eventually drew them all back into the Underground Training Facility... where they all just stumbled a bit.

It was wrecked. The concrete constructs that had acted as obstacles or make-shift terrain had been all but entirely destroyed, leveled right down into chunks of stone scattered about the room. Thousands of feet of the floor has been kicked up or destroyed and, were it not for the fact that Izuku saw Ken Ishiyama going to town doing some preliminary repairs with his power over concrete, you'd imagine that the damage would be far harder to fix. Still... there was something bugging him. The room was a lot brighter than he remembered it being... or, maybe that was the wrong way to think about it. It was like there's one solid part of the room that has way more light than what should've been produced by those large, stadium lights he'd seen.

It wasn't until Yang practically choked, her head tilted up to the ceiling, that Izuku followed her gaze to the source of all that light... 'very' large hole in the ceiling, from which a tunnel of pure, natural sunlight pours into the Underground Training Facility.

It didn't take long to imagine 'who' exactly did that.

"... Holy crap..." In a rare break of her formality, it actually ended up being Weiss Schnee who muttered that aloud. Izuku couldn't help but nod in agreement...

Izuku's mentor really was something else.

* * *

 **E/N: That Shoto POV is Shoto Wonders Why by Supa.**

 **-Shovern**


	57. Tunnels V

A lot of other people ended up having priority over Izuku, which left him relatively left alone for a bit.

So many people got hurt in the tunnels, some civilian and mostly Hunters, who had been either surprise attacked in the initial assault thanks to the mist guy's ability or whom had just been worn down over time by the exposure to Grimm. A lot of ambulances were either busy driving people in more critical condition out to any number of hospitals or treatment centers in Mountain Glenn or they were being used as makeshift hospital beds for cases that weren't 'quite' bad enough to take up space in an actual hospital beds. Izuku's group, most of whom weren't badly injured, were lightly split up in that regard, taking to various ambulances to be sat down on and taken care of.

Being uninjured, but exhausted, he was a pretty low priority for most of the staff involved. Which left him with a good amount of time to take in the sights around him and 'actually' find his friends.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

Izuku approached the ambulance with careful steps, not wanting to draw too much attention from anyone, least of all his classmates. With his mentor's somewhat distinct status at school, Toshinori Yagi the Symbol of Peace on the one hand and a stranger that no one would be able to quite place a reason for him being there, Izuku always needed to take tremendous care in not being spotted out with him too often, or to at least do so in a more casual setting. Visiting him while he's in an ambulance would likely qualify as 'not' one of those times but... well, he was in an ambulance and Izuku was worried. He knew a massive fight must've been going on, and Izuku knew his injuries. Izuku was worried about how Toshinori was holding up, whether he was okay. As he approached the ambulance, in which only Toshinori was sat, one of the medics stopped him on his approach, which drew Toshinori's attention.

"I'm sorry young man but Mr. Kagemusha here has gone through a rather harrowing day down there. He isn't taking any-"

"No, it's alright." Izuku heard Toshinori's voice call out from the ambulance as he waved the man down. "The kid's... a neighbor I used to have. He's just checking up on an old man. Isn't that right, young man?" Toshinori gave a smile as he spoke and, again, he spoke so naturally despite the fact he was technically lying through his teeth that even Izuku believed it for a moment. Before the medic could speak up again, Professor Peach, having been elbow deep in checking other people's injuries, just pat the guy on the shoulder as she sighed.

"It's alright, he's not that badly hurt and what old injuries Mr. Kagemusha came in with weren't irritated to any dangerous degree. One visitor right now isn't going to send him tumbling over the edge." The medic paused as Peach spoke but then nodded, snapping a quick salute to the Huntress, which Peach just answered with a slightly aggravated sigh, before she turned back to any number of lightly injured, or potentially so, Hunters and civilians. Izuku was ushered into the ambulance and, after he was safely inside, Toshinori closed the door behind him, leaving them both effectively sealed off from the rest of Mountain Glenn.

The two of them sat silently in that ambulance for a moment, as if waiting to see if anyone would suddenly jump through or interrupt or, perhaps more precisely, Toshinori was keeping an ear out for anyone who would try to peek in on the conversation. When it felt like they both seemed satisfied, Toshinori turned to him, a concerned look on his face.

"How you holding up there Izuku? You alright? You're not hurt are ya kid?" Izuku was actually a little surprised: those were the questions he was going to ask.

"Uh, no. I mean, yes, I'm okay and no, I'm not hurt. I'm alright Toshinori." His mentor sighed slightly, as if relieved, before Izuku shook his head. "But what about you? We heard all that ruckus in the Tunnels and then... well..."

"You heard me punch that birdbrain through the ceiling, right?" Toshinori asked with a light chuckle.

"Yeah... are you okay? I knew you'd done some strenuous work with your Full Power today and... well, I suspected that was why you weren't here at the start. So... I mean, are you okay Toshinori?" With that, Toshinori Yagi gave a small grin as he brought up one of his skinny arms and flexed it.

"Me? Yeah, I'm doing alright. Aizawa was a big help in the fight, he kept them from using their Semblances... and for the big guy, that meant he spent a lot of the fight not being able to heal himself back up. Between him and I, we managed to deal with those bastards well enough. Still had a couple minutes to spare myself." With that, Toshinori dropped his arm as he sighed. "Still, I really am getting old. Back in my prime, five hits would've been enough to take a guy like that out. Today... well, took more than 300 punches to finally get him down." Toshinori scratched the back of his head. "Even then I had to punch him out of the Training Facility because I was starting to run short on time... continuing that fight risked dragging it out past my limit."

"Well... I'm just glad you came Toshinori, that you won the day and that you're alright!" Toshinori turned to look at the boy as he grinned. "You did something amazing and you did it with some of your time to spare. That really is incredible!" For a moment, Toshinori gave a soft smile at the enthusiasm... though he did sigh as he again scratched the back of his head.

"... It shouldn't have needed to be amazing though, kid." Izuku blinked as Toshinori turned to look at the ambulance door. "I shouldn't have only had minutes to spare of my ability. I should've been at full charge and ready to actually do my job as a teacher... Hell. I should've been there from moment one. Then you and your fellow students wouldn't have been scattered to be potentially maimed or worse. Instead I spent a lot of my power before this and... well, I wasn't there for any of you,, and I 'especially' wasn't there for you. That... that nearly cost everyone everything." The man reached his hand around as he rubbed his chin in thought. "I got lucky this time. You all are going to be okay and I managed to get out of there with some time to spare and enough teachers around to help me get this little deal ready." He pointed to the civilian uniform he was wearing and, son of a gun, the name tag even has his picture and the name he heard the medic use on it.

"So... I do want to apologize, young man. As important as saving lives and doing my job as a Hunter is... I'm also a teacher, and your mentor to boot. I didn't keep a good balance of that this time and... well, I'll try and do better in the future."

"Toshinori, sir... did you know that terrorists were going to come in and attack today?" Toshinori just kinda blinked, arching one of those bony eyebrows of his as he shook his head.

"Course not, no one did." He took that with a nod as Izuku did his best to smile.

"Then you didn't do anything wrong. Sir... I might not know what you were up to today, but it still sounds like it was important if you needed to hero it up. You've said yourself how important saving lives it... it isn't fair to you or to other people who might need the Symbol of Peace for you to hide yourself away just in case we might need you. That's not fair to you or anyone." Toshinori frowned as he took that in, the man rubbing at his chin as he sighed.

"Still, I do have responsibilities to you kids. I'm not just a Hunter now..."

"And you fulfilled them." Izuku said with absolute certainty as he looked his predecessor head on. "Sir... you coming kept Professor Aizawa and everyone else from being badly hurt. Even if you were there from the beginning... well, we 'all' got caught by that Kurogiri guy at first. Who's to say that they wouldn't have done the same thing to you in order to deal with you on their own... or worse, just off to the side for them to come to later. You wouldn't have been able to do anything to help then. We can't say for certain whether you being there from the start would've made things better... and besides, we have our responsibilities too." The young man touched his chest as he looked his mentor in the eye, doing his best to look as certain as possible.

"You are our teacher... but you can't be everywhere at once. Part of our jobs as students is to learn how to deal with situations like this on our own, something you've been training us for weeks now to deal with. We can't always depend on you being around... at some point, we'll need to be ready to step up." With that, He finished with the best smile he could. "What matters is that today, you were here when we needed you and you did make that difference. I don't want you to apologize, Toshinori... I want to thank you."

...

"Jeez kid, way to take the air out of a guy's sails..." Toshinori reached up to scratch his cheek, a slight grin on his face as he looked off to the side. The air in the ambulance got considerably lighter after that, Toshinori just chuckling to himself while Izuku... well, he just felt good knowing he managed to raise the older man's spirits a bit. He meant what he said; when he put two and two together and figured out that his Hero, his Mentor, his Teacher, had arrived to save them all... it did put him at ease.

'However, there is still one thing that is bothering me…'

"By the way sir, you wouldn't happen to know anything about those guys that attacked, right? The 'Monochrome League'?" He asked, tilting his head slightly as Toshinori turned to face him . Toshinori scratched his chin lightly as he tried to think of an answer.

"Honestly kid? Not a clue. Don't get me wrong, it's obvious they're some kind of criminal element. A lot of people in that room are being positively identified as some crooks from Vale and Vacuo... which is surprising. So far it's seeming like none of the Faunus in the group are popping up in databases of known White Fang members, which you would've figured given their attitude." Toshinori rubbed at his chin more. "As for the name... it's some kind of obvious callback to the Monochrome Empire which... I dunno. Maybe that explains why these Faunus aren't part of the Fang; they're a different kind of political dissident. Still wouldn't make any sense though. Not like that old Empire was any kinder to Faunus than the Kingdoms that came after it."

The Monochrome Empire, something so old and so out of Izuku's time that he only knew about it from history books. An old, almost ancient, time back even before the Four Kingdoms were ruled by Kings, when the entire World of Remnant was ruled by one person, or rather, a line of people: The Grey Emperors of Mankind. While the latter part hadn't been a part of his official title, considering the stringent laws enslaving Faunus that started with The Empire, it was pretty well considered that the men who ruled over the Empire were Rulers of Men first, and considered the Faunus little more than their property. The only thing positive that any textbook had to say about that time was that it was a period in which the Grimm were pushed back to the absolute hinterlands, more of a annoyance to human and Faunuskind than an actual threat.

"Would people really want to go back to something like that?" Toshinori shrugged his shoulders slightly as he heaved a sigh.

"Wouldn't surprise me; some people can be nostalgic for some pretty stupid crap Izuku." Izuku reluctantly nodded for a moment as he tried to think over the matter more deeply. However, before he could, a knock on the ambulance door caused him to flinch slightly, Toshinori just looking to the door. "Yes?"

"Mr. Kagemusha, we're ready to transport you and a couple others to the treatment facility as per Doctor Peach's orders. Could you get your little friend out of the ambulance?" Toshinori just gave a quick grunt of affirmation before he turned back, a slight smile on his face.

"I'll see you later, kid. Keep your nose clean until then, alright?" Izuku just nodded with a smile on his face as he got up, heading for the ambulance's doors. "And young man?" He paused, turning back to look at Toshinori. "Thanks for the pep talk there, kid." Once more he grinned and gave him a firm nod before opening the ambulance doors, hopping out before a couple other people were loaded on in.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"E-Excuse me, sir? Hello? Please, I need to ask you something!" Izuku heard a very familiar voice call out in the crowd as he walked back towards the main hub of his friends and the hurt and injured. He blinked as he turned to the crowd, just barely seeing a tuft of green hair as whoever it belongs to got the attention of a Hunter. "Yes, hello. I-I'd like to ask if you know if there's an Izuku Midoriya being looked over right now? Please, it's very important that I know." The man just raised an eyebrow as he looked into the crowd and Izuku slowly approached.

"I'm sorry ma'am but we're not at liberty to disclose identities at this point. Please understand-"

"I understand, please rest assured but... please, I need to know. When I heard about what was happening I went over to the evacuation zone where the rest of his class was supposed to be taken and I couldn't find him or his team there anywhere! My friend's worried to death about her son too and we just both really need to know what's happened! The only other possibility is that they're still at Beacon but... m-my baby isn't answering his Scroll! He always answers and, even if he doesn't, he calls me back later if he was in the middle of something important! That can only mean that my baby boy was down there! Please, I need to know if he's okay, my darling boy, h-he's very sensitive and if he's gotten hurt Ijustdon'tknowwhatI'mgoingtodosopleaseIjustwanttoknowifmyson'sokayand-"

"Mom?" Izuku finally called out to the tuft of hair, which immediately went stock still after having jumbled around from frantic speaking. The crowd parted slightly as he called out, allowing him to see that, why yes, Inko Midoriya, his mother was standing there looking back at him , tears threatening the corners of her eyes as her hands were gripped tightly against the guard rails. When she spotted Izuku with those emerald eyes that he inherited, he watched as those tears slowly but surely well upped more, until they practically took up half the surface of her eyes.

And then the eruption happened.

"IZUKU, MY BAAAAAABY!" Everyone practically stopped in their place when that loud shout echoed over the entire area, Inko Midoriya's eyes bursting with tears as she saw her son standing there. He flinched at the sheer volume and energy of his mom's cry as, in a surprising display of dexterity and strength, Inko Midoriya pulled herself up over the guard rail, bodily threw off any of the Hunters attempting to restrain her and then 'sprinted' over to where he was . He didn't even have time to react before Inko threw her arms around him and placed him in a tight hug, the woman just bawling. "OH THANK THE GODS, MY BABY BOY'S ALRIGHT, HE'S OKAY, HE'S OKAY, HE'S OKAYHE'SOKAYHE'SOKAYHE'SOKAY!"

Everyone, from the various Hunters, to the civilians, to the medics and even his friends just kind of watched the scene for a moment and he could see a 'wide' variety of emotions on a lot of faces: the vast majority of which were 'highly' amused, while a good number more seemed deeply touched. Before one of the official Hunters could try to pry his mom off, another Hunter, that one seeming more local, just placed a hand on his shoulder and shook his head.

"Eh, no point in trying now; that's Inko Midoriya. Trust me, you'd need a crowbar and a whole crew of construction workers to try to pry her off her son now. Just let it be." He wasn't sure what's more embarrassing about that; how touching it was that they were actually going to let his mother stay here because of her worry or that 'they knew' that for a fact. Either way he turned his head down to look at his mom, knowing that a lot of people were still watching the little scene play out, a few people even cracking out their Scrolls to take some pictures, even as others got back to their own business. If his mother was aware of all that, she certainly didn't show it as she continued to cry into his chest.

Honestly, for a moment he was too mixed up to know what he should do, surprised by his mother's outburst and ever so slightly embarrassed at the same time. However, as his mind recovered, a thought crossed it. His mother said that she checked where he should've been and had been trying to find him... up until she realized he was down in the Tunnels during what was obviously an emergency situation. What must she have felt at that moment? What must she have been thinking? That he was seriously hurt? That he was in terrible danger... that... that he might die? The thought made his throat go dry as he looked down at his mother, still crying fiercely into his chest. 'She must've been so worried... how relieved must she feel to see that I'm safe?'

In the end he decided that his mother's peace of mind was well worth some embarrassment and, in front of his friends and everyone, he did his best to hug his mom back, a slightly sheepish smile on his face as he did so. Eventually Inko seemed to regain enough of herself to speak into his chest.

"Oh my Gods Izuku, I was so worried... I didn't know if you were okay and it was eating me up inside. I thought that maybe... but... Oh Gods, Izuku, I'm just so glad you're okay. I don't know what I would've done if..." His mom seemingly threatened to break out into another huge geyser of tears as she worked herself back up, as Izuku tired to keep her from freaking out.

"Mom, it's okay. It's like you're saying, I'm okay. I mean look, I... barely have a scratch on me." He coughed slightly, realizing that you still had two casts on your fingers. Inko pulled back slightly as he said that, obviously having spotted that herself, as her tears continued to well up.

"But you did get hurt! My baby's had to get casts on him! Some brute broke my poor son's fingers when they were fighting... or worse, a Grimm did it trying to kill you! How can I not be worried?" Inko said through blubbery tears as she reached an arm up and wiped at her eyes, desperately trying, and failing, to stem the tide. Izuku coughed slightly as he scratched his cheek.

"A-Actually mom... I did that to myself..."

"... What?" It was a shrill cry that escaped his mom's lips as she and, he swore, he thought she was about to cry even harder. Before she could, he raised his hands up defensively.

"I-It's my Semblance mom, I just, I just don't have good control over it yet! It hurts to use a little bit is all, but I'm okay!" He waved his hands again, gasping as his mom hugged him tighter. He'd swear, if she had an Aura herself, she might actually have snapped him in half like a twig.

"My baby breaks his fingers whenever he uses his Semblance?! Izuku, honey, why would you do something so risky in such a dangerous situation?!" Izuku just did his best to smile in a calm manner at that as he looked down at his mother.

"Mom... I did it because people were in trouble." Inko seemed a bit surprised by his sudden show of resolve, but he continued on. "I'm a Hunter-in-Training mom... and there were a lot of people down there who needed my help... and you know? I saved a lot of people by breaking my fingers. Even some of my classmates." He clenched said fingers, wincing slightly as he did. Not because of the pain, but because as that thought passed through his mind, some tears start to peek into the corners of his eyes. "I... I saved people today mom. I really did it. I was a hero." He saw Inko's eyes go a bit wide those words, it being abundantly clear that his mother understood the situation.

"Honey..." Her face seemed to try to force itself into a frown as she looked at him with that worried expression. "B-But it's... you were in trouble and..." She continued looking at him, however, and he could only imagine she saw what he felt on his face; pride, happiness... fulfillment. As his tears threatened to pick up, his mom deflated slightly, before she gave her own smile. "My... Izuku..." His mom hugged him again, as if supporting herself. "... I'm proud of you. I'm scared but I'm so proud of you." Soon enough he was hugging his mom back, the both of them smiling and crying as the situation came to a head.

Eventually, a Hunter did come by to pry his mother off, explaining that it 'was' a warded off area and that it 'was' official Hunter business. Despite her own obvious fears and worries remaining, she was eventually convinced to leave and let Izuku get back to the crowd here. Knowing that they'd have Color Week coming up free, the two separated as they wiped some tears from their eyes.

'I really did it, I'm a Hero a now. ' Maybe not officially, but all that mattered to him was that he saved lives. And, true to her word, his mom was proud of him.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"Izuku!"

As he made his way through the crowd, his ears picked up on a voice he'd come to be quite familiar with those past six weeks. He smiled, having been looking for said person but not having quite parsed them out through the crowd, and now found that she was running right for him. Pyrrha, his partner, managed to break through some of the crowd as she ran to his position and, to his surprise, Blake actually closely followed up, using the slight parting of the crowd as a means to quickly and simply slip through the chaos. Pyrrha stopped a short distance from him, taking a few breaths that suggested she's 'just' a little bit spent as she smiled down at Izuku, while Blake just slowly walked up. While the black haired young woman seemed just as spent as Pyrrha, that didn't stop her neutral expression from seeming ever so slightly perked up at seeing his condition.

"Pyrrha, Blake! It's good to see you two are alright... you two are okay, right?" Blake started off by nodding slowly, though Pyrrha just glanced down at his fingers and, with a slightly wry smile, just shook her head.

"You've got broken digits again and you're asking us if we're okay." Pyrrha said with a slight laugh as she combed a hand through her hair, though Blake just shrugged.

"I mean, you can't say that's not in-character for him. Broke an entire arm before and was more concerned with us them himself." Blake offered with a slight grin, the pair having caused him to just sheepishly scratch at the back of his head. "But to answer you first Izuku, yes, we're fine. Heck, between the three of us I don't think we were touched once." Izuku blinked slightly as Blake nodded over her shoulder back to where Kacchan was talking to one of the officials taking notes, a serious expression on his face as he kept his arms crossed. "Between the three of us, most things we came across didn't really stand much of a chance... we got pretty tired but otherwise we were actually pretty okay." Izuku sighed in relief, shaking his head... though he noticed that now Blake and Pyrrha were looking at him 'very' expectantly.

"Uhh... I'm okay too. I mean, I know my fingers are broken but, they're healing just fine. Honestly, Weiss and Yang took a slightly worse amount of punishment than I did down there, they're actually having to be treated..." His expression slightly dropped at that...

'huh. Some leader I was; my charges were the ones who ended up being the most-'

Pyrrha placed a hand on his shoulder and gave a quick shake, snapping him out of it.

"Izuku; you literally broke your own fingers to help people. I'm sure Weiss and Yang would say they got injured for the exact same reasons. We were all in danger down there and we all did what we could... don't beat yourself up just because, for some of us, that meant us getting injured." He blinked slightly at that, as Blake nodded.

"Am...am I really that easy to predict?"

"Yes."

'I don't think Pyrrha's ever been that direct before?'

"Speaking from experience, you probably did everything you could've done... and more." Blake wiggled two of her fingers that correspond with his still broken ones as she kept an even expression. "No one's gonna think you slacked off or you didn't do your job... heck, judging by my teammate, far from it." Everyone took a moment to glance over at Yang, the young woman smiling and exuberant, if somewhat tired, as she talked to both Ruby and Tsuyu while being treated on the back of an ambulance. Izuku couldn't help but crack a smile at that, relief flooding him.

"Thanks guys." Blake and Pyrrha offer up quick nods at that, Pyrrha's face breaking out into a smile while a slight grin cracked at the corner of Blake's lips. Before the conversation could go on, however, a couple things happened.

"Hey, isn't that..."

"Yeah, that's Pyrrha Nikos, The Invincible Girl! I heard she'd become a Huntress, but I didn't know she was in this class or involved in this catastrophe!"

"And would you look at that! She's not even got a scratch on her. Guess they'll be calling her Pyrrha Nikos, The Invincible Huntress, soon enough." He watched as there was just the slightest 'flinch' in Pyrrha's expression as she reached one of her gloved hands up to rub at her other arm, the crowd having increasingly noticed her as a few people started to take pictures.

Izuku was quick to pick up on Pyrrha's issues there. While he didn't understand the full picture, Pyrrha's discomfort with the way people were talking about her and the pictures they're snapping was enough to get him to act. He smiled slightly as he walked up to Pyrrha, 'unintentionally' getting in the way of a lot of cameras in the process.

"Have you gotten checked over yet Pyrrha?" He watched as Pyrrha's lighter green eyes blinked in confusion as he pat her on the shoulder. "I know you said you didn't get hit at all but... well, Aura exhaustion isn't a laughing matter either. It's probably better to get that checked just in case rather than let it sit thinking you're just fine." With that, he nodded back towards the ambulances and, while slightly confused, Pyrrha went ahead and started to follow him, much to the annoyance of the crowd that had been gawking at her. Soon enough he heard Blake sigh as the young woman followed him back into the crowd, seemingly just looking to get away from that scene.

As he walked back with Pyrrha, he looked up at her and gave her a grin. "We've all been through a pretty stressful day I'd say... no need to stress yourself out more than today already has." With that, a slight smile popped onto Pyrrha's lips as she nodded, more fully understanding, as she looked back forward to the ambulances.

"... Thank you, Izuku."

"No problem, Pyrrha."

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"And then I was like 'Hey Tenya, you can go super fast and you have all that armor on and I'm super strong and can probably hit these guys out of the park' right?"

"Uh huh..."

"So then I just jumped up on his shoulders and started kicking his ribs! That way, I'd have the high ground on the goons so that they wouldn't focus on me while I swung for the fences and Tenya could not have to worry about having to fight these guys by himself!"

"Nora, wouldn't it have been better if you and Tenya could've fought at the same time?" Ren asked, caught in a state of amusement or bemusement, as he looked up at the orange-haired girl. Nora shook her head as she gave a few 'tut tuts' as she looked down at her best friend.

"Come on Renny, think about it. Sure, we might've been able to attack more guys at once but combining my power with Tenya's speed, we were hitting these guys like a ye olde knight with a lance! They were getting knocked unconscious in one hit! We couldn't have managed that if we split up! No, this was a waaaay more effective plan, isn't that right my gallant steed?"

"... Miss Valkyrie, please get off of me, the danger has passed." Tenya remarked, sounding slightly exhausted, as he very tiredly waved his hands about. Nora just huffed and placed her hands on her hips while she dug her heels slightly into Tenya's armor.

"Now that's not a good deal of situational awareness Tenya! We're still 'surrounded' by goons who could try to break out at any minute! If I get off your shoulders now, who could possibly round up these goons as well as us?"

"... How about anyone else in the vicinity?" Tenya remarked weakly while Nora just nodded her head.

"Exactly, nobody! Face it Tenya, we've got a monstrous wombo-combo on our hands and, until the danger has fully passed, this Queen needs to remain on her mount!"

"... Uh... I'm not interrupting anything am I?" Izuku walked up to the trio who turned their gazes upon him. Immediately Nora's eyes lit up like fireworks as she dug her heels into Tenya's ribs again and tilted her body slightly, the gesture forcing Tenya to move to compensate as the pair immediately walked up to him.

"FEARLESS LEADER, HEY! Oh wow I was really worried about you! I mean, not that I didn't have complete faith in your abilities, I mean, even if you got a little overwhelmed you could just SMASH your way out of any situation but, seeing as how you did, I guess that means you did get into some trouble but, if Ren's right, it was trouble you got into saving him and some of our other friends! Man Izuku, if there was anyone other than me that I would've put Ren's life into the hands of, it'd be you, I mean, even when you've got broken fingers you can still hold onto things pretty well so when Ren said that he was grouped up with you, I knew that was why Renny was so completely safe! I mean, Yang helped a lot too and I've totally got to thank her later for that, but hearing that my Fearless Leader was with them put me at ease immediately, so thanks Izuku!"

"... Midoriya..." Izuku slowly arched his head down to Tenya, the young man looking like he was sweating through his armor as he brought his hand up in a pleading gesture. "You're her leader, surely you have to know how to convince her to get off of me. It was an interesting idea at first but I really think I'm about to collapse. Ren tried to convince her to jump off but... well, surely you could try?" Izuku blinked as he looked around the pair to Ren, the young man just shrugging his shoulders slightly, still looking like he was conflicted between being amused and being annoyed, that odd melancholy of bemusement still present.

Not that he didn't have a reason to guess 'why' Ren might be annoyed with Nora sitting on Tenya's shoulders, but he wasn't going to point out that particular little mess.

'Okay, time to see if I have gotten fluent in Noraese.'

"Now Nora, is this a very Queenly thing to do?" Izuku asked, crossing his arms, as Nora just tilted her head to the side.

"What do you mean Fearless Leader? Of course it is! A Queen is nothing without her noble steed!" Nora declared, patting Tenya's armor on the top of its head as Tenya just heaved a sigh. Izuku pointed to Tenya, a slight frown on his face.

"Listen to that Nora, it's clear that he's exhausted from all that running and fighting. Even valiant steed need to rest so that they can get their strength back, same as you." Izuku placed his hands on his hips as and tilted his head to the side. "Do you think a good Queen would just ride their horse until they collapse? That wouldn't be a good outcome for him 'or' you, right?"

Nora pondered that for a moment, it was clear that there's a war being waged in her mind between his logic, however Nora-flavored it was, and Nora's desire to keep on having fun. Still, Nora just sighed as she nodded her head, giving Tenya an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry Tenya, Izuku's right. I really haven't been thinking about that at all. You must be exhausted poor thing." Finally, Nora quickly lifted and swung her legs off of Tenya's shoulders as she slid off his armor, the young man giving an audible sigh of relief as he rolled several kinks out of his shoulders. "I hope you can forgive me... that wasn't a great thing for me to do." Nora said apologetically as Tenya just sighed.

"It's alright Miss Valkyrie." With that, Tenya removed his helmet, his hair drenched in sweat as he reached into one of the compartments of his armor to produce his glasses. "It was a surprisingly effective tactic... just, please, if we ever do this again, just... give me some time where you're not riding on my shoulders?" Tenya cracked his back after saying that, an sigh released from his mouth as he did so. "Please?"

"Sounds like a deal there, Trusty Steed! I promise that in the future, Queen Nora shall be more fair to her faithful mount!" Tenya just shook his head, as did Ren, though Izuku could tell that both were quite relieved to have Nora off of Tenya.

"Students! If I may have your attention please?" Before they could start another bit of shenanigans, their attention was called by Glynda Goodwitch, the professor having taken a position in the middle of the crowd, standing on top of a small box, as she looked around. "Given today's... conditions, it's clear that the rest of the class won't be taking these exams for now. Something for them will be arranged at a later date to make up for this... however, as next week is Color Week, that is to be saved for another time." many nod in understanding at that. "As for the rest of you... well, surviving an incident such as this, I think, goes above and beyond what this test may have called upon you. Consider yourselves to have passed with flying colors." Hoots and hollers of celebration could be heard in the crowd as Glynda readjusted her spectacles.

"With that said, as soon as you all are done being treated or are cleared by Mountain Glenn Officials... you're free to go. The School will remain open for the weekend and, after that, the Dorms shall remain open for the entire Holiday. Do as you will." With that, Glynda stepped down and further congratulations were in order, Nora lightly punching Izuku in the shoulder as she hooted and hollered over the good news. Izuku just wince slightly at that as he chuckled, rubbing the now sore shoulder where Nora had playfully struck him...

Honestly, that holiday would be just what he needed. After all of that, he felt like he could sleep like the dead...

Even if he couldn't stop himself from smiling at how well everything had gone. Despite everything, his first trial as a Hunter... well, in his mind?

It had been an unmitigated success.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

'Okay Weiss,' the Schnee heiress finally noticed that the reason she had nearly gotten herself killed had managed to be on his own for a second, 'show time.'

She patted her side and winced as she stood up. The movement to a standing position had caused her to stretch her wound slightly, and she quickly glanced back down. Not seeing any excess blood oozing through her bandages, she sighed, and slowly made her way over to her classmate, who was currently sitting there, allowing some of the ice on his side to slip off his shoulder.

"Shoto?"

Todoroki's head rose, and his eyes widened slightly.

"Hello Weiss."

'Okay good,' Weiss nodded inwardly, 'he doesn't hate me too much right now.'

"I wanted to...," Weiss stopped in her mental tracks.

'Come on, just come out and say that you want to talk about the incident'

"Check and see if you were hurt by those criminals in the tunnels."

'Dammit!'

Shoto's eyes fell back into a normal appearance, and he shook his head. That actually caused some more of the ice around his body to fall off, almost as though a light snow had started on his knee and the ground around him.

"No, I'm fine," he held out his hand, and squeezed his fingers slightly, "I'm just a bit tired, but I don't have to worry about frostbite or anything like that. I have managed to figure out how to overcome that particular issue of using my powers."

"...is it because of yo...your extensive training?" Weiss felt sweat slowly slide down her brow as she quickly changed her question, though Shoto adopted a glare that caused her to back up.

"It's because of my fire powers."

Weiss looked around, and noticed that no-one else was anywhere near them, before finally looking back at her classmate, before sighing. She steeled herself, and connected her eyes to his.

"I'm sorry."

"..." Shoto sat there for a second, his expression unchanging. Weiss felt sweat begin to gather on her brow. Was he thinking about how pathetic it was that it had taken so long for her to apologize? Was he considering how best to tell her off? Was he-

"Sorry I have fire powers?"

'...is he an idiot?'

"No, no, no," Weiss waved her hands back and forth, "I-"

"Well I am," he stared down at his free side, a look of clear disdain across his features, "Believe me, if I could, I would gladly trade this power, even if it did mean I would might lose a finger to frost-bite," he then looked back up at her with derision, "There is nothing that I hate more than the fact that I have two elements within me. That I have any of him in me."

Weiss didn't know the whole story. All she knew was that Enji Todoroki was one of the most powerful hunters in all of Remnant, and that he would eventually marry an Atlesian woman from a obscure family with a powerful semblance. Then that there had been a half dozen or so children in that family, until they eventually stopped having them with one last son. She knew that the wife would eventually be placed in a mental hospital, and that it was the basic death nail for her family's already shaky place in the upper Atlesian court, as she had either gone insane, or had failed to please her husband. She knew that boys aren't usually born with burn scars, and that Enji is quite famous for his fire powers.

It was quite obvious what happened, and that Shoto's burn was so shallow was likely due to the fact that his father had been in control when the event had occurred. On some level it made sense exactly why he wouldn't want to bring up his fire, if the man who scarred him was the one who had given him that power.

Almost made the relationship she had with her father look decent and normal.

'Best ignore that road,' She continued, "I am sorry that I spoke up about that in our conversation at the study room in Beacon. It was very rude of me, and I should have known better than to attack you in a place of such...emotional vulnerability."

"You are correct. It was very wrong for you to bring it up," Weiss winced as she heard that, absolutely no tact, "Why would you act so spiteful when I am simply asking you a question?"

"We-"

"Surely you know my history," Shoto stood up, and once again Weiss cursed her lack of growth as she had to look up to see him, "You would know about how I hate him? About what he did to my mother?"

Weiss almost stopped to wonder why he focused on his mother being locked away rather than someone burning half his face, but she thought maybe emotional trauma matters more than physical. She shook her head.

"Well you brought up a very sensitive topic," she steeled her spine and looked him dead in the eye. Backing down here would accomplish nothing, not if she wanted her answers, "You don't just bring up dark family secrets as a topic of conversation when you are on your-what-fifth real conversation with a person. And that is being generous."

Shoto stared back at her for a second. Time seemed to stand still, as Weiss felt the tension weigh ever more greatly down on her. Had she blown it?

"You are...correct," Shoto backed down, and sat on to the bench he had previously been, a small sigh escaped his lips, "I suppose I did bring that up too early."

"Well obvio-"

"That is the sort of thing you bring up in the eighth conversation, correct?"

"..."

'Do not punch. Do not punch. Do not punch."

"...No," Weiss felt the sweat form on the back of her head, a vein twitch above her left eye, "That's not the sort of thing you bring up until you have had dozens if not hundreds of conversations."

"...," Shoto's eyes widened noticeably, "But that is so long."

'Oh my goddesses,' Weiss gripped her hands, desperately telling herself not to punch him, 'He's worse at this sort of stuff than Izuku.'

And then, her mind stopped.

'He's worse at social interactions than Izuku.'

She stared down at Shoto and felt the tips of her lips tilt upward slightly, not enough to form and actual smile, but enough to allow some of the tension to clear out of her body.

"You weren't trying to accuse me of anything at all when you brought up me being at Beacon, were you?"

"Well no," Shoto shook his head, "It just seemed to be obvious that you were rebelling against your father in a way that I wish I could have rebelled against mine, and I thought that would be a good topic of conversation."

"In Atlesian court society," Weiss inwardly smirked to herself, happy to have some of the weight off her shoulders. Now just to explain things and have the whole rotten situation over and done with, "You were basically accusing me of be unfaithful to those who loved me, and in some ways threatening my status as heir to the SDC and in the whole of society. That and there was the whole pampered Diva comment."

Shoto's face had grown more and more concerned with each statement, before he finally opened his mouth, "I was trying to make a point about how different you were from the image that had gone around the rumor mill, but I think I may have messed up that point of conversation," he then looked at the ground, "I...I can now see why you were so spiteful from your comments. From your perspective, I was attacking your very identity, and treating you like anyone else simply worried about their place in the court," she stopped, "In my effort to form a connection, I opened up on an uncomfortable topic too early, was too forward with my wording, and was ultimately very unfair to you as a person."

"And I," Weiss nodded, "Responded too quickly to what I thought was spite, but seems obvious in hindsight was mere awkwardness, and was far too quick to attempt to outdo you in picking at a raw subject," she held out her hand in front of him, "Sorry?"

Shoto raised his hand, a small smile forming on his face, gripped her hand, and shook it, "Mutually," he stopped for a second, "So does this make us friends, or-"

"Well we did fight to save each other's lives," Weiss thought for a second, "But I think at this point it's still a bit too early to do anything like that, so how about...acquaintances that may one day be friends?"

Shoto smiled back, before shaking her hand firmly one last time.

"Agreed."

* * *

 **E/N: Introduce your own stuff.**

 **-Shovern**

 **Well, this was the end of the "Shouto and Weiss being mad at each other" arc.**

 **When I started writing it, I totally meant for them to never be friends again.**

…

 **That idea came about because a lot of the cast felt like it was underutilized. And also, that besides Bakugou, most of the relationships felt very one note to me. So, hey, in this circle of friends, there are two people who don't like each other. They just got into a bad situation, and their dislike for one another just leads to some conflict over the rest of the story.**

 **Then GF made it not only part of a story, but also a major arc, and it really did fold neatly into the whole Tunnels story, as a secondary character piece about Shouto and Weiss. I'm glad how it worked out, and I am thankful that it seems to have become a generally well like part of the story.**

 **-Wind-Waker**

 **a/n: Part of it was misunderstanding, of course, but I genuinely did like where this story arc was able to go.**

 **Also, next update will be on the 28th as normal, sorry for being late.**


	58. Back To Back-stories

"So yeah, I just wanted to apologize again on Nora's behalf. I know that what she put you through must've been exhausting, so I wanted to get a chance to just see if you were alright and that you weren't too upset." Izuku bowed his head slightly at this as he and Tenya shifted into this topic of conversation, Izuku having dropped by Team TABY's Dorm Room in order to do so. With Tsuyu having gone for the holiday, she had left almost immediately, while Yang and Blake seemed to be out and about themselves; Yang was probably in the same boat as Weiss, getting her bandages checked while Blake, Izuku knew, was probably out by herself tending to her own thoughts. All of this had left Tenya who, on top of the verbal report he'd given to the Mountain Glenn Hunters about the events in the Underground Training Facility, was now preparing a written report.

The Mountain Glenn authorities had assured him that such a step was unnecessary and that they only needed the his testimony, but Tenya seemed dead set on making sure the record, on his end, was set. Tenya took in Izuku's words and just gave a firm nod, a slight smile on his lips as he dropped his pen in order to readjust his glasses.

"Mr. Midoriya-"

"Izuku, Tenya, you can call me Izuku."

"-right, of course. Izuku, while I do appreciate the fact that you've come to apologize again for the... paces I had been put through, I have to assure you that it's unnecessary. Your help in getting Miss Valkyrie off of my shoulders was quite appreciated already and, in addition, I held no ill will toward Miss Valkyrie for the events that transpired. Quite the contrary, our combination had proven to be surprisingly effective against both The Grimm and the criminal elements that had invaded The Tunnels. It had been thoroughly exhausting to be certain, but I feel as though that the trade off was worth it. Besides, while Miss Valkyrie's... enthusiasm in her choice of..." Tenya seemed to be reaching for a word as his hands jostled about in the air. "... playing her role meant suffering being called a steed, it was clear she hadn't meant anything negative by it. She was having fun and enjoying herself and it did distract from the gruesomeness of the situation we were in."

"In short Izuku, while your apology isn't necessary, I'll gladly accept it if doing so would put you at ease." Izuku offered up a sigh of relief, as sure a sign as any that it was, as both he and Tenya chuckled slightly. As the two of you seemed quite ready to dip into another topic of conversation, the friendly atmosphere that had been built up was disrupted when Tenya's Scroll went off quite suddenly, the blue haired young man having paused for a moment as he turned to the device and picked it up... and you find yourself surprised as perhaps the largest smile you'd ever seen on Tenya's face sprouted up. "Well this is a surprise! It's a call from my brother, Tensei!"

Izuku's eyes threatened to boggle out of your head as he heard this, his jaw dropping slightly.

"You're getting a call from your brother? The current Ingenium Huntsman?" While all Iida armor made by the family for their purposes of their profession as Hunters was known as Ingenium Armor, there was a certain prestige handed to the oldest, currently active male of the family that Izuku knew of: the 'Title' of Ingenium itself. Hunter Titles were usually handed out by the people as Huntsmen and Huntresses became more and more popular, Toshinori's Hunter title of 'The All Mighty Huntsman' had practically been earned at the same time as his proclamation as 'The Symbol of Peace and Hope'. Despite this there had been certain exceptions to this 'rule', as there often were with informal rules. One of them having been the Iida Family and the title handed to said 'Head' of the family's Hunter activities.

So to potential get to see Tensei Iida, the current holder of such a prestigious title in the Hunter field, through a Scroll got him excited... before Izuku realized the fact that Tenya's brother was calling him personally.

"Oh, jeez, should I leave? It's a call from your brother and I really don't want to stick my nose into anything..." Izuku said somewhat awkwardly as Tenya just gave a good-natured grin.

"Please Izuku, I know how much you have in your notes about my brother. You can't possibly tell me that you 'aren't' excited for a chance to speak with him?"

...

"I'd be a liar if I said I wasn't..." Izuku muttered quietly as he sheepishly scratch the back of his head.

"Well that settles it then!" With that, Tenya jerked his hand around in one of his nervous ticks before accepting the call, Izuku himself flinching as the screen came to life to reveal a man who very much looked like an older Tenya, though without the glasses.

"Hey little brother! How's it going..." Tensei looked a bit surprised for a moment as he noticed Izuku, though the surprised look was replaced by a slight smile. "Ah, I'm sorry bro, is now not a good time? I didn't meant to interrupt if you or your friends were in the middle of something." Tenya rapidly shook his head back and forth as he whipped his hands into a fervor.

"Nonsense dear brother, I can always make time for you! Besides, Mr... Izuku and I were in a lull in our conversation as you called! Allow me to make introductions! Izuku, this is my brother Tensei Iida, the Ingenium Huntsman that you've researched. Tensei, this is Izuku Midoriya, the Leader of Team MNVW and a new friend I've made here at Beacon Academy!" Tensei just seemed to blanch a bit, a slightly amused look on his face as he looked over at his classmate.

"I take it my brother still acts like a robot, even after spending more than a month with other folks his age?" Tenya seemed to flinch back at that, Izuku just laughing nervously as he scratched his chin.

"W-Well I wouldn't say like a robot, but..." Tensei laughed as he saw past his attempt to softball this for Tenya, the man just giving Izuku a wink as he leaned back in his own seat.

"Ah don't worry, Tenya won't take offense. He hasn't yet." Tensei offered a lighthearted laugh, one that got Izuku to smile as Tenya seemed slightly embarrassed by the exchange. "So you've done some research on me huh?" Now Izuku found himself the target of Tensei's interest, a blush forming on his own cheeks as he nodded slowly.

"Yessir... don't think it's anything creepy, please! I-I just do a lot of research into a lot of Hunters so I can understand their methods, find out what would work well for me and take their wisdom to heart! I'm not stalking you!" Technically, though the difference between Izuku's near-religious study of various Hunters like Tensei and Blake's recent stalking seemed awfully thin at this point now that he was face to face with Tensei.

'But...it's not like he's taking any real offense though.'

"Wow, that's pretty smart. Good to know that Tenya's getting together with some good people down at that school. Was kind of worried how he'd turn out once he was out of my sight." Tensei obviously teased, though Tenya just coughed into his fist. Tensei, having taken this as some kind of sign, leaned forward in his seat as he looked at his brother through the screen. "So Tenya, I hear from mom and dad you aren't coming back for Color Week." Tenya just nodded, his hands already in the air.

"Yes, I judged that the amount of time during the vacation was too short to justify traveling up to Atlas, unpacking my things, immediately packing back up after a day or two and then leaving!" Tenya declared with utmost certainty in an even tone, as Tensei just nodded.

"Sounds sensible enough... guess I won't be able to see you until the Solstice then." Izuku saw a sudden smile grow on Tenya's face as he looked down at the Scroll.

"So you're going to be able to take time off for the Solstice this year then, Tensei?" The older brother nodded at this, offering an excited grin.

"Yep, actually managed to work something out with a customer that'd give me some time off around the Solstice, so I'll be able to celebrate it with you all this year." Tenya smiled nice and wide at that.

"I see! That's good; who is this client of yours that's allowed you this reprieve?"

...

The atmosphere in the room, or rather both rooms, seemed to shift as Tenya asked that, Tensei having frowned slightly as it came up.

"Actually that was something else I wanted to talk to you about... sorry, Izuku was it?" Izuku nodded slightly as Tensei gave him a kind look. "Listen, could you excuse my brother and I for a moment? I'd like to talk to him about something in private."

Huh, even Tenya seemed somewhat surprised by this about face, the blue haired young man having just looked back at Izuku before the huntsman shrugged.

"Yeah, of course I don't mind taking a step outside! I'll give you guys all the time you need." Tensei and Tenya nodded in appreciation of Izuku's manners as he quickly departed from Tenya's dorm room, heading outside and just kind of waiting around to be given the signal to come back in. It wasn't terribly long, just a good solid ten minutes at most, before he eventually heard Tenya's voice call through the door. Izuku slipped back inside and Tensei still seemed to be all smiles and confidence and, while it was clear that Tenya shares that... there was something more there that Izuku couldn't quite place.

"Well, like I said little brother, I'll be looking forward to seeing you around the Solstice. It's been too long since we've actually chatted face to face. I miss that." Tenya gave a smile as he nodded back to Tensei's image on the Scroll.

"I've missed that as well, Tensei." With that, the much older Hunter looked to Izuku, a wide grin on his face as he gave he a slight salute, which caused Izuku to blush.

"Nice to meet you as well Izuku Midoriya. It really is comforting to know that my brother's making such good friends here at Beacon. Do me a favor and try to help my brother not creep out as many people with those odd habits of his. He'll never get a girlfriend if he doesn't stop acting like a robot."

"TENSEI!" Izuku watched as Tenya's older brother just broke out into laughs as Tenya immediately went into a fit of swinging his arms around, his friend and fellow team leader saying how inappropriate such a topic of conversation was and how, furthermore, he wasn't even looking for a girlfriend right now so don't tease him about it!

"Of course, I'll do my best sir. Though honestly, I feel like Tenya's just as good a friend to me as you think I am to him." Tensei just gave a warm grin, one matched by Tenya, as the older brother just yawned a bit.

"Boy, I'm beat. Think I'll go ahead and turn in early today. I'll see you around little brother... please try to relax." Before Tenya could get a word in edgewise, Tensei's signal cut off as the call ended, Tenya just smiling down at the Scroll as he does so.

"That was nice." Izuku aside with a smile as Tenya just nodded in agreement.

"It was. It's been good several weeks since I last heard from Tensei. It's good to know I'll be able to spend some time with him once the Solstice Holiday hits." Izuku nodded in agreement as he put his hands behind his back, a slightly curious tilt to his head.

"So what did you two talk about anyway? It sounded pretty important." Izuku saw Tenya's expression shifts. Not gravely or in a dramatic way... but ever so slightly. There's a sudden quiver of the corner of his lips that threatened to turn into a frown for a moment as his fellow team leader looked down to the Scroll.

After a moment, Tenya just gave Izuku one of his more usual, cool and calm grins as he shook his head. "Oh, just some work my brother will be doing soon after the actual holiday is all. It's why we won't be spending the entire Solstice season together. Nothing major just... well, being the Head of the Family and a Hunter is busy work, after all." Izuku nodded in understanding at that; considering how busy his own dad was, so much so that Izuku rarely ever saw him, Izuku could easily understand that. "Anyway Mr. Midoriya... as I said, I thank you for your apology but it is unnecessary. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some work I need to be doing myself." Izuku blinked slightly at that, both the sudden change in Tenya going back to referring to Izuku so formally and Izuku seemingly rushing Izuku out having caught him off guard. For a moment, Izuku considered pushing back... but he just got this feeling, this slight sense of hesitation, coming off of Tenya. This didn't feel like the time or the place for this particular talk. Besides, Tenya might just really be busy.

"Alright Tenya, that's fine. That's all I was really looking to drop by and say anyway." Tenya smiled as he offered Izuku a nod, one which the green haired hunter returned. "I'll see you around Tenya."

"Yes, see you around Izuku." With that, the air in the room seemed to lightened as Tenya went back to what work he had on his desk, Izuku slowly turned to depart from Team TABY's dorm room. Still, that heaviness that had been in the room prior... Izuku couldn't help but still feel it cling onto him a while after having left.

* * *

"... Ribbit, ribbit, this really can be a pain." Izuku blinked slightly as his jaunt down the hall suddenly found itself momentarily interrupted by a friendly voice from down one of the halls. He quickly cracked his head around a corner and, lo and behold, Tsuyu Asui was in the hall, carrying a few suitcases in hand... or maybe more than a few.

Like, a lot of suitcases.

'Wow okay maybe too many.'

Yeah definitely too many, as she nearly dropped them by the time do his best to speed over there and catch them.

"Woah Tsu, be careful there!" Izuku had to imagine that there was some sensitive stuff in the suitcases that Tsuyu might not have wanted to see broken, so he'd done his best to softly handle the suitcases before they hit the ground. The frog girl blinked in some confusion, obviously having not expected his sudden arrival, before she turned her head up to look at Izuku, that ever present expression on her face as she stuck her tongue out slightly.

"Ah, hello there Izuku, I didn't expect to run into you, ribbit ribbit." Izuku nodded in agreement as he helped Tsuyu rearrange her suitcases, giving a small huff of air as he did so.

"Yeah, I hadn't exactly expected to do a suitcase save myself either but hey, today seems to be a bit of a surprise." Izuku offered with a bit of a chuckle as Tsuyu... just nodded and kept that neutral expression on her face. By the Gods, Tsuyu really could be hard to read sometime. "Anyway Tsu, what's up. I know you said you were leaving for a family trip but... well, seems like a lot of suitcases for one little vacation." One of the rare times in Izuku's friendship with Tsuyu occurred as he watched her crack a slight grin, the frog Faunus having just scratched her cheek... with the corner of a suitcase, admittedly, but still done so as she looked at all the various suitcases.

"I take it you've never been out in a bog before. Trust me, you either take 'a lot' of changes of clothes or you pretty much get ready to do laundry every night." Tsuyu hefted the suitcases around as she looked out a nearby window. "Besides, there's also some school stuff I wanted to bring so that I could finish it over the holiday. You know, some books, some projects, some work. I guess I might've over packed a little bit, well, this is going to be a pretty full trip so I couldn't really afford to pack light, ribbit ribbit." Izuku nodded slowly at that; he supposed it made sense. A weeklong trip into what sounded like a pretty messy part of Vale where she also had some plans to get school work done. Honestly, Weiss probably would've commended her for that if not for her family's pick in reunion locations. Still...

"Why haven't you asked anyone on your team to help? I'm pretty much positive they'd all agree to lend a hand if you asked." Tsuyu's expression returned to its neutral stare as she nodded in agreement with Izuku.

"Oh yeah, definitely, but everyone's a little busy at the moment. Peach has been pretty much riding Yang to make daily checks in with her to make sure her wounds heal up completely well, she's not taking any chances with Yang's devil may care attitude," Yeah, Izuku could understand that, "Tenya's busy because he's volunteered to give more details as to what he and Nora were up to in their time in the Tunnels as 'doing his part to help with the investigation' however he can. Blake? She's free but she seems like she's got something pretty heavy on her mind. I figured she wouldn't be of too much help with just her so I'd leave it be and just let her work through that, ribbit ribbit. So it all just came down to me." Izuku nodded slightly at that as he placed his hand on his chin, scratching it as he thought over the situation.

Well, there seemed to be a distinctly obvious solution to Izuku.

"Well then how about I help you carry this stuff to wherever you're going? It looks like it's really slowing you down and I'm pretty good at lifting stuff." Izuku offered with a kind smile. At first Izuku might expect Tsuyu to insist on not taking his help, or to start this off by politely declining. Instead, he was a bit surprised as Tsuyu suddenly unloaded the various suitcases he'd helped her catch onto Izuku, he took a quick gasping breath as he braced himself and prevented a fall.

"Thanks Izuku, I appreciate it. Izuku really didn't have to if he didn't want to though; you were probably on your way somewhere, ribbit ribbit." She said this after she unloaded a few suitcases on him anyway. It was pretty funny, actually. Izuku chuckled slightly as he finally moved the suitcases around to more easily carry them, having hefted them around before he shrugged.

"Eh, I have time. I'm mostly just kind of bumming around so I can rest up after yesterday's whole... you know." Tsuyu nodded as she looked forward.

"I feel ya. After I get this all settled and my folks finish arranging for us to hop aboard a caravan out of town, I'm pretty much dead set on resting too. I'm still sore from yesterday." Tsuyu, her hands now much more free, placed a long finger on her chin as she looked up slightly. Izuku could only imagine so, especially with how he felt after everything. Finally the two of them started to move along, suitcases in hand as they both walked through Beacon's halls to get down to the air docks. It started off silently as you two seemed to take a moment to adjust to the weight of the suitcases but, after a moment, Izuku figured that then would've been as good a time as any to kick up a topic of conversation.

"You know Tsu, you talked about your family before but not all that much." Tsuyu blinked slightly at that as she placed a finger on her chin, looking up ever so slightly.

"I guess you're right. I only ever brought up my dad a little bit, and that was more in service to a point I was making." Tsuyu stuck her tongue out a bit as the frog girl turned to face him, a slight tilt to her head. "Why, are you curious about them Izuku, ribbit ribbit?" Izuku blushed slightly as he shrugged, laughing a bit nervously.

"Uh, yeah, I guess. I mean, if you don't want to talk about them that's fine, I understand, family can be a bit of a personal matter, but-"

"Nah, it's cool. I'm fine with talking about my family." It was weird; there was a slight inflection to the tone of her voice. It had been in no way negative, but it was noticeable just by merit of it having been off from Tsuyu's usual calm, even tone of voice when it came to speaking. It had, honestly, sounded a bit like... pride? "Well let's see. I already told you some stuff about my dad... but boy, I didn't even say his name. His name's Ganma and he's... hmmm... forty something? Forty-six, I think. Like I said, he used to be part of The White Fang when Ghira Khan headed it up, but after Ghira left my dad pretty much swapped out for his current job as a salary man."

"Then there's my mom, Beru, who's just a bit younger than my dad. She met him while they were both in The Fang and she's had a few jobs to help my dad support my siblings and I, ribbit ribbit." Izuku saw just the barest crack of a smile begin to form on Tsuyu's lipped as she continued to speak. "Then there's my two younger siblings. There's my little brother Samidare who's recently turned twelve and that's been fun to put up with, and my baby sis who's still the tadpole of the family at 8." It was so unusual to see Tsuyu speak with such a smile for a length of time but, as she talked about her family in some detail, it just seemed to stick. "We're all pretty much one ribbit family, ribbit ribbit."

"Ah, so you're all Frog Faunus then?" Izuku asked, somewhat curious. He knew that Faunus had a tendency to cross over between the various breeds at times, though it wasn't uncommon for 'pure breed' Faunus to walk around and keep to their own 'species' as it were...

Faunus genetics were confusing, especially from Izuku's human standpoint and the above didn't even get into the mess that were Chimeras.

"Yeah. I think you can imagine that a lot of reptile and amphibian Faunus don't exactly appeal to other kinds of Faunus or humans, so we usually end up sticking to our own, especially when we inherit animal features strongly in our bodies or our face." Tsuyu widens her mouth ever so slightly as she sticks her very frog-like tongue out ever so slightly. "My siblings and I mostly inherited some more minor features that go unnoticed, but you can definitely tell my parent's Faunus heritage by looking at them. Dad's got a square jaw that'd look normal for most people, but his eyes are pretty much on top of his head. Mom's got the biggest mouth out of all of us, I honestly think she could probably fit my head in there if we put our minds to it, ribbit ribbit."

Izuku actually shivered a bit at the mental image that provokes... and then immediately blanch at his reaction. "S-Sorry, I didn't mean anything by that, I don't think-"

"It's cool, that is pretty creepy and my parents do look pretty weird by most people's standards, ribbit ribbit." Izuku did his level best to keep himself from slapping his forehead at this... of course Tsuyu would even be really blunt and straightforward about her own parents too. "You didn't mean anything by that anyway, you were just creeped out. It doesn't mean you think anything less or weird about my parents. It's kind of like how Yang and Ruby reacted when they saw you and your mom." Izuku froze up a bit at that, nearly having tripped over his own two feet when Tsuyu brought that up. He looked over at her with a slight blush on his cheeks, sheepishly scratching at the back of his head.

"Y-You guys saw that?" Tsuyu just turned to look at Izuku with that vacant stare of hers, the frog girl's eyes having pierced into your very being as she looked at him.

"Izuku, I think 'everyone' saw that." There was just such finality that Tsuyu spoke that sentence with, a way that made certain that you knew she was speaking as a matter of fact.

"... Everyone?"

"'Everyone'." Tsuyu said, finally, as you just sighed.

"O-Oh jeez." Izuku blushed as he looked off to the side. "What'd they say?"

"Well, Ruby was just kind of awing over it, she thought it was a really sweet moment. Yang was cooing about how adorable you looked with your mom."

...

'Adorable huh?' Izuku felt the final bullet enter his pride as a man, leaving whatever had been left of it dead, 'Lucky me, right?'

"Anyway, point is that I think Yang and Ruby would show restraint if they ever met your mom face to face and not bring up how big of a show she made in public or how cute they thought she looked hugging and crying over you. Similarly, I don't ever think you'd actually shiver or call my parents weird looking to their face; you all are more polite than that and don't want to potentially insult people willy-nilly." Tsuyu scratched her cheek. "Now me? I'm probably a different story. People tell me I can be pretty straightforward and blunt, ribbit ribbit."

"Yeah." Izuku nodded in agreement as he kept his eyes forward, trying to walk off the embarrassment.

"See, like I said." Tsuyu gave a slight crack of a smile at that, as if satisfied she'd proven her point, before she hefted her luggage again. "Still, I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty nice to see. I didn't get a chance to tell my folks in the immediate aftermath that I was alright... but seeing your mom react to seeing you safe, I guess you could say it gave me something to look forward to." Despite himself, Izuku couldn't really help but smile at that as he nodded. "So what is your mom like? She seemed really nice but... well, she also seemed like she was kind of high strung... actually, it seems like you two are really alike, ribbit ribbit."

Izuku chuckled slightly.

"Heh, yeah. She can be kinda quick to worry at times, though I've probably given her plenty of reasons to fret over the years. But she's been nothing but loving and supportive of me and my dream. She's the best, and she's a lot tougher then she looks." The smile you have on his face... well, he honestly don't think you could've possibly chipped it off with anything. It's just stuck there as he thought of his mom and his relationship with her. Tsuyu just nodded slightly as she took this in, the two of them having gotten down to the bottom of some stairs as they spoke.

"With that look on your face, I'd believe it." Tsuyu said bluntly as she opened the door for both of you, the sun shining out at Tsuyu just took a look at the bright day before you both. "Moms are just pretty great like that. My mom's been equally supportive of me coming here... and even if they doubt what I think about humans and Faunus getting along, they don't really discourage me or me trying to live that example by being a Hunter. Honestly, mom can be pretty picky at times and she can worry a lot too... but, well, that just means she loves me. You gotta put up with the annoying stuff when it comes to family like that because... well, they mean well."

"They do..." Izuku said with a smile as the both of them approached the air docks, both he and Tsuyu sighing in some relief as they both dropped the suitcases to be loaded up. "Alright, thanks Izuku. I think I can handle things from here. My family should be waiting down at the air docks in Vale for me to show up and from there, well, the actual docks, ribbit ribbit." Tsuyu turned to face him, that vacant expression still on her face. "Gonna be on a boat for at least half a day... that's gonna be fun. Then again, I definitely prefer it to your train ride to home." Tsu stuck her hand out, the Faunus girl having offered you a shake. "Enjoy your Color Week Izuku, I'll see you next week, ribbit ribbit."

"Thanks Tsu... you have fun with your family too. We'll all miss you." Tsuyu cracked a rare smile as she looked back at Beacon.

"Please, Yang's probably overjoyed that she's doing to be able to make puns without me tongue-slapping her. I'd leave it to Blake but, you know her, she only jumps in on the cat puns..." Izuku chuckled as he gave Tsuyu a shrug.

"I'll keep on top of that for you..." Izuku said, as Tsuyu just gave him a look.

"No you won't, if anything you'll just encourage her, ribbit ribbit."

'... Okay so that attempt to joke around fell flat.' It wasn't even like Tsuyu was wrong or anything. Still, the frog girl just patted Izuku on the shoulder as the door to the airship opened up. With one last wave he watched Tsuyu depart, glad to have been able to help his friend get to her family vacation all the faster.

* * *

Izuku took a relaxed breath as he just walk around Beacon's campus, passing through a few buildings here and there to take in the sights. After all, all that work he'd put in yesterday had worn him down, so just taking some time to walk around, smell the roses and just be with his own thoughts had come in handy. Not that he would've turned down some company, not by a long shot but... well, for now it seemed like this was just going to be one of those moments where he'd just be with himself. Maybe some time to reflect on himself and really consider his progress would help-

"Heyooo!"

...

"AAAAH!"

As his mind finally caught up with his body and with what he was seeing, he stumbled backwards, flat onto his ass, as he came nearly face to face with Mirio Togata, the older student's head sticking out of a wall as he nearly fell back, Mirio just chuckling as he pushed himself all the way through.

"Well fancy meeting you here Izuku. Good to see you again!" The ever cheerful Mirio greeted him with a bright smile as he offered a hand to help Izuku back up onto his feet. As spooked as he'd been by Mirio's sudden appearance, he found himself relaxed somewhat by his easy demeanor as he took the preferred hand and, with his help, lift himself back onto his feet.

"Oh, hello Mirio... good to see you again, too." Izuku offered, genuinely, even as he took a deep breath to push the shock out of his system. "Is this gonna be a thing with us? You're going to pop out of a wall every time you find me?" Mirio offered some hearty laughter as he slapped Izuku's shoulder, the force having been nearly enough to send him flipping back down on the ground but, thankfully, he knew his strength and Mirio seemed to keep his in check just enough.

"Oh no, sorry Izuku, I didn't mean for that to happen this time,"

'This time?'

"-you see, whenever I'm trying to save a little bit of time I tend to just go ahead and pass through buildings and hallways. It really is quick and efficient and, best of all, I barely get into trouble anymore now that I've mostly memorized where I'm not just allowed to go straight through." Izuku wasn't gonna lie, that did sound awfully convenient. Still, that had raised a question.

"Are you in some kind of rush Mirio?" The young man offered a slight shrug as you asked this question.

"I suppose I am, in a way. Tomorrow I'll be heading out on a quick trip so I figured I'd try to get as much done as I needed to back here in Beacon as quickly as possible before then." Izuku blinked slightly as Mirio laid this out, a tilted to his head as he crossed his arms.

"Oh, is that so? It's nothing too bad, is it? I mean, you just got back from a mission..." Mirio chuckled slightly as he shook his head.

"No no, not bad at all. Quite the opposite, it's a trip I usually enjoy taking after every mission." Mirio scratched his cheek, seeming... well, rather oddly sheepish, as if he was thinking something over. "It's to visit someone... and, well, he'd probably not like me to get into too many details, like to keep a lot of things close to his chest, but let's say he likes to put me through my paces every so often to make sure I'm doing well." Izuku nodded; he supposed he could respect that. If someone wanted their privacy, someone wanted their privacy and if Mirio, someone he'd taken to be quite open so far, seemed to need a moment to think about what and what not to say, then it probably was for the best to let it slide. However, moments after that, Mirio slapped him on the shoulder again as he gave him a grin. "Thankfully, I'll be back in time for Hunter's Day at Mountain Glenn! I was a bit worried that, between my mission and the visit, I'd miss it... but I guess I should've known better than to think that he'd put me in that kind of a spot." With that, Mirio casually waved his hand off to the side as he shook his head. "But enough about all that! How are you Izuku?"

Izuku rubbed at his shoulder a bit as he look up at his upperclassman.

"I thought you said you were in a rush to do what you needed around Beacon before this trip? Why spend it on talking to me?" Mirio just gave a mirthful chuckle as he looked down at Izuku.

"Well hey, what's the point of saving time if you don't spend a little of it! Besides, I gotta figure that, after the stunt you pulled off during our fight, that you got up to something pretty interesting while I was off on my mission." ... Wow he was actually blushing at the compliment, considering this is a 'third year' he was talking to. Still, that does leave him curious...

"You mean you haven't heard anything yet?" Izuku tilted his head to the side as Mirio just seemed a little curious.

"About what? Something big happen?" Mirio scratched his cheek. "I know gossip and rumors spread fast around here but... well, when you 'just' get back from a mission you tend to be a bit slow on the pick up." That had sounded pretty reasonable to Izuku. Still, he didn't even know if there 'would' be rumors all things considered... though he had to imagine that Mirio would hear some details about what had happened the previous day at any rate.

He swallowed a slight lump in his throat as he look around. The coast seemed relatively clear and, if Mirio had felt comfortable enough just passing through walls without fear of running into anyone or stepping into something private, surely he'd be aware of whether there were folks around or not too. Izuku personally considered it pretty important that Mirio and, heck, as many people as possible knew what they could about the incident. It was a big deal; a major attack on Mountain Glenn with the goal of killing Toshinori Yagi, The Symbol of Peace? That wasn't going to just be swept under the rug... and if Izuku had to guess, it wasn't about to stop there either. Those guys seemed determined. Still, he had been trusted by Mountain Glenn's authority to keep what he had seen in The Tunnels a secret... and he really didn't want to reveal his own personal involvement in the whole case. That felt too much like boasting when dealing with a situation as important as this.

Still, Mirio was his senior and, more than that, an obviously, insanely talented Hunter in his own right if their spar spoke of anything. If he had information to go on if he ever ran into these guys, that might just make the difference between him getting caught off guard and hurt and him being able to do something.

"... Understand that there's some stuff I really can't talk much about, so just bare with me, okay?" Izuku saw this immediately catch Mirio's attention as he blinked down at him, that ever present smile on his face having disappeared almost immediately. A surprised expression soon became a even one, Mirio not having furrowed his brow or frowned, he just gave Izuku a look that spoke to the attention he'd managed to grab from his senior. That said, Izuku take a deep breath as he leaned in conspiratorially. "Yesterday, during the First Year Student Exercise at Mountain Glenn... there was a terrorist attack in the Underground Training Facility."

"What?"Mirio clearly looked surprised as he crossed his arms, those odd eyes of his having blinked a couple times as he tilted his head. "You being serious? That place got attacked? I remember going there halfway into my First Year... they have that place locked up tighter than ten banks." As Izuku just nodded your affirmation, Mirio seemed to take your words quite seriously as he dropped his arms. "Wow, no kidding. That is some pretty big gossip to not have heard about." Izuku waited for some kind of inevitable question from Mirio but... he don't get one. Izuku blinked, somewhat surprised, before Mirio raised his hands and gave a quick spin. "Well, you said you can't talk about some stuff. No point in asking potentially useless questions when you can just talk about what you can."

...

'Wow that actually makes an immense amount of sense.'

Mirio breaks out into his usual smile as he just pats the side of his head. "I've gotten drilled into me that I really shouldn't waste time like that. So, continue."

"Right. Anyway, I know what you might be thinking, but it actually wasn't The White Fang. It was some group called the Monochrome League: they were this whole group of Faunus and Humans who seemed to be working together." Mirio was pretty much exactly surprised as he expected him to be and, hey, for good reason. For years now, if someone talked about terrorist activity they were talking about The White Fang. Other groups were either so small that they never could pull off such large scale attacks or were utterly outshined by the efforts of The Fang when it came to these kinds of things. To hear that some other group, some 'brand new' group at that, pulled the resources together to do that...

"They had a lot of resources too; fine Dust for bombs, a good number of guns for a lot of their just regular grunts, poisons, toxins. They had a lot of things going for them in the attack. No one's even sure where they got it from yet." Which, speaking of, the Dust in question had left Weiss somewhat mystified in the aftermath. She hadn't said anything about it yet but... well, it was clear it was on her mind. "Plus... there were a lot of guys there. Like, over a hundred of them, easy. Still, most of them were either completely new or were just experienced with having a Semblance, it didn't seem like a lot of them had formal training."

"Out of everyone, I think only three really stood out. There was this birdbrain guy who was really strong and really tough but Toshinori beat him with Professor Aizawa, there was this other hand guy who I didn't hear much about... but the biggest guy there seemed to be this mist guy named Kurogiri." Izuku spread out his hands to give an approximation of his full 'mist' size. "He looks like this giant cloud of darkness and his Semblance seems to be teleportation, using himself to act as a portal to let people through and to transport himself and them to different locations. He also uses it to obfuscate his actual physical form... which does seem to be in it, somehow and someway. Enough force could blow his Mist off of him." Mirio nodded at all of this before Izuku capped it off.

"To make matters worse, it didn't even seem like the attack was their primary goal. They seemed more interested in trying to kill Toshinori Yagi."

If all of this had gotten Mirio's attention, 'that' there really seemed to catch him off his footing.

"Seriously? They'd honestly try something like that?" Izuku nodded in agreement as Mirio smiled a bit. "Still, I'm guessing by the fact that Toshinori seems to be up and about that he's done just fine!" He smiled as he nodded, that was certainly true. "Still, all this information is kind of a doozy there Izuku." Mirio's expression dropped back down into a neutral look as he rubbed at his head, as if trying to soothe it before a headache broke out. "I've honestly never even 'heard' of a Monochrome League before, much less any group other than The Fang that would have the resources to pull something like this off." Izuku nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, but it does seem to be separate; none of the Faunus that were mixed in seemed to be on databases that linked them to The White Fang." The blond young man gave a firm nod as he scratched at the side of his head.

"I see. So beyond The Fang which had already proved to be a pretty big thorn in everyone's side, we now also have this new organization capable of acquiring and teleporting large amounts of people and resources even past the most secure zones for surprise attacks. That's not exactly good news." Izuku frowned as he lowered his head, Mirio still keeping that even expression on his face as he spoke.

"Yeah, sorry to be the bearer of bad news. I know it's probably not what anyone wants to hear, but-"

"Pfft, you kidding? There's no need for you to apologize. You're doing your job." Izuku blinked in surprise as he looked back up to Mirio, the young man having just smiled nice and wide down at he as he raised up his fist to lightly tap it on his shoulder. "Being a Hunter, it's all about protecting and saving as many people as you can. Without this information, if I happened to come across this group during any of my missions, that could've been a potential disaster if my team and I went in completely blind. Now that we know, we're that much better prepared and that means that if these guys try this again, we might just be able to save a lot of people." With that, Mirio's smile grew even wider. "If anything, I should be thanking you for telling me all this."

...

'Aw shucks, I'm blushing.'

"Still, first the White Fang starts escalating, then there's a series of robberies that break out across Vale and now this? Seems like all the trouble is hitting Vale at once." Mirio scratched at his chin. "... I wonder what teacher would make of this..." Izuku tilted his head slightly to the side, as Mirio just waved his hand off. "Anyway, I don't really see why these crooks and criminals are bothering with Toshinori Yagi around. He'll kick them around any day of the week." Mirio declared, with absolute certainty, as he smiled down at Izuku. Izuku actually smiled at that, glad someone has the same faith in Toshinori that he did.

"So you really have a lot of faith in him then, huh?" You're surprised with Mirio gives a big old hearty laugh as he points to himself.

"You kidding? The guy's my idol! I've wanted to be a Huntsman like him for a long time! I was inspired by him to follow this path and become a hero!"

...

'By the Gods…'

Izuku tried to show restraint.

He really did.

He didn't want to just nerd out over the fact he had found another person who had taken strongly after Toshinori Yagi in trying to be a hero…

He didn't want to out just how much of a fan boy he was...

You 'knew' that Toshinori really doesn't think it was cool and he know how much of a nerd it made him look like…

So he really do your level best to try to avoid coming off like that, maybe even slightly change the conversation to a more important topic...

It all failed spectacularly as he rapidly nodded like a freshly powered jack hammer.

"That's awesome Mirio! I feel the exact same way about Toshinori! Ever since I was a little kid way back when, he was the entire reason I wanted to be a Huntsman! I wanted to be a Hero who could protect everything and everyone, just like him! Heck, I've basically modeled myself after him!" Almost literally now that he'd had his Semblance, One For All, passed onto him now that he thought about it. Mirio gave a grin so wide that it nearly matched Izuku as his younger friend spoke, his eyes having twinkled as his own enthusiasm built up alongside Izuku's.

"That's awesome! Gosh, it must be so great to have him as your instructor for the live exercises then! I know I'm a little jealous of the fact that the First Years get to be taught by the Symbol of Peace himself. Don't get me wrong, Professor Port was surprisingly good when it was his job, but man, to be taught by Toshinori!" Izuku nodded in vigorous understanding; if he was in Mirio's spot, he'd probably be envious too. "But just to have him here at Beacon has been very cool! My own team actually got a chance to meet him a few weeks back! He came in through the door with that smile and confidence of his and started his spiel. I was so merry I ended up interrupting his 'I am here' introduction!"

That was totally embarrassing!

Izuku completely understood where he was coming from!

"When he first showed up for those exercises, I really couldn't help myself! He was wearing his classic outfit, the cape and suit weaved in with Gravity Dust to help protect his person! He jumped in from nowhere and landed right in front of us and it was just so cool and I couldn'thelpjusthowexcitingitallfelt!" Mirio ended up sheepishly scratching the back of his head as he chuckled slightly.

"I've done my best to get my Hunter nickname to reference how he's inspired me. I know we're supposed to wait and see how the public deems us, The All Mighty Huntsman, The Endeavoring Huntsman, The Good Witch Huntress, etc., but... I dunno, I just was so thrilled! So I always declared to people that my goal was that I'd save one million people, as a Hunter to surpass even Toshinori... and it stuck! The Million Huntsman... and I'd like to think I've gotten a good start on that."

"You know, I could totally make you a Toshinori figurine if you'd like, I can carve and paint it myself!"

...

"You do that kind of stuff?" The conversation broke down for a moment as Mirio seemed genuinely surprised by that, his odd eyes blinking slightly as Izuku's own expression faltered.

'Oh Gods, I've gone too far! I've let too much of the nerd out. Oh jeez, this was exactly what Toshinori has been talking about! Here I've been establishing a repertoire with my senior and now he thought I wasn't just a fan boy and a nerd like him, but 'super nerdy'. Like, the kind of nerds other nerds looked down on for being nerds! What am I going to do now, how can I possibly salvage-'

"That'd be great Izuku, thanks! That's really something that you can pull off something like that. I'm afraid I'm not much of an artist myself." He couldn't help but smile wide at that as Mirio's enthusiasm returned with a vengeance, the young man just gave a loud laugh as he looked at his watch. "Oh jeez, look at the time. This has been a blast and everything Izuku and... well, you know, really informative about these Monochrome guys. I'll look into them myself to see if anyone else knows anything." Izuku nodded as Mirio calmed down a bit, though a smile was still just plastered on his face. "I'll see you around then Izuku!" With that, Mirio departed through another wall as Izuku just watched him leave... Izuku realize that he still hadn't said anything after he nearly spiraled into panic.

Well, maybe Izuku could try talking later. For now, his cheeks hurt from grinning.


	59. Ego and Enmity

'You know,' Izuku thought, 'it has never really occurred to me just how large Beacon's Campus is until I specifically set out to 'find' someone on it.'

When he had previously gotten together with Blake to talk about things or to discuss reading, it'd been done as part of just having randomly spotted her or having just so happened to run into her. Now that he'd finished Little To Do With Something and actually had the time, not to mention the desire to just lay back and relax, to discuss it he thought he'd try and find his book buddy. Well, that had turned out to be a tall order... so he did something he had never thought he'd do.

He called a girl on his Scroll.

Izuku did his best to school his features as the call went through and... well, Blake was somewhere, that was certain. Somewhere outside and pretty high up, if the fact that he hadn't really seen any buildings behind her. When he had offered up the potential to read, Blake seemed quite ready to accept the offer (i.e., her neutral expression had cracked that slight corner smile as she nodded) and that gave Izuku an idea of where to find her. After he managed to calm down after the harrowing task of ringing up a girl, he ended up traveling across campus to one of the dorm's rooftops. There Izuku spotted Blake Belladonna, sitting up near one of the edges with a book in hand just... kind of looking across Beacon as a whole. Despite her distance from the entrance, Blake seemed to be aware of Izuku's arrival from the moment he cracked open the door because once he took a step out onto the rooftop, she turned her head to look back at him.

"Kind of taking this whole isolation thing to another level, aren't we?" Izuku asked with a slight chuckle, Blake having just shrugged as she quickly shifted around, providing Izuku room to sit and a way for the two to look at each other face to face.

"What can I say, I prefer it. Gives me time to think... plus, I've never really taken the time to really just... absorb Beacon's Campus before, you know? Figured that was something I should probably correct at this point." Blake combed a strand of hair behind her ear as she spoke, a slight shrug to her shoulders as she did so. "It really does look nice, yeah?" Izuku nodded as he walked over and took a seat next to Blake, pulling out his own copy of the play as you sat across from her.

"It does. I've taken a few walks around campus now and I've pretty well taken that in. Plus the fall weather's really pretty this time of year too." Blake offered a slight shrug to that as she looked out in the far distance.

"I dunno. I think being so close to the Forever Fall forest has kind of spoiled me on the 'beauty' of Fall. Now it just seems kind of normal." Blake gave that slight smile of hers again as she spoke, finally turning her attention down to her own book. "So, consider this a bit of an easier read after our previous discussions?" Izuku chuckled a bit as he offered a nod and scratch at the back of his head.

"Oh yeah, definitely. This wasn't nearly as heavy or thoughtful as the last two books. Just a pretty fun read... though the language can be a bit weird to get around sometimes." Blake chuckled as she nodded in agreement, having cracked open her own copy of the play.

"Yeah, you get that with some of these older stories but, well, I think there's a certain charm to that. Makes it feel more authentic than abridged versions which tries to update the language to make it a bit easier. A little bit more fulfilling too when you actually read it." Blake shrugged as she looked off to the side. "Or maybe that's just me, I wouldn't know." Izuku offered a slight shrug; he really hadn't thought about it all that strongly one way or the other, but he supposed it made sense. Blake seemed to take his shrug to mean exactly that as the black haired young woman just took the time to stare at the book.

"Well... hmmm, what should we talk about when it comes to the book first? It really doesn't have heavy themes for us to discuss so I thought it'd be a bit more difficult to sit down and pin down. Maybe we could talk about the actual plot or something?" Izuku really had no idea; as fun as the book was, it had been difficult to think of a way to transition it into an actual discussion about the book. It was a pretty silly little play about people playing matchmaker, sometimes terribly, and a whole lot of little struggles. The title fit, if nothing else.

However, he watched as Blake ran her hands over the book for a moment and he saw a slight glint to her eyes, as if she had an idea.

"You know... it's funny. A lot of this guy's other plays offer far more serious contexts to the plot of them. I'm sure you're at least vaguely aware of them... most of his dramas and even some of his other comedies usually have something major in the background going on. Even the Summer's Dream had these larger than life aspects to it involving Old Gods and fairies." Izuku vaguely heard that about a lot of plays involving the guy who wrote them, and nodded... wondering exactly where Blake's going. "Heck, even this play, several times, threatens to break out into one of those stories. It starts off with a lot of the main characters coming from some battle or war, it threatens to devolve into duels to the death involving honor, suicide... yet every single time, it pulls back into something silly and ridiculous that seems... I dunno. Meaningless by comparison? I don't want to call stuff like... you know, love meaningless but... well... you get the picture, right?"

"Yeah, you mean that the actual plot the book contents itself with seems like small potatoes compared to what it could be about." Blake nodded, smiling at his understanding.

"Exactly. There's a lot more important things going on that this could be about but... well, in the end it's just a little comedy. A Little To Do With Something that... well, maybe as the name entails... doesn't mean much." Blake tapped the book for a second as she seemed to take it all in. "I mean, think about it. As nice as the romance is in this and as good as the characters are... for all we know, the day after the events of this play..." There was a moment of silence, one that he considered breaking for a moment, before Blake sighed and looks up at Izuku. "Izuku... is it ridiculous that we're up here talking about this play now of all times?" Izuku blinked slightly as he tilted his head to the side.

"Why? Did you not like it or have fun?" Blake shook her head vigorously.

"No, it was a great read and, after the last two, a nice bit of reprieve. It was fun and ridiculous and still really well written. It's a good comedy and a good play and I really enjoyed myself but... I mean... should we really be talking about something like this right now? The day after all of us almost died?"

...

Ah, now Izuku was getting a better picture of what Blake had been getting at.

"Yesterday we all went to some place that was supposed to be safe and familiar and... well, let's face it, we all were fortunate that you sent off a signal and that Toshinori arrived in the time he did. Things could've been worse. 'A lot' worse... and now the day after it all happens... I dunno. Tsuyu's packing up for a vacation with her family out into the bogs, Yang's still trying to crack terrible puns even as Peach forces her to go check in with her and even Tenya seems more content to just... be him. It's not just my team too, it's everyone... including me and you." Blake picked up the book again as she looked down at it. "It's a comedy that something that really is so insignificant is being given a place next to something most people would consider 'direly' important but... is that right? Should we really be distracting ourselves with Something that's so... small by comparison?" Izuku saw that Blake wasn't making a judgment call here one way or the other... she seemed genuinely conflicted on the matter as she thought it over.

He frowned slightly as he lightly handled the book in his hand. Really, even compared to The Man With Two Souls and The Modern Sage physically, the play was lighter in his hands than the previous works. It wasn't as obvious or as much of a force on his person, it was just there... and yet, despite that, he found that it could lightened his mood, even after some crazy stuff or a hard bit of work. As he thought over Blake's point and the nature of the play before him, he ended up shrugging as he looked Blake head on.

"Then by that logic, we probably shouldn't have read any of the books we read before. I mean, that was time we could've used to train in preparation to fight the Grimm, those Monochrome guys or anyone else that could possibly come up." Blake flinched a bit as Izuku spoke, though he could tell that she eased up a bit when she saw the calm smile on his face. "I think... I think life isn't really about the fight. It can't be: I know I train a lot, but I'm 'especially' aware of the fact that if you keep fighting, if you keep training, you'll only break yourself down more and more... literally, in my case."

Blake just shook her head as she watched as Izuku held up several bruised fingers.

"However, we train and do that kind of stuff because there's more to life than the fight. Life's about the people, the little stories that end up coming together in order to form our great, big world. We train and do what we can so that we can protect that... I know I do it because I want to protect all of these little stories, including yours, my team, and everyone around me." Izuku clenched his fist as he kept up that smile. "But we also need to slow down. We need to stop and take it all in... to give ourselves time to make these kinds of stories for ourselves. Because it gives us a reason for these fights... and it reminds us of them. If we didn't have these stories, these reasons for fighting... well, then there wouldn't be all that much that separated us from the unthinking, unfeeling Grimm." Izuku finished off this point with what he hoped was a dazzling smile.

"This story isn't big in the grand scheme of things, true, but it doesn't diminish its importance to the people in it. They're trying to get away from their own battles, and find more to their lives along the way. Maybe this story, compared to all the other ones the author wrote, was his way of saying these small moments of laughs and love are as important as any epic."

...

Blake actually chortled a bit, and openly at that, as the young woman brought her hand up to cover her mouth.

"That's pretty cheesy of you Izuku..." She muttered, trying to sound her usual distant and somewhat sarcastic self, even as she lowered her hand. "Still... I see your point. It's really easy to lose sight of these kinds of things if all you do is fight all the time... it really is." Blake lightly touched the cover of the play as she looked up at him. "I guess it really is important to remember why you fight and to find reasons to fight. Otherwise, you're right... we become no better than monsters." Despite the seriousness of that phrase, Blake just sighed as she danced her fingers across the cover of the book. "Still, that doesn't leave us much to talk about in terms of serious stuff..."

"Well... then let's just have fun with it. Let's not talk about serious stuff when it comes to this book." Blake cracked open an eye slightly at that, a slight smile on her face as she shrugged.

"Fair enough." Izuku saw Blake hum to herself... before she nodded. "Well, the obvious thing to talk about that is gossipy about this book is... well, the gossip." Blake picked the book up by its spine and held it up. "I mean, the entire premise is these guys get together like a bunch of old women and gossip with each other as they try to set these and themselves up without most folks even knowing. I think that's pretty fun to talk about."

"You mean all the matchmaking going on? Yeah, that would be pretty fun to talk about." Izuku saw Blake snort a bit as she rolled her eyes, Izuku offering a goofy grin in response. "I'm guessing you don't exactly find it profound."

"Obviously not but more than that... I dunno, it seems both silly and a little annoying at the same time." Blake crossed her arms. "I mean, these guys get together and decide to put these two together and then decide to help be wing-men for their friend to get with this girl he likes without the girl knowing... 'and then' they turn that around on the guy by having her pretend to die after he hears rumors about her and insults her? I mean, these are some pretty extreme lengths to go to in order to try to play matchmaker. Kind of cruel too." Blake leaned forward as she looked at Izuku. "I mean, just pulling an example from our own friends... Nora and Ren, for example? Like, it's so obvious it kind of stings, right? But... I dunno, would you really go to the lengths the people in this book would go to hook them up?"

"I dunno... it sounds like you wouldn't like the idea of playing matchmaker." Blake scoffed a bit as she combed a stray bit of hair behind her ear.

"Yeah, no. I've had enough of people trying to play wing man or being 'supportive' of me that I don't think I'd be all that into that kind of stuff."Izuku nodded, that sounded reasonable.

Izuku carefully tapped his chin as he considered Blake's point, slightly humming to himself as he did so.

"I might play matchmaker if one or both of them are trying to make a move and it's just failing miserably. I mean, I get it, as if I could do better in a social situation than someone else but... I think in Nora and Ren's case, that might actually be possible." Blake grinned as she nodded in agreement before Izuku moved on. "Or maybe if one of them is trying and the other doesn't realize it I would... which I guess is kind of what Nora's doing, right? Maybe?" Izuku ended up just shrugging as he looked at Blake. " I guess I'd want to make sure that both sides are receptive to the idea and not just assume that..."

...

Hold on a second.

"... Wait, Blake, what's this about you?"

...

Blake's face immediately took on a surprisingly dark hue of red as it seemed like she, too, realized what she just let slip. The black haired young woman immediately choked as she seemed to do her best to bring her book up to block her face, as if she was shielding herself with it.

"Nothing! I said absolutely nothing! You didn't hear anything!"

"I'm pretty sure I heard you saw that people were trying to play matchmaker with you..." Izuku remarked somewhat slowly as his green eyes went a bit wide in realization. "Oh! Is this about that rumor you said that I should ignore if I heard it?" Blake seemed to practically freeze, her ribbon having practically stood up straight along with the rest of her posture. Izuku saw her shift around a bit, as if she was having an internal argument, before she just shook her head.

"... Gods this just gets better and better. Why did I even bring that up with him before? I swear, I keep digging my own grave with this..." Blake muttered from behind her book as she just heaved a heavy sigh. "Yes, Izuku, it does." Izuku tilted his head curiously to the side and though Blake seemed, for a moment, like she was measuring a choice between just running and sticking around, the normally quiet young woman just frowned as she leaned forward. "Look... it's nothing you need to worry about, okay? It's really nothing: some idiot-" Izuku saw Blake jerkily look side to side, as if fearing that the very person may have been listening at the time, before she turned back to the conversation, ",thinks I like some guy and they're trying to be 'helpful' by giving me advice and trying to see if this person they think I like likes me. So let's just-"

"Do I know either of these people?" He asked, curious, as Blake's mouth just stretches out into a 'very' thin line. She coughs into her fist slightly as she looked off to the side.

"Yeah, you do. How well kinda depends on how you look at it, I guess." Blake muttered toward the end.

"So what caused this anyway? I don't think people just randomly decide stuff like this about other people without proof..." Izuku muttered, though Blake frowned as she pointed down to the book.

"I think our little play here would say otherwise Izuku... but... fair enough, it wasn't... 'nothing'. I kind of walked into it myself and... it's kind of my own fault." Blake scratched the back of her head, embarrassed and aggravated. "I kind of... sort of gave the impression I did like the guy."

"How do you do that without actually liking the guy?" Blake laughed to herself as she just put her on her forehead.

"How indeed?" The black haired young woman shook her head as she sighed. "Let's just say I walked into a situation that I didn't want to get mixed up in and... I kind of panicked and tried to talk my way out in a very dumb way. Now this person thinks I'm some hopeless romantic and is doing their best to help me... and I really don't want or even need the help because, again 'I don't like this guy that way'." Izuku frowned slightly at the way Blake said that. There was finality, of course but... well, it also seemed like she was being extraordinarily careful when she said it. As if she didn't want to be too harsh or was looking for a way to speak softly about it.

"You don't sound that firm about it. I think most people would be more annoyed with both people in a case like this, right?" Izuku asked, curious, as Blake just looked at him for a moment.

"It... really isn't the guy's fault this all happened. It was mine. Besides, it's not like I'm insulted or anything that... someone might think that. I mean, I'm uncomfortable with it but..." Blake noticed the obvious question on his face and he watched as she rapped her fingers against the cover of the play as she shook her head. "I don't mean uncomfortable like this guy's disgusting or anything, he's... alright, I guess. More of a person you'd like as a person than you'd be attracted to. I'm just uncomfortable to be put into this kind of situation. I just really can't see myself with this guy."

"Something wrong with him?" Izuku asked, blinking slightly. It was all pretty weird sounding, at least to him. Blake just sighed as she shook her head.

"Honestly? No. No not all. He's... a good person. Kind and just, really a stand up person. The kind of person... well, just the kind of person you'd admire. You'd... like him a lot." Blake seemed to be thoroughly weirded out as she spoke and, honestly, Izuku couldn't blame her. It probably wasn't the conversation she'd looked to have when the two started talking. "It's just... well, we're not exactly... we're 'very' different. Like, different on a pretty fundamental level. On who and what we are." Izuku blanked on that, tilting his head to the side as he brought his hand up to his chin in thought. Who he might get but what? What was a what that would... oh. Well, he guessed there was one 'what' he could think of, but it seemed weird.

"Is this guy a Faunus? That seems like an odd reason for you to not like it, considering how pro-rights you are Blake." Izuku actually saw Blake almost falter, her jaw dropping for a second as a choking sound escaped from somewhere in there. After a moment, Blake brought a hand up to her face, practically having slapped her forehead, as she sighed 'very' deeply into it.

"... Guess we're running with this then..." Blake whispered so low and behind so much breath that Izuku really couldn't make it out, but she just looked at him as she seemed to hesitate. "Yes... I mean, I don't have anything against... Faunus. Not like that anyway. Like you said, I'm pretty pro-Rights and all, and I'd want there to be an equal relationship between Faunus and Humans... but well, getting with a... Faunus..." She seemed to practically trip up every time she approached that word. "... Well, it doesn't seem like it'd work out well. It's a real rarity even now for it to happen and heck, even some pro-Human Faunus I knew really don't know what to make of Human-Faunus... 'relationships', so you can imagine what it's like among White Fang Faunus. With humans, well... you and I know what the reaction there can be like."

'Yeah... not exactly great' Izuku considered, 'With relations having grown more tense as the Fang radicalized, that has become an even trickier part of the balance of the Human-Faunus struggle. For anyone who wanted to try to navigate 'that' particular pool, well, things would be pretty awkward at a minimum.'

"Yeah, I guess I see your point... that would be pretty insane to try to navigate." Blake nodded and... well, he watched as Blake took a slight breath and looked off to the side.

"... Like I said though, it's not just a what." Izuku blinked slightly as Blake spoke up, combing a stray hair behind her ear. "It's also a who."

"Is he not your type or something?" Izuku asked, somewhat curious. He knew that everyone had a type and, hey, if a person didn't match up that was fine. Still, the reaction from Blake is a surprise: she actually chortled a bit.

"No, probably not. In fact, I'm very sure he isn't 'my type'. Thinking about my last relationship, he's probably the furthest thing from it. But, well, after my last relationship I'm not even sure if my type is my type anymore." Blake shook her hair out a bit. "I guess I'm just not looking for a relationship in general for that very reason. The who... Izuku, it isn't this guy. It isn't any other guy even. It's, well..." Blake shrugged as she looked Izuku in the eye. There wasn't a hint of sadness or remorse, just a sort of calm, flat acceptance.

"Let's just say that if anyone actually got to know me, they'd probably do their best to keep their distance and leave it at that. Rightfully so too. So... Hell, I guess there isn't even much of a reason to worry about it."

Izuku's mouth opened and closed a few times as he really took in the last of what Blake had to say. Honestly, hearing it out of someone he considered a good friend at that point... it really was disheartening.

'Just what has hurt her to this degree? 'Who' has hurt her like this?' Despite his innate curiosity, he held back on asking such a thing directly. There was no way of knowing how Blake would react... so instead, he opted for a different route. To try and just be reassuring. To try and fight against this self-doubt Blake seemed to have hanging so thick around her thoughts.

"Blake... people call me out on my low self-esteem and, well, I can't say they don't have their reasons... but the fact remains that I have some very 'real' issues." Blake seemed a bit puzzled as he started, he ran a hand through his hair as he gathered his thoughts. "I'm nervous around people, I mutter to the point of weirding people out and constantly have to chase things that come natural to others. Heck, I nearly fumbled us being friends entirely by being such a weirdo when we first met." There was a slight crack in Blake's expression, a very small grin, as she shook her head, seeming ready to push back. "However... despite all this I'm working on all that regardless and keeping up hope that I can be better than that. I need to be if I want to be the kind of Hunter I want to be."

"But you, Blake... sometimes it seems like you've given up on yourself in some ways." Blake stated back a bit as he laid it out plainly, Izuku looking down to the side. "You seem to think so little of yourself... and you admitted as much just now. And Blake? I have to say that, whatever it is that is making you think low of yourself, I honestly can't fathom why it exists or that you're entertaining it. Because the more I've come to know you, the more I appreciate the fact we became friends. For whatever failures you might see in yourself, I'm sure me and the rest of our friends could name qualities that more than redeem anything you might hold against yourself." Izuku spoke with as much conviction as he could, doing his level best to try to 'will' this belief into Blake herself. The girl just seemed to fold a bit at first, wilting ever so slightly as she glanced off to the side. "Blake, it's alright for you to distance yourself from others if you need some alone time. But please don't act like people should keep their distance from you for some reason, because that simply isn't true. 'I know' it isn't true."

"... You know huh?" Blake says with a small chuckle, the young woman keeping her eyes closed. If Izuku had listened closely enough, he might have heard her mutter of 'so naive' under her breath. However, as Blake turned back to look at him with a slight smile. "I... appreciate your trust Izuku. It's... nice that you have such faith in me." Despite what she was saying and the expression she wore while saying it... he couldn't help but feel like Blake's holding back. Like she was still withholding some sentiment she had running about in her head. "You're a good friend Izuku. I'm beyond lucky to have met you." Now that was something completely genuine; nothing held back or kept, just genuine intent. So... even if Izuku felt like Blake's still walling him off slightly, Izuku smiled as he nodded.

"Blake, like I said, I appreciate that we've become friends. I feel the same... so don't be so down, alright?" Blake just chuckled, something light and almost hollow from her chest, as she offered Izuku a nod.

"In fact…," Izuku's grin began to widen really far, and he looked her straight in the eye with complete determination, "if this is all that's stopping you from asking this guy out... Blake, I think you should take a shot with this guy!"

...

...

...

"Huh?" Blake's face seemed to go quite blank. Izuku nodded as he smiled at her.

"Yeah. Blake, if you're just worried about how he might think of you... trust me, you have nothing to worry about. I mean, you're... p-pretty and a great friend. I'm sure he'd say yes if you asked him out for just some kind of first date! I mean, I'm in no way experienced, but even I know that a first date is usually just something casual, so you wouldn't even have to worry so much about it going into something more if you didn't want to." Blake's face slowly grew more and more red as Izuku spoke, her embarrassment clear as she seemed to look everywhere 'but' at Izuku.

"Izuku, come on. I mean, seriously, I thought you said-"

"I know, I know, but I'm not trying to force you into this like some matchmaker, I'm just trying to give some helpful advice." Blake mutters 'of course you are' under her breath, as if she was flummoxed she thought he'd do anything else 'but' try to help her out. "And I know... I think if you really think this guy's a good person and that all you're worried about is the whole Human-Faunus thing and your doubts, that you should give it a try. I mean, you seem like you know him... but then again, I don't know any Faunus friends that I've seen you speaking with besides Tsuyu." For a moment, Blake looked like she was about to panic, as if he'd pieced something together, before a look of realization crosses his face. "Wait, Blake, is the reason you know so much about this guy without us knowing him because you stalked him too? Like me?"

Izuku was not sure if it was the accusation or the fact that he brought her stalking him back up, but Blake's face practically went beet red at that. Izuku chuckled nervously as he brought his hands up defensively. "Sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up... but, well, if that's the case, maybe you should try and talk to the guy? See if you two get along well and share interests. Maybe then you'll see that he won't be put off by you or afraid for whatever you think's wrong with you. Heck, I'm sure he'd see you the same way I and everyone else does." Izuku offered as wide and genuine a smile as he could at that, which only seemed to cause Blake further embarrassment as the red trailed down from her face to her neck and back to her ears.

"If you don't want to date him, then don't... but don't let your fears about who or what you are stop you from something you might enjoy! Heck, I'd even be willing to try to get to know this guy too and tell you some stuff about him if you'd tell me who he is!" Izuku gave a winning smile at that as, finally, Blake brought her hands up to her face, as if trying to hide just how red her entire head at turned.

"... Gods... is this punishment for my sins? For not going to church when you bailed me out of the situation with Toshinori? Is this how I'm supposed to pay my dues back to all the people I've hurt and betrayed? Why this? I honestly think I'd rather be stabbed in the stomach repeatedly then go through this... he's literally talking about... and with a smile on his face... he's being such an idiot..." Blake whispered something to herself behind her hands and, try as Izuku might, he really couldn't hear anything she was saying. Eventually he watch as the color pulled back from Blake's ears and neck as she looked at Izuku again, a thick blush on her face as she seemed to 'strain' her expression to keep an even look to her.

"Well I appreciate it Izuku and I promise I'll give it some thought and no really you don't have to worry about meeting this guy I appreciate the sentiment but I think I can handle it myself ohboywouldyoulookatthetimeIthinkIneedtogoseeyoulaterIzukugreattalkingaboutthisbookIreallythinkthatwegotalotoutofit!" Blake immediately jumped up on her feet and practically sprinted away from the spot the two had been sitting, heading back to the staircase as she did so. Izuku just blinked and offer a slow nodded at that, just barely understanding what Blake had been saying in that entire spiel. Before long, however, Izuku realize something as he called out to Blake to stop her.

"Wait, Blake! What about our next book? The library's going to close tomorrow along with the rest of the non-resident buildings on campus, so we should probably decide that now!" Blake stopped dead in her tracks, as if his words had managed to lasso a rope around her ankles. Izuku see the young woman looked back at him... he saw she was interested and, yeah, even eager for another book... but as soon as she looked at him, Izuku saw that the red on her face threatened to explode again. Eventually, Blake forced her expression back into her even look as she just glanced over at the door.

"U-Uh... well, how about 'you' decide this time Izuku? Go to the library and pick us out some copies of books you think we'd enjoy reading and talking about and then stop by my dorm later... and slide it under my door! Yeah, that's it! Now, see you later Izuku!" With that, Blake immediately opened and closed the door behind her, leaving him alone on the roof.

...

"Huh, she really must be nervous about all that..." He muttered to himself as he rubbed his chin. A pretty big responsibility had just been dropped in his lap: Blake had just asked him to pick out a book for both of them. He wanted to show he understood her tastes or, at least, that he knew what she'd be remotely interested in reading. As Izuku stood up and headed down to the library, he gave it some thought...

It wasn't long before he'd departed from the library with two copies of his find. The King Under The Mountain was a pretty thick book, slightly larger than some of the others that he'd read before, but it was by all means manageable for him to carry around. Honestly, growing up in Vale, he'd always been exposed in some way or another to stories about Arthur and his Knights, the fabled Early Kings of the land that would eventually become Vale. That the story, from what Izuku understood, was much more grown up than the kid stories and fairy tales of knights that he'd heard about and pondered some pretty heavy themes convinced he that it might've been a good book for Blake to want to read as well. It didn't take long before he hit Blake's dorm and, taking a moment to readjust the books in his hands, Izuku knocked on Team TABY's door.

"Blake, it's me." Izuku called through. After a moment he heard 'very' light footsteps on the other side of the door.

"Hey Izuku. Just slide it under..." Izuku chuckled a little as he scratched the back of his head.

"I'm afraid it'd a little too big for that, Blake." Izuku heard Blake pause for a moment on the other side and, after a second, the door cracked open ever so slightly. Blake peeked out, her face schooled in that very calm, very even expression of hers as she looked at him and then down to one of the books in his arms. He extended a hand out and Blake took it, taking a look at the cover. Izuku saw Blake hum for a moment as she looked at it, her amber eyes blinking as she flipped it over.

"... You know, I've heard of this. It's a pretty common legend in these parts but... well, I've never actually taken the time to read one of the sources. From what I have heard though..."

...

Blake cracked a smile, ever so slightly, through that expression of hers. "It sounds like a good read." Blake continued to stare 'very' determinedly at the book and not Izuku as she shook her head. "I guess you have been paying attention to my taste."

"Well of course. I want you to have as much fun with this as I do Blake. I want us both to have a good time and I really enjoy seeing how engrossed you get with these books too." Izuku offered a kind smile at that and, for a moment, Blake broke her gaze with the book to look back up at him. All at once, that slight smile immediately folded back into her even expression as he swore he momentarily saw her ears turn red.

"Right. Of course. Well thanks Izuku, I'll be sure to read this as soon as possible. I look forward to our next discussion." Izuku nod firmly at that, before giving Blake a thumbs up.

"Same here Blake! Also, I hope my advice helps, and remember that I'm willing to-"

Having brought up his advice about her dating situation again, Izuku knew for a fact that he saw Blake's face turn red again as it seemed like steam began to slowly drift out of her ears. The door was closed quickly as Blake gave him a quick 'I remember Izuku, thanks, that's really sweet of you' before closing the door behind her, the young woman having turned the lock as well. Izuku blinked in some confusion before he scratched the back of his head.

"Guess she's really nervous about this guy or something. I don't really think she should be but... well, hey." With that he began to walk down the hall, book in hand and a bit of a spring in his step.

'Knowing Blake though...this guy must be pretty great.'

"Can't wait to meet him."

* * *

 **a/n: As ever, when a chapter's late like this the next one will still be posted on the scheduled day, so next one will come out on the 7th.**


	60. Meetings

"Come on Deku, there's really no need to be so nervous. You gotta trust me on this one: Yatsuhashi's a sweetheart under that gigantic exterior of his and while Fox may like to act like a tough guy, he's really easy enough to get along with provided you follow my instructions. So don't be so nervous, little guy."

'That's easy for you to say.'

As Izuku strolled through the dorms with Coco Adel at his side, his senior having guided him through the halls to her dorm room, Izuku couldn't help but swallow a huge lump in his throat as he stared ahead. There had been several things that ran through his mind when he considered what he was doing: when he had run into Coco, the young woman had insisted that, now that her entire team had come back from a recent mission, she really wanted to give Izuku the chance to meet the rest of her team in person. It sounded simple enough and certainly should've been a natural part of making friends with people from other teams. However, despite how natural this should've been, Izuku couldn't help but feel nervous.

First things first, he was meeting 'more' of his seniors. While Coco, Velvet and Mirio were his seniors as well, there were certain mitigating factors to the whole affair. Velvet was the simplest to explain: despite the fact that she was probably more experienced that Izuku and, thus, better in a fight, she really didn't 'feel' like his senior. Her nervous demeanor and small size, having been shorter than Yang and just around Blake's height, made it easy to view her as more of a peer than someone Izuku had to hold in regard as a senior. Heck, the fact that she was in a good number of his classes and even tutored under him at times was another reinforcing element to that, which all came together to paint the picture of someone he could get along with easier.

Mirio was similar in that regard, he was definitely someone he could get along with easily... but that was because Mirio was just a force of positive energy. Mirio could kick Izuku's ass and, even when he was holding back in their spar, he was pretty much able to manhandle Izuku that entire fight, leaving the young man no illusion that he could ever possibly hope to challenge him if he put himself up to full strength. Despite that and despite the fact that he was a whole two years older than Izuku, Mirio was just such a good person and a friendly guy that it was hard 'not' to like him and equally hard to feel any kind of unease around him. Sure, he spooked Izuku whenever he pulled off that phasing through stuff trick of his with his Semblance, but that pretty much paled in comparison when compared to just what an easy-going guy he was and how simple it was to get along with him.

Coco... okay, Coco made Izuku nervous, but she made him nervous in the way that a lot of attractive young women did. Now, admittedly, that latter element was dulled slightly because Coco seemed to really like treating Izuku like... well, he didn't exactly have a frame of reference for it, being an only child, but she seemed to treat him like some kid sibling. She'd pinch his cheeks sometimes, refer to him as a 'little guy' and, like Ruby, made use of his nickname, Deku... because she found it 'cute'. The dynamic that had built up between the two of them, while it hadn't numbed the nervousness of being around an older woman, an attractive one at that, had at least made it easier to handle and it was clear that, because he helped Velvet so much, that Coco had warmed up to him quite a bit.

These guys though? Izuku didn't know them. He'd never met them before. He had no idea how they'd react to Izuku or what they were actually like. Whatever assurances Coco might try and give him, fact remained that Izuku was in a bit of trouble when it came to dealing with strangers.

Then there was the fact that he was going to their dorm room in particular. He'd never actually been inside other people's dorms before, mostly just sticking to his own. Co-ed though it may be, there was one simple fact; a girl was taking him back to her dorm room.

A girl was taking him back to her dorm room.

The thought along put a bit of red on his cheeks as he swallowed nervously. Izuku couldn't touch 'anything'.

Finally... these people were Coco's friends, her teammates. She was introducing Izuku to them to help bring him more into her friend circle... what if they didn't like him? What if they thought of him what other people did. That he was a weird, nervous guy who didn't seem like much of anything and wasn't much for 'friend' material? Would Coco be disappointed? Would she distance herself from him? He absolutely 'had' to make a good impression because that's what would make Coco, his friend, happy but at the same time HOW WAS HE SUPPOSED TO DO THAT GIVEN ALL OF THE ABOVE?

"Seriously Deku, it's okay." Coco patted on Izuku head as she spoke, ruffling his hair a bit as she did so. "Just remember what I said: Yatsuhashi kind of likes being a show off, so do your best to be suitably impressed. He goes for the quiet guy act most of the time and he is a softy, but still, guy likes to get his ego stroked every now and then. Now, you aren't a girl so you're gonna need to reign it in a little bit, don't try to seem 'too' impressed, but... well, I'm sure you'll figure it out." How the Hell was he supposed to figure it out form that? That made no sense and was completely contradictory! Be impressed but not too impressed?! "Fox... well, just be passive when it comes to Fox. Say hi, be respectful and let him come to you; he's used to dealing with nervous people like Velvet and you can't really try to act 'as cool' as Fox so you're going to have to go for the cute guy routine you pull off so well."

"Routine?"

"Yeah you know, how you act so sheepish and sometimes get really flustered? That routine."

"... You mean how I act normally as a person?"

"Exactly! Just more of that, but be natural about it."

...

'Oh this is going to go 'so' well, I can just feel it in my bones.' Maybe it wasn't too late to say that he'd made other plans. It wouldn't be too bad right? Surely Coco would understand that he was busy... after all, she kind of just roped him into this on a whim when she met Izuku in the hall earlier. Yeah, just say that he had other things to do before she roped him in, and everything would be just-

"We're here!"

'Wait what?'

Before he could even think to put his plan into motion, Coco Adel practically kicked down her own dorm room's door and, with a pull, dragged him in without much room for resistance on his part. Izuku practically tripped over the threshold to the door and, as he just barely managed to land on his feet, he took a good look around the dorm room. It was structured much the same as his own dorm room: half of it seemed to go to one partner pair and the other half seemed to go to the other. On the one hand, it was easy to tell which bed was Coco's; it was right next to a nearly full to bursting closet and, on the desk immediately next to it, seemed to have some kind of container for her shades. From there, Velvet's part of the room seemed rather unassuming, much like the girl herself, with just a few odd decorations here and there and a plush on her bed of some rabbit doll.

The other half of the room... well, its occupants were obviously there and one of them was even on his own bed, with deep indents in the rug underneath it where you assumed the barbell he had currently been lifting was usually placed. The bed was also much larger than Izuku's, sticking out a good foot or two more than was normal. The last part of the room was similarly next to the closet, with a few posters put up.

As for the two guys themselves... Izuku couldn't lie, he nearly choked immediately.

Sat on his bed was the guy Izuku absolutely had to assume to be Yatsuhashi Daichi. Why? Because the guy with FRIGGIN ENORMOUS! The guy was friggin 'heads' taller than our hero, at least two feet. He was probably much taller than literally any of the teachers or staff Izuku had met except for Toshinori and even then it wasn't that far off from being close.

'Holy woah! I thought that maybe the only reason Toshinori's Hero form looked so tall and strong was because of One For All but, looking at this guy, maybe 'Toshinori was just that naturally buff and tall'.'

No wonder he was a natural for One For All! That guy would probably handle it with ease too because, on top of being so incredibly tall, he was also quite muscular, judging by the tremendous barbell he was currently lifting up and down as he took a look at who had so suddenly barged into his dorm room. The guy was tanned quite well, even up his bare arms, and his dark hair and dark eyes lent him the appearance of someone from coastal Mistral. The look he gave Izuku was pretty well neutral but even that look, combined with just how physically intimidating the guy was, pretty much had his knees shaking. How did people even get this tall?! Izuku could only imagine how Weiss or Ruby would react looking at the guy, given that they were the only ones in his peer group who were as tall or shorter than him.

The other guy was also intimidating but for different reasons. He just looked so friggin 'scary'. Scars littered his muscular arms, bare thanks to the sleeveless shirt he had been wearing and a vertical scar had run across his lips as well. The guy's dark skin and red hair kind of meshed together with his red and black outfit, and the long hang of his bangs lent a short of shadow to his upper face that made it somewhat hard to see his eyes. Though not hard enough; he could readily and easily tell that the guy literally had no irises or pupils. They were 'pure friggin white'. The more he looked at Izuku the more he felt like he was looking into Izuku's 'very soul'. The fact that the guy looked to be about as tall as Coco, and therefore over half a foot taller than Izuku, didn't help things with the intimidation factor either. That he kept his expression calm and cool also really, 'really' didn't make it feel any easier. By process of elimination, and based on what Coco had told you about the guys, that person had to be Fox Alistair.

"Look alive there boys, I brought us some company! Izuku Midoriya, this is Yatsuhashi, just call him Yatsu if that's too much of a mouthful for you, and that over there brooding in the corner is Fox. Fox, Yatsu, this here's Deku, the little guy I was telling you about and the first year who has been helping Velvet out with her studies." Coco clapped her hands together as she finished introducing everyone, looking at the scene expectantly as she did so.

...

'Oh Gods, he was so friggin nervous!'

'Okay, quit hyperventilating. It's fine. Everything's fine. Just... just try and remember Coco's advice. Yeah, just work my way through Coco's advice and 'everything' would be fine…'

...

'Oh Gods, he nearly forgot her advice for a moment. Okay, that's a relief.' So, he did his best to give a light smile as he raised his right hand in a wave, first addressing Yatsuhashi who sounded like, for lack of a better term, that he might be the more friendly out of those two or, at least, will give Izuku the better sign as to whether or not he'd managed to endear himself to him.

"Holy woah... that's a really huge barbell." Indeed, the individual weights on each side of it probably looked to be around the size of Izuku's head and yet the guy was handling it as if it were no trouble at all. Izuku saw Yatsuhashi stopped his lifting as he spoke up and, for a moment, Izuku wondered if he'd been too forward, like Coco warned, or if he just thought it was a weird thing to say. Eventually though he was greeted with the sight of a slight grin tugging at the corner of Yatsuhashi's lips as the guy switches his lifted around, adjusting it so that he's working his triceps by lifting the huge weight behind his back.

"Eh, it's not as heavy as it looks. Trust me, you spend a year here and you'll probably be lifting something... well, maybe not quite so heavy. You're a bit more scrawny than I was during my First Year." Izuku'd believe it too; for Izuku to go through a growth spurt that'd take him to the kind of height that the big guy was, ye Gods, all his bones would probably shatter. It made whatever progress he was making with his muscles seem positively meek and weak by comparison. Izuku saw a slight glint in Yatsuhashi's eyes as he seemed to smile to himself, the man bringing the barbell forward as he took a step off his bed, and walked over to Izuku. "You want to give it a shot?"

"W-What? I-I mean I couldn't possibly, that thing looks way too heavy for someone like me, I don't think I-" Even as Izuku was protesting, Yatsuhashi pushed the barbell forward into his awaiting hands, and the younger man secured a grip around it just in case. His caution proved to be warranted as, suddenly, the giant of a Second Year in front of him just let go, forcing him to support the entirety of the weight on his own. He felt like the blood vessels as far as his head was about to pop from the sudden strain his body put on itself in order to try to keep the barbell from hitting the ground and, for a moment, he felt like it was absolutely going to drop. However, in that moment of panic, Izuku quickly tapped into 5% of One For All and shoot it into his arms. Immediately, Fox's and Yatsuhashi's eyes widened slightly as Izuku's arms glowed with that mix of golden and scarred red as his muscles immediately expanded from the power flowing through them. Izuku still felt his blood vessels pounding against the skin of his forehead as he gritted his teeth, slowly lifting the barbell back up with tremendous effort, even 5% of One For All almost proving to be insufficient to lift the barbell.

"Well holy shit..." The giant in front of Izuku remarked as he scratched the side of his head. "I thought we'd have a little laugh here to break the ice but damn kid, you're not exactly as little as you make yourself out to be." Yatsu tilted his head to the side, while Izuku just grunted a little under the weight.

"... Please take this back, I honestly think my arms are going to give out at any minute. I can't keep this up forever." Yatsuhashi just nodded as he reached forward and, with minimal effort, lifted the barbell out of his hands, causing him to release a shaken breath as One For All abandoned his arms in the next second... 'holy woah, they feel like noodles.'

"I told you; Deku here might be a cute little guy but he's got spunk. Stood up to that muscle head who was trying to push Velvet around after all, Deku was raring to go and ready for a fight." Izuku gave a slightly shaky laugh as Coco again just tousled his hair, while Yatsu just smiled as he switched up which hand held the barbell, putting it off into his left.

"Well hey, I guess you've got a point. Put it there kid, maybe you'll be lifting my kinds of barbells when you get into the Second Year after all." Yatsu put his right hand out to shake Deku's, an eager look on his face as he did so... one that quickly turned to confusion when he didn't lift his hand for a handshake. Izuku nervously chuckled as he looked down at his arms, thoroughly sore and kind of smarting from having so suddenly having to manage all that weight all at once.

"Give me a second, I can't really feel my arms right now." The giant of a young man just gave a hearty laugh at that.

"Well Coco, what can I say? You really know how to pick 'em." With that, Yatsu gave Izuku a firm slap on the shoulder and, Izuku wouldn't lie, it 'really' hurt but he managed to grin right through it as Yatsu walked back to his bed and went back at it with the barbell. With that done and settled, Izuku turned his head to look over at Fox Alistair, the young man still just sitting in his place and watching Izuku. Still feeling quite nervous under his gaze, he swallowed a slight lump in his throat.

"So, uh... hi there. I'm a friend-acquaintance?-of Coco and Velvet." Momentarily Izuku nervously turned his gaze back over to Coco, as if looking for confirmation. The brown haired young woman just gave him a slight, playful frown as she looked down at Izuku.

"Deku... are you saying you're not sure if we're friends? Come on, after everything you've done for Velvet and how sweet you've been? You can't possibly doubt that we're buds now..." Izuku immediately bowed his head as he saw the 'sad' look on Coco's face, his own face went slightly red.

"O-Oh I'm sorry, it's just that well, I know we've been going to the club meetings for a while and I've been tutoring Velvet but it's just I wasn't sure if I should presume, I mean I want us to be friends of course, b-but I just didn't-" Coco laughed as she reached down and pinched his cheeks, pulling them apart slightly.

"Oh Gods, isn't he just the cutest little First Year you've ever seen? Why do so many of them come around stomping like they own the place rather than acting all cute and nervous? It'd be way better if you ask me." Coco declared earnestly which, finally, actually drew a response from Fox.

"You mean you hate it when First Years act exactly like you did?" Coco immediately froze at that, the young woman just laughing slightly as she readjusted her shades.

"Come on, you can't possibly mean that Fox. Surely you mean to say that, at the very least, I acted with a bit of decorum and reservation befitting a-"

"No you acted like someone who thought they practically owned this school the moment you stepped into it." With that, Coco just gasped as she looked down at Izuku.

"Don't believe a word of it Deku, that's just slander. Slander and gossip. You and I are above those sorts of things." The freshman blinked slightly as he turned his head to look up at her, the young woman having lifted her head so that her chin had a sort of imperial, haughty tilt to it. Kind of reminded Izuku of Weiss in a way whenever she got into a foul mood and wanted to project an imposing presence.

"Coco, you gossip about a lot of stuff during the Council Meetings. Heck, a couple weeks ago-"

"Up up up up up!" Coco interrupted Izuku as she chuckled a bit nervously, Yatsu just gave a short chuckle under his breath as he continued lifting while Fox just rolled his eyes... or he thought he did? It was hard to tell given that his eyes were all white, but Izuku thought the motion was there. Coco, meanwhile, coughed into her fist as she looked back down at Izuku. "A-Anyway Deku, you had more to say, didn't you?" He gave a slow nod, deciding it best to actually get back to introducing himself to Fox.

"Anyway, Coco thought it'd be best if I got to meet you all properly, so... here I am. N-nice to meet you."

There was a stiff silence in the room as Fox just looked at the underclassman for a while. Eventually the young, red haired man just sighed as he looked off to the side, shrugging his shoulders. "Whatever."

...

'Oh Gods, I messed something up. I haven't done something right! Had I fallen through somewhere on Coco's advice? How have I managed to mess up this first impression? Gods, this is so horrible-'

"Hey, nice job there Deku, you actually managed to get Fox to like you on your first go. Not a lot of people get that pleasure." Fox immediately stiffened at that, turning to look at Coco with a slight furrow to his brows while Izuku just watched on confused.

"Shove it Adel, I don't like this kid, I honestly just couldn't give a rat's ass one way or the other. In fact, the more you're pushing him on us, the more it's getting kind of aggravating. So take your little accessory and shove off then."

"Oh shush. You and I both know that if you actually didn't like little old Deku here you would've stormed off in a huff to... oh, whatever it is you do to impress the girls with your bad boy attitude. Sulk on the edge of a rooftop? Stare mysteriously into the distance." Izuku was 'really confused' as Coco started teasing Fox like this, the girl just huffing as she adjusts her shades. "Honestly Fox, after all this time you're still such a try hard." Izuku looked over to Yatsu for clarification, the giant of a man just giving him the shushing motion as Coco walked over to Fox who, in turn, stood up.

"Just do your best to not draw attention to yourself and get dragged in." If Yatsu was in any way worried, he didn't seem to show it as he continued to lift, a thoroughly amused grin on his face as he watched Fox and Coco go at it. Izuku just blinked, unable to really process this, as Coco and Fox just kept going.

"And you're still so friggin' flighty. I swear, every other week it seems like you get yourself tied up into something 'new' and 'exciting' and 'fun' and then you drag our asses into it no matter what and then leave us to clean up after you when you get bored. Just like that time when you said that it was kind of lame that you and Velvet had the same hair color on the team so you-"

"Don't you friggin' dare Fox!"

"Dyed your hair. Honestly, how'd that end up working out for you?" Fox just scoffed as he looked off to the side. "Now you're dragging some kid along for the ride? Jeez, don't you think he had better things to do today than meet complete and total strangers?"

"Actually I didn't..." Immediately, 'immediately' Izuku knew that was a mistake without Yatsuhashi even having to mouth it to him. Because in that moment, Fox and Coco turned to look over at Izuku, each of them looking slightly on edge.

"Yeah, you tell this try hard Deku. You were fine with coming to meet my team so we could all be better friends and I've 'damn' well sure gone to every meeting of the Leadership Council that I could when I wasn't on a mission."

"Jeez, aren't you getting annoyed with that nickname? It'd piss me off to no end." Fox remarked dryly as he kicked himself off his seat, joining Coco who had practically walked up to Izuku's face. "Come on, don't be intimidated just cause this tomboy carries around a mini-gun, stand up for yourself cause, trust me, you don't want to be in a position where this girl feels like she can decide what you'll do at any given moment."

"Hey, I'll have you know that 'all' of my activities have been to bond our team closer together and that we've all had fun. And yes, 'ALL' of us Fox, even if you're 'too cool' to admit it." Fox just sneered a little as he rolled his eyes.

"Pisses me off... so come on, speak up kid, you're with me right?"

"Nooo, Deku's with me on this. Come on, tell him Izuku, tell this try hard that he needs to lighten up."

"Tell her that she can't just boss you around and put words in your mouth."

...

'Why didn't I listen to Yatsuhashi?'

Izuku just looked in between Fox and Coco, both of his seniors having stared down at him with expectant looks. It was all a little too much for his nerves to bear and, after a second, he let out this little, helpless cry of distress as he looked straight ahead, doing his best to avoid eye contact with the two. It seemed that his cry for help didn't go unheeded as he heard a sigh come from Yatsuhashi's bed.

"Come on you two, don't drag the little guy into this. He's gonna think this is all his fault or something."

...

Dead silence suddenly hung over the room as he looked over to Yatsuhashi, the young man's sympathetic look... well, sympathetic toward Izuku, seemingly shifting over a course of seconds. From confusion at the fact that Fox and Coco were still staying quiet to sudden and unrelenting horror as, slowly but surely, Fox and Coco turned their heads to face Yatsuhashi, a sort of gleam in their eyes.

"Uhhh... I just remembered! I have this date with a girl here... you wouldn't have heard of her, she's a third year named... Pearl Socrates-Nostradamus." Immediately Yatsuhashi leapt from his bed, dropping the dumbbell in the process, as he just clapped his hands together. "So yeah I think I'll just be going now, so I'll see you guys later, don't wait up I promise I'll take a shower on my wa-agh!" Immediately Coco's scarf, the flowery pattern that had tied it together having been unraveled and unfolded to reveal a surprising' length of material, wrapped around Yatsuhashi's neck as the giant of a man made a run for it, his foot barely having taken a step out the two before Fox started to reel him back in by the scarf.

"Reel him in Fox, keep a good hold on him." Coco declared sternly as she kept her arms crossed, the white-eyed teammate of hers just nodding.

"Will do." Izuku just watched as Yatsuhashi was dragged beside him, a look more annoyed than angry on his face as the giant of a man seemed to resign himself to his fate, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Swear, why am I always the one roped into this stuff? I just wanted to do some reps. Why doesn't Velvet ever get this treatment..." Izuku was left kind of stunned and confused as he watched as Yatsuhashi seemed to be called in to play referee to the... fight, discussion, whatever, that Fox and Coco had been in the middle of previously. After some odd moments of the two getting heated again, it seemed to finally come down to a decision: yes, Coco, you have been known to be pretty flighty, don't get mad that Fox starts busting your chops after you bust his. No, Fox, saying 'whatever' to the guest who'd been helping Velvet out immensely and who stepped in to protect her against a bully when they weren't around was not playing it cool. What, did he not appreciate it, or something.

That having been said, Fox ran a hand through his hair as he frowned, a slight grit to his teeth as he glanced back over at his underclassman. Izuku let out another light sound of distress now that focus is back on him... but Fox just seemed to deflate as he walked back over to his bed.

"It's not like I'm not grateful or anything. Velvet's our teammate, and she shouldn't let other people bully her just because she's nervous and a Faunus. I'm... urgh, more than happy to say thanks for that." With that, Fox just sat back down as he shrugged. "I just don't really see the point in dragging him here to meet and greet."

"Well maybe it'd be nice if you actually said that to poor little Deku rather than talking around him like he's not here." Coco added with some stern finality as Fox just flinched a little. The white eyed young man sighed as he reached up and scratched that mop of red hair of his, before turning to look Izuku in the eyes again... literally every time he did that it felt like he was staring at Izuku's soul.

"Look... thanks. Velvet wasn't your responsibility or your teammate... but you helped her anyway. Velvet needs more people like that around her, to be frank." It's weird how sincere that sounded, given the guy's attitude up to that point. It honestly felt like a veil drops for a moment and, while his eyes were piercing into Izuku, he was momentarily allowed to pierce back into him. But then it seemed like the shield went back up and the guy just huffed. "There, you happy now Coco, or should I call him 'Deku' too?"

"Oh no no no, nonsense." Coco gave Izuku a teasing smile as she pinches his cheek. "I think little Deku only really like it when the girls call him Deku, isn't that right?"

...

Welp, it was nice not being the target of Coco's teasing for a moment. Izuku cheeks went red from that as Fox just rolled his eyes, Yatsuhashi having grinned and chuckled as he went back to his weights.

"Well it's nice to meet you Izuku." Fox just gave a short grunt of agreement with Yatsuhashi's statement, one which brought a smile to Izuku's face as he nodded in agreement. It didn't take long for Coco to eventually round Izuku up and, after a few more short words exchanged with Yatsu and Fox, herded him back outside of the dorm room.

"Well, that actually went insanely well Deku. I would've expected Yatsu to take a liking to you, but it seems like Fox might actually act like a tolerable person around you. Props." Coco said with a chuckle as Izuku laughed nervously, having scratched the back of his head as he did so.

"Yeah... it was really interesting seeing a team of my seniors." Coco smiled as Izuku spoke, clapping a hand on his shoulder.

"Well I'm glad I could give you that experience Deku... and thanks. Fox and Yatsu can be handfuls at times, but they are my friends and teammates. So I appreciate you letting be drag you along." With that, Coco gave you a quick wave. " I'll see you around Deku, you have a good day now!" With that you gave a nod and waved back, waiting for Coco to go back to her dorm and close the door behind her. As she did so... Izuku heaved a sigh of relief as he dropped his head.

Seemed like even his seniors acted kind of goofy... and his arms still hurt.

* * *

After such an exhausting week and, indeed, an exhausting fight against those Monochrome guys and their goons, Izuku decided that what he needed was some kind of relaxing activity that still would've helped him out in some way, as laying in bed all day just made him feel pretty lazy. He considered everything on campus that he could possible do and, well, after a while he came to a realization:

'Why not try the sauna?'

The sauna wasn't exactly the most used out of all of Beacon's little rooms or facilities; after all, just sitting in a wooden room that was really, 'really' hot and sweating for about fifteen or twenty minutes didn't really seem like something most people could enjoy. That being said, Izuku had heard things about saunas; like sitting in there for even such a short period of time could be tantamount to a pretty long work out, that sweating out like that in dry heat helped cleanse someone's body of various toxins and that it could even be relaxing, especially if the user followed it up with a quick dip into something cold. Izuku'd heard of some people in the region of Atlas where it often snowed that it was customary, when the sauna's heat became unbearable, to throw themselves outside and to roll around in the snow or to jump into a frozen lake.

It sounded weird but hey, no point in judging without trying right?

So Izuku had done his best to sneak out of his dorm room with only a towel, hoping that none of his teammates or other friends found him on the way lest he explain exactly what his plan was. He could only imagine how unbearable the teasing from Yang would be if she found out; he wouldn't hear the end of it for a while. Thankfully it seemed like he didn't run into anyone on the way and managed to get to the sauna's changing room without much difficulty. Being quite sure that there wasn't an occupied sign up, and eased by the fact that the girls had their own sauna to go into along with its own changing room, Izuku immediately felt at ease. He quickly stripped down to little more than what he'd been born with and wrap a towel around himself and, following that, he immediately hopped into the sauna and took a seat, the thick steam of the room having made it slightly difficult to find his way to the wall.

...

It didn't take long for the heat to really sink into his tired muscles, which caused Izuku to relax quite a bit. Sweat began to pour off of him, the dry heat having caused more than usual to both slowly drip down his skin and rapidly evaporate. It was cool and hot at the same time and, really, despite it being so much hotter in the room than the summers Izuku'd spent in Mountain Glenn in terms of temperature, the lack of Mountain Glenn's humidity made it in some ways more bearable.

Huh, maybe there really was something to Atlas' sauna culture after all.

"Are you finding this relaxing, Izuku Midoriya?"

"Yeah I am actually. I can really feel the heat just sinking in. My muscles feel like they're melting." Izuku replied with a relaxed sigh as he leaned back against the wooden wall of the sauna. It was really nice, being all alone in...

...

"Ah!" Izuku jolted up quickly, his hand going to his towel to make sure that it wouldn't fall off from his jerky motions, as his eyes quickly scanned through the mist. It didn't take long for him to spot... Shoto? Yeah, Shoto. More than that, Izuku spotted the young man sitting in the room, a towel the only thing clad to him, as he formed... wow. A really intricate snowflake in the palm of his hand. One whose ice wasn't melting despite the strong heat of the sauna. Hell, on closer inspection, Izuku could tell that Shoto was barely even sweating at all despite the heat.

"Did I startle you?" Shoto asked, somewhat evenly, as the ice in his hand shifted ever so slightly, Izuku just quickly nodding his head as he sat back down.

"Yeah you did. I thought this room was empty." Shoto blinked for a moment... before a look of realization came over his face.

"My apologies Izuku. I seemed to have forgotten to put up the sign before entering. I was a little deep in thought before coming in here for training, so it must've skipped my mind." Izuku nodded slightly at that, made sense.

"Well... it's not like it makes that much of a difference anyway. It's mostly just for guys who might not feel comfortable being here with other people anyway, given that the girls have their own." And, thanks to the fact that Shoto seemed to have absolutely no response to the fact that the two of them were sitting in the sauna essentially naked except for the towels they were wearing... well, Izuku was still embarrassed, but it wasn't as bad as it could've been if someone like say, Kacchan or Cardin being in here would've been…

Izuku shivered; that was a horrible nightmare.

"I suppose, still, it is courtesy." Izuku just nodded at that and, soon enough, they both kind of descended into silence. Shoto had come in here to train his Semblance and Izuku'd come in just to relax his body and neither of them had really expected the other, so he really had no idea what to talk about with Shoto. That being said, Izuku leaned his head back against the wall as he took a relaxing breath, expecting the silence to continue. "Izuku."

"Yeah Shoto?"

"Why did you interfere with the argument between Weiss Schnee and myself?"

...

Well that was a bit of a surprise. Izuku blinked as he pushed himself off against the wall, his head tilting back down so he could look at Shoto. The young man didn't seem to have an angry or annoyed expression on his face... then again, Shoto rarely seemed to emote too much. It had probably been part of what made him and Ren such good friends, come to think about it.

"What do you mean?" Shoto tilted his head down slightly as he over at Izuku.

"Weiss is pretty stubborn as a rule, even before she mentioned that she'd gotten advice from you it was pretty obvious that she wouldn't have approached me under her own will for a while. I had insulted her quite harshly with my comments, even if I was unaware of that fact at the time, and she I... I imagine it would've been, at first, a matter of her pride that she wouldn't speak with me and then, from there, a matter of her not wanting to address what had been said between the two of us. I, meanwhile, likely would've continued to think she loathed me for reasons I wouldn't have readily, fully understood."

...

'Wow he is even worse at being social than I am.' Even that had some things that most people probably would've considered mild insults peppered in, though it was clear to Izuku Shoto hadn't meant it as such. 'Just like Weiss said.'

"So it was pretty easy to suspect that you had something to do with her and I talking in such short order. When she mentioned it off-hand, it wasn't hard to believe. Still, it made me beg the question of why you got involved. It wasn't a matter that had anything to do with you and furthermore Weiss and I weren't teammates on the same team so our argument wouldn't have hurt group solidarity. So I don't understand why you had decided to get involved. It makes me curious."

Well, all of this was fair enough.

"Well I really hate to disagree with you, but I think you're wrong on both accounts. It did affect me and I think in time it would have come to affect the chemistry between the teams." Izuku saw that Shoto actually looked slightly surprised, the young man having tilted his head slightly to the side upon having heard that.

"Truly? How so. I'm afraid I don't quite see what you mean." Izuku frowned a bit as he parsed the words out in his mind, doing his best to try to frame it in a way he thought Shoto would've readily understood.

"Well... let's start with the obvious: Weiss is my friend, and I hate seeing my friends angry and upset. Plus, I'm hoping someday we can call each other friends, and it's best if my friends can get along." Izuku saw Shoto nod slightly at that, the young man's eyes having narrowed slightly as he took that in.

"A fair enough point... yes, I think I understand what you mean." Izuku nodded, glad of that, as he moved on.

"And I think you underestimate both your and Weiss' importance to your teams, at least you're underestimating just how much your distress over this would've effected everything. While I didn't have a problem with you directly, I admit as team leader I would most likely side with Weiss, just like I'm sure your team would support you. It's only natural; we would've heard Weiss' side of the story and your team would've heard your own, and, without both perspectives, we really wouldn't have understood what was going on. I'll admit, I'm not too experienced with having a lot of friends myself but... well, I thought about it when I was talking with Weiss and, when I really sat down and considered it, I decided that there really is nothing worse in a relationship than having to choose sides in a fight between two friends. Even if you and I might not be fast friends, I wouldn't have liked the prospect of potentially severing that in favor of Weiss."

"I guess the best way to explain it is that everyone in our group is connected to everyone else in some way, and if one of those connections gets damaged, it can cause a chain reaction throughout. I mean, Yang and I get along great on our own... but I can guarantee you that if I ever made Ruby upset or angry or if I hurt her in any way, that Yang and I would probably be done as friends... heck, just Kacchan being Kacchan is enough for Yang to pretty much cut out any possibility of getting along with him because of how he acts around Ruby. Those kinds of connections... I think all groups of friends have something like that." Shoto hums to himself at that, the young man having stroked his chin."

"... Like with Ren and Nora." Shoto spoke up, his eyes narrowing as he focused his thoughts. "As well as I get along with both, I think that my friendship with either would be strained if I ever found myself in a bad position with the other. Do you mean like that, Izuku?" Izuku nodded, glad his split classmate grasped the point so readily. "I see, so you stepped in to help Weiss because you feared what it would do to all of our friendships." Now that Izuku shook his head at that, which caused a look of some surprise on Shoto's face.

"I don't think I got as involved as you might be assuming. Like I said, if the situation had continued on like that, I probably would've supported Weiss as strongly as I could. I didn't know your side so it wasn't like I could intervene and play a direct mediator. All I really did was give Weiss some advice, that maybe you didn't mean the words in the way she interpreted them. I honestly had no idea how things would work out and I even told Weiss that, if you did mean the words in the way she interpreted them, then she could count on me to back her up... in the end, I left it to Weiss to decide if she wanted to try to mend your relationship. If you really want to credit someone with this all working out, it should be Weiss. Her working up the courage and swallowing her pride to apologize to you was all her, and I don't feel that I deserve any credit for something that was probably really hard for her to do."

"I see... yes... I imagine that would have been extremely difficult for her. It showed during our talk." Shoto gave a firm nod at that as he looked up. "I'm grateful. I had thought that Weiss despised me for what I had said, and I hadn't known how to respond or try to fix it... I had thought I was being friendly in talking about something we both shared. I have... learned otherwise, thanks to Weiss informing me. It would have been unpleasant if what you described came to pass." Izuku nodded as Shoto really seemed to take it all in. "Still, even if you don't feel you deserve credit, you stepped in and helped Weiss in some way. I think that still means I owe you thanks." Izuku waved him off a bit at that, a light chuckle escaping his throat as he did so.

"Really, it was nothing..." The half and half young man nodded in understanding. Again, the sauna went quiet as the two of them just sat in silent contemplation, Shoto working with his snowflake in hand and Izuku just letting the heat continue to soak into him.

"Izuku."

"Yeah Shoto?"

"You said that you would like for us to be friends, even if you weren't sure that we currently are friends." Izuku nodded at that as Shoto looked up. "I too am not sure whether or not we're friends. We haven't interacted too much and our previous talk had a slight... stumble to it." Again, that somewhat scary expression that appeared when he brought up Shoto's family crossed the young man's face again, though it quickly vanished. "However, I did greatly appreciate what you did both with Weiss and in the Tunnels, having helped to rescue me and the other Hunters. I find that I, too, would like us to be friends..." Shoto seemed to quirk his head to the side.

"So how much more do we need to do before we become friends?"

"Well... I suppose we only really have one thing we need to do before we become friends." Izuku saw Shoto perk up slightly, the young man's gaze curious. After a moment, Izuku just smiled, he extended out a hand, one that Shoto could shake without using the hand holding onto the ice he was forming, and gave him a smile. "Hi. My name's Izuku Midoriya. Would you like to be friends?"

...

Shoto just seemed utterly confused, tilting his head to the side slightly as he did so.

"Is that it?"

"Yep!"

Shoto just blinked for a moment as he looks at Izuku's extended hand. Finally, after a few moments, Shoto shrugged his shoulders as he reached a hand out to grasp Izuku's, giving a good shake.

"Hello. My name is Shoto Todoroki. I'd... enjoy that." As he said that Izuku just give a firm nod, shook his hand back and then broke apart the shake as the two leaned back against the two sides of the sauna, sighing in relief as Izuku did so, as he continued to feel the heat permeate through his body. "... Is that really it?"

"Yeah Shoto, that's really it."

"... Huh..." Shoto muttered to himself before Izuku watch as he melted the ice in his hand... or rather, allowed it to melt. "Thank you Izuku. You've given me some things to think on and more information, as well as your friendship. I think I've had about enough training for now, so I'll be departing. I'll see you later." Izuku gave a nod as Shoto, hanging onto his towel, walked out of the sauna and, doing so quickly as to not let the hot hair out, closed the door behind him. Izuku gave a slight sigh as he was now left alone in the sauna. In five minutes, he'd probably be done himself... still, no harm in just continuing to relax for those five minutes.

It was a good day.


	61. Chicken

"Woo! Thanks for coming Slugger, wasn't a lot of fun just sitting around in Peach's office, I'll tell you."

"Yeah I can imagine... we've both been there at one point in time, after all." Yang barked out a laugh as Izuku spoke up, the blonde brawler having sent a light punch into his shoulder as the two walked along. While most of Beacon Academy was closed for Color Week, Professor Peach's office remained open and would remain so throughout the entirety of the holiday. After all, while the students didn't have access to a lot of training facilities, that hadn't meant that accidents or training excursions into the Emerald Forest wouldn't have to be considered. If students got hurt in either case, well, it'd be a long way to a Vale hospital when they might need more immediate medical attention. Thus, Peach and her various staff were, at the very least, on call for the weekend, ready to respond to any sort of sudden distress on the part of students who were staying in the dorms.

Or, in Yang's case, her last check up before Peach would take out the stitches and remove the bandages to just allow Yang to naturally heal the rest of herself via Aura, as doing so would ensure that no scarring would be left behind.

"Yeah exactly, you know what it can be like with Peach. I swear, with the amount she worries it's a wonder she hasn't turned grey being the nurse at a place like Beacon." Yang offered a chuckle as she rolled out her shoulders. "It would've been worse if I had to find out just something to do on my lonesome after. Seems like everyone's busy right now; Tsuyu's out, Ruby's up to something, Tenya and Blake seem to be in weird moods and everyone else just seems to have their own deals going right now..." Yang grinned a bit as she looked over at Izuku. "Except for you Slugger, you're around to give good old Yang Xiao Long the time of day." Izuku smiled at that as he scratched his cheek.

"Well of course, it's been a while since we really had the chance to just hang out without worrying and last time was really fun." Izuku saw Yang's grin widened a great deal, the blonde having reached over to wrap an arm around his shoulder as she brought him into a slight headlock. "Aaaah, Yang!"

"Now that's what I was hoping to hear! I've been waiting for Peach to give me the okay to get out of her office and get those stitches out of me because, hoo boy, Slugger, you and I need to celebrate!" Yang clenched her fist. "Between you and I, we're a couple of big damned heroes now, Izuku! People are gonna be lookin' up to us from now on. I figure that's a pretty dang good reason to get out on the town and have a fun time."

"Yang that's great and all but, do you think you could l-let go of me!" Izuku's nerves from having been into such close contact with a girl had seriously acted up, a splash of red on his face as Yang just laughed and let him go, mirth obviously filling her as she watched him sigh in relief.

"Jeez Slugger, you can be so nervous sometimes. You weren't acting like this... well, actually, you were even 'more' nervous in The Tunnels, hah!" Yang gave Izuku a wink and a grin as he went red again, the blonde having put her hands behind her head. "Seriously though, last time was pretty fun for me too. Bumblebee's still in tip top shape so if that's what you're up for then we can hit the town again. Plus, man, as nice as Beacon is I really just need to get off campus after being forced to stick around by Peach. I have to imagine you could use a bit of a change of scenery again too Slugger." With that, lilac eyes met his emerald gaze as she gave him a wide grin. "So let's hear it Slugger, you up for 'Xiao Long' night?"

"... You're really enjoying Tsuyu not being around to punish you for these jokes, aren't you?" Even after a slight wince from Yang's joke, Izuku couldn't help but smile as Yang gave a quick 'woop' as she raised her hands.

"Absolutely Izuku! I'm gonna be milking this for all it's worth. No more... 'pun'ishments for me this week!" Yang stuck her tongue out slightly as she gave a short giggle. "But don't try to give me the run around there Slugger, let's hear it!"

Izuku took a moment to really think about what wanted to do. There were a few ideas he had in mind in specific; even if Vale itself didn't really do much formal celebrating during the Color Week Holiday, he was fairly certain that the piers would still have 'a lot' of activities to do, even beyond the usual touristy stuff that went on down there. From there, it was a bit more difficult to decide; he'd want to give Yang the chance to make her own choice on something, and honestly he'd lent slightly toward that, but on the other hand now that he had so much money he could afford to go to that clothing store to set up for a Dust-Treated outfit, which would help protect him. Maybe he could choose to do that too and then give Yang a chance to choose to do whatever she wanted la-

 _"You're a pretty dangerous guy there Slugger, but I guess I should've expected it. You are the guy who has all these plans after all... get me dinner after this and I might just be putty in your hands."_

...

Izuku's ears turned slightly red as that memory played itself in his mind again. That time in The Tunnels had been a really, 'really' stressful one for him, though not unpleasantly slow. Having Yang on his back, with her... her arms slung around his shoulders, yeah, had really made him feel nervous and jumpy, despite the fact that he was just doing it to help Yang move around The Tunnels without much trouble. Yet Yang, as ever, really pushed the envelope on her end by teasing him; whispering into his ear and speaking in a low tone before laughing out loud about how red his face had gotten. It was the usual thing for Yang but, in that position he was in, that teasing had 'really' gotten to him and, as evidenced by the fact that he remembered her last jab, had really stuck with him...

What better way to get her back then to pay her own teasing back in kind?

Deciding to put off the decision of whether he'd leave Yang with the last item for the evening or if he'd ask to be taken back to the clothes store, Izuku sheepishly scratched the back of his head as he looked off to the side. "Y-Yeah Yang, Vale sounds great. Let's hit the town again!" It seemed Yang was too excited to notice his sudden nervousness or the way he seemed to be avoiding looking right at her, as the blonde brawler just gave a quick 'whoop' before she started on ahead.

"Well come on Slugger, Bumblebee's not gonna wait forever!" Whether the lilac eyed young woman was excited by the prospect of getting off Beacon's Campus and as far as Peach's office as possible or if she was particularly stoked about hanging with Izuku again... well, he really didn't focus in on those thoughts. Instead he just did his best to try and think over some of the places he might've seen around Vale during his time living around here, trying to think of some 'really' nice restaurant that would serve as the perfect backdrop for really getting Yang back for her teasing way back when.

The process actually went a lot faster since he hadn't needed to go drop off books and, furthermore, that everyone on Beacon's campus had sort of settled into a bit of a pattern. Bumblebee was brought out in very short order from the garage, one of the other few buildings still open on Beacon, and the airbus was quick to load it into the back while Izuku and Yang quickly produced their Scrolls to verify their IDs. The minutiae of being a student at Beacon Academy had long since settled in and, for the most part, what might've been daunting before had become part of their daily routine... admittedly, it was more exciting daily routine than most people had, with 'a lot' more friends than his previous routine.

It wasn't long before he and Yang touched back down in Vale, the young woman having stretched herself out after departing the airbus as she breathed in the city air.

"Gods, I know we were in town just last week, but being cramped in Peach's office most of the day really made me miss this." With that Yang just gave a nice, wide grin as the afternoon sun bore down on the two of them, though its heat had begun to waver as Late Summer had long since given way to Fall and the chill of Winter began to set in. Not that Izuku had much problem shaking it off between his own usual manner of dress and his Aura, but he could still feel that chill tickling at his skin. It wasn't long after that Bumblebee was brought off the airbus and onto solid concrete, the sight of which caused Yang to offer a wide smile as she ran up to her bike. Izuku slowly followed after her, getting more and more nervous as his plan started to come more and more into fruition, as Yang reached for Bumblebee's storage and pulled out two very familiar helmets.

"Alright Slugger, same plan as before? You got some business or something and I'll handle the fun parts of the evening?" Izuku chuckled nervously.

"Hey now, I picked out going out to eat didn't I?" Izuku watched as Yang blinked before she just gave a slight laugh.

"Semantics Izuku, semantics." Izuku shrugged before shaking his head to the negative.

"Anyway... I had a slightly different idea. I thought we could drive around and look for someplace new to eat. I thought that going to the same place might be..."

"Pretty boring?" Izuku nodded as Yang finished his sentence, a wide grin on her face as she buckled her helmet in. "Slugger, you're speaking my language. Alright, hop on; I suppose I'll just have to settle for having fun driving my baby around while you keep an eye out for some place to eat." Yang quickly straddled Bumblebee before turning it on, the young woman having revved the engine before she patted the seat behind her. Nervous and excited, he nodded as he slipped in behind Yang, carefully positioning his hands where he had last time as you settle in. Before he could even give the 'okay' that he was in, Yang blasted off on Bumblebee.

'Alright... let's see what we can find.'

It took a while of driving around the Merchant District before Izuku hit on something that seemed like a pretty nice, high-scale place to eat. Most of the restaurants he and Yang had passed by seemed more of the caliber of the one they'd gone to previously and, while that might've been fine enough, if he 'really' wanted to get Yang, he felt like he needed something a little more risky, a little more high-style. Something that'd, hopefully, knock her off her feet the same way she seemed to 'repeatedly' do to him all the time. Eventually, his ears caught the sound of a rather majestic tune and, finding it coming out of a rather lively and nice looking restaurant, Izuku ended up stopping Yang and pointing it out. The blonde just nodded and, within short order, managed to pull in right next to it, the two of them depositing their helmets and tousling away his helmet hair before going in.

The music got louder and louder as the two approached and, as they pass through the doors, they finally got a good look at the restaurant. The Blue Note, as the sign proudly displayed, was a restaurant that featured as it central gimmick and draw a Jazz Lounge, where a small band of musicians currently played. Despite the name of the place, red seemed to be a far more favorite color of the establishment than blue; red carpet, red velvet drapes and various hues of the color and other complementary ones to it made up the major look of the place. The major exception to this was the lighting; while a good deal of it was your more typical, normal lights that just illuminated the room, a good deal more were a series of blue colored lights that mixed and intermingled every now and then, creating a small wash of color all around the Lounge. The furniture was nice looking and seemed comfortable enough and, all told, the atmosphere was just very... nice. It put Izuku at ease, despite how nervous he was feeling, how much he was internally screaming at trying to out tease 'Yang' of all people, and much of that was probably down to the band's playing. The calm, rhythmic sound filled the entire restaurant and, after a moment of the blonde looking around and taking it in, Izuku watched as Yang put her hands on her hips and gave a slight nod.

"Fancy." She said with a grin while Izuku just nodded nervously. One of the attendees walked up and, for a moment, seemed to double take at their attire. Given that he was dressed in some somewhat casual clothes and that Yang, well, is dressed in her Yang-iest, it was probably no surprise that they stood out a bit when the rest of the crowd is dressed in some slightly more fashionable attire. Still, the young man just shrugged his shoulders and, after some jostling for a table for two, the young man took them away to their table. It was a slight distance away from the band, but still close enough that the ambiance hung in the air between himself and Yang. The service ended up being relatively quick as Izuku and Yang quickly were waited on, allowed to give their orders and then left, relatively, alone.

...

'Oh Gods,'

"Gotta say Slugger, you picked a really solid spot. A bit ritzier than the last place we went out to eat but hey, guess we're mostly paying for the atmosphere." Yang said rather casually as she nodded her head over to the band, which still played its rather calming, soothing song. Izuku gave a short nod, somewhat glad that the blue lightning that intermingled in the place was at least probably helping disguise how red his ears felt right then.

"Yeah, I just figured it'd be fun to try something new and, well, rather than going down, why not try something up?" Yang nodded in ready agreement with that, taking a sip of the drink she'd ordered as part of her meal. Izuku watched as, slowly but surely, a wily grin snuck its way up onto Yang's lips as she looked over at him, a slight arch to her eyebrow.

"Yeah, why not right? I mean, start me off with something simple, something to make me comfortable... and then on our next time out and about, take me to something 'fancy', something that'll really 'wow' me." This time, not even the blue light can keep the red on his face hidden as Yang starts immediately teasing him, the blonde having given a big old chuckle. "Gosh Izuku, you really do just play a long game with the girls huh? This nervous and cutesy attitude hiding the mind of a real lady's man, I tell you. I warned you that I might be putty in your hands if you took me out to a fancy dinner..." Yang brought her glass up to her lips and, before taking a drink, offered him a teasing wink. An amused chuckle escaped her lips from over the glass as he nearly choked, Yang clearly having the time of her life teasing him as usual.

...

'Well... it is now or never, right?'

"W-W-Well... is it working?"

This was probably the first time he'd ever heard Yang choke in his time knowing her.

"Huh?" Yang coughed a bit as she brought her glass back down to the table, the young woman looking somewhat incredulously at him. He did his best to give a confident smile which, in all honesty, still probably looked absolutely terrified, as he nodded.

"I-I-I mean... you said so in The T-Tunnels right? That you'd be putty in my hands if I took you out to dinner after that... s-so... u-uh..." Izuku knew he momentarily had it, that he really had the whole thing going, but his own, natural nervousness ended up coming through to spook him again as he watched Yang's expression.

It's on the one hand really encouraging and, on the other hand, nerve wracking. Encouraging because he, Izuku Midoriya, managed to render Yang 'speechless'. Her mouth was slightly agape at having seen he tried to pull that, a very light hint of red on her cheeks, as she just seemed to 'try' to form words without much success. In all honesty, it reminded him of the expression she wore after he managed to dance with her at Pyrrha's birthday party; that weird mix of emotions he couldn't quite place at the time. Here they were before him once again and, well, knowing that it was in response to 'him' teasing her for once? That was a win.

But now he was worried... Yang teased him, yeah, but he was never really worried about it. He never took it the wrong way and it seemed like Yang was just having fun. As amused as he was, and as much as that amusement probably seeped through his nervousness, there was now worry that Yang 'might' not see it the same way. That he may have overstepped a boundary and ended up really tripping all over their relationship. After all, it was probably creepy when guys did it back, wasn't it? Oh Gods, he'd messed this up!

...

'Oh no...I did mess up...but not like that…'

Because instead of looking angry and insulted, Yang's blush grew slightly on her cheeks as a positively predatory look crossed her face, her teeth slightly bared in a wide, mischievous smile as the blonde raised an eyebrow. Izuku had challenged her. Izuku had teased her back and done so in a very flagrant manner... and what was maybe worse, Izuku actually got her to stammer and blush as she tried to process just what had happened.

"Izuku Midoriya... are you trying to out tease 'me' of all people? Do you really want to play this game of Chicken?" Yang leaned forward ever so slightly, her lilac eyes practically glowing and, he thought, turning red as she looked at him. "Because Slugger, I'm not sure you want to try to make me flinch. I mean, good show right there, you 'almost' got me... but Slugger, it's going to take way more than that." Yang gave a little laugh as she pulled back slightly, a coy smile on her face. "I wouldn't want to put you at risk of a heart attack from the attempt."

...

"I think my heart's a little stronger than you give it credit for Yang. L-L-Let's do this."

'WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?'

Whatever sense was trying to batter its way into his head, Yang's smile just widened as her eyes glinted dangerously at him.

"Alright Slugger, don't say I didn't warn you." At this point, he was about ready for anything; he was ready for Yang to do any manner of crazy thing to throw him off his game, to completely just toss him off your feet and force him to give in at a moment's notice. However, despite the warning that was clear in her predatory look, the excitement, instead of the blonde brawler having pounced on him... it was weird. It was almost like she cooled off instead, that smirk dissolving into a smile as she leaned back in her chair a bit. The waiter came by with their food and the only thing Izuku really took notice of was the fact that Yang had gone on to order something to drink besides the water they already had; a glass of wine.

The moment had confused Izuku as, for the next while, it really did just seem like he and Yang were hanging out. The two just talked for a bit, ate and, in general, it seemed like they were both just having a good time. Hell, at the moment, they both were having a conversation about Ruby and Bakugou of all people, Yang talking with him about stuff she needed to keep an eye out when it came to Bakugou to make sure that he wasn't hurting Ruby in ways she wouldn't be able to necessarily notice. The topic was somewhat laughable to Izuku; if Bakugou was bullying or hurting Ruby in any way, it'd be pretty obvious to everyone. He supposed it spoke to the lengths that Yang really didn't like or trust the fact that Bakugou was Ruby's partner on that team.

However, as all this is going on... Izuku started to notice a few things. Things that had subtly crept in while the two of them were just sitting there eating and talking. It wasn't so much a change in tone or even in conversation, but in demeanor. That demeanor having been reflected in Yang... err... well, it was hard to put words to, given how out of the loop he was but... well, 'hitting on you' was probably the best way he could phrase it? Without saying a word or even drawing attention to it, Yang manipulated herself in noticeable but very subtle ways: her posture leaned forward slightly, ever so slightly, which brought her face and other... things into focus. Yang also manipulated and tousled what she probably considered her best feature, her hair, subtly across the conversation, causing a good deal of it to spill over her shoulders and frame her in such a way that it pretty much created a curtain of gold around her.

Then there was the wine glass; when she wasn't very slowly taking a drink from it, letting her lips linger on the edge of the glass, she was running her finger lazily around the opening, around and around again as she just stared at him. She was clearly into the conversation herself and, every now and then, she even got visibly annoyed when the conversation would turn to Bakugou in particular... but no matter what, her eyes were always on Izuku and, owing to the fact that he was trying to win this declared game of Chicken, he couldn't exactly look away when she fluttered her eye lashes ever so slightly as part of a laugh, or just stare at him while he spoke at length, a slight droop to her eyelids.

It became abundantly clear to him that, Yang Xiao Long was way more experienced that he and she were intent on winning. Because even without vocally teasing him or doing 'anything' remotely touchy or what he might've considered forward, his ears were turning red. It seemed even Yang took notice as, after a moment in the conversation, she broke into a slight grin

"Don't be so stressed Iz-u-ku~" She toyed with his name as she spoke, leaning ever so slightly forward again. "After all, you've taken me out to some place fancy... you're allowed to look~."

...

'Cold thoughts Izuku, cold thoughts. Ice cubes, cold showers, Mountain Glenn winter. Going skiing on the top of the mountain and then tumbling down a good way through all that snow. Cold thoughts, cold thoughts, cold thoughts…'

Turn the table thoughts.

Doing his best to draw upon the various rants and points Kayama made about appealing to the opposite sex in so many of her classes, including instructions she gave to the 'male students' of all people, he tried your best to try to come off as suave and cool, playing up his limited frame, as he tried to grin back at Yang. He thought he was by and large successful but his natural nervousness was always going to be a hindrance.

"W-Well I wouldn't want to look too long... I mean, y-you're so... r-r-radiant I might just go blind."

'Oh Gods, that was horrible. I'm 'never' going to follow Kayama's lessons again as long as I live.'

...

He thought for a moment he saw Yang's carefully crafted, alluring smile squirm around, as if she was doing her best to not break out into a smile or a chortle, before she got her composure back together, fluffing her hair slightly as she did so.

"Well aren't you a sweetie, paying me such a nice little compliment. I'll have to remember that..." Yang gave a 'slow' wink back as, slowly but surely, the meal came to an end. Drinks had been finished, the food had been eaten and the atmosphere of the place, once fresh and really uplifting, had become a bit stifling, especially in the presence of the game of guts he and Yang were playing.

"Well that was delightful. Thank you Izuku, that really hit the spot... so nice of you to take me someplace nice. Such a gentleman." Yang spoke with a quiet laugh behind her voice as she spun in place to look back at Izuku as they both headed back out toward Bumblebee, her lilac eyes having twinkled as she looked him right in the eyes. Izuku gave a nervous chuckle, doing his best to not look away as she looks at him so intently.

"W-Well what can I say, I-I had to do my best if I was going to live up to your expectations." Yang gave a grin as she just nodded slightly at that, the girl humming to herself.

"Yeah, I suppose that's right. I do have to admit... you have me feeling a bit weak at the knees now Izuku." Yang sighed airily as she placed her hand on her cheek. "What's a girl to do with such a dangerous playboy hunting after her... it's almost enough to make a poor young thing faint." Yang gave a slight shake again, which sent her hair cascading about, before she turned back forward toward Bumblebee, procuring a couple helmets as she did so. For a moment, it's a pretty simple affair as he and Yang put their helmets on. For the moment, he thought he was in the clear long enough to at least not have to deal with Yang teasing him constantly, let him build back up his nerve... up until he watched as she 'slowly' straddled Bumblebee before turning those lilac eyes back on him, eyelashes fluttering as she gave him a coy smile.

"Come on Izuku... we've got someplace else to go, right? I promise I won't bite..." At that, Yang gave a slightly predatory smirk. "... Unless, of course..." She let those words hang in the air. Of course she'd take advantage of the moment; he was nervous enough directly touching a girl and riding right behind her as it was, and that was when Yang 'wasn't teasing him over it...

Without breaking eye contact, without blushing in Yang's line of sight and without much hesitation him pretty much march forward, quickly swung his legs over Bumblebee and slide in behind Yang, placing his hands as normal. "Alright Yang, let's do this." Even Yang seemed pretty surprised by him just bull rushing his way onto the bike with so little hesitation, the blonde having to blink slightly before nodding.

"Right, yeah... damn..." Yang muttered something in a disappointed tone under her breath before she turned Bumblebee on, the young woman having turned her head to face Izuku as she tilted her head to the side. "So what's the next part of our little... night out on the town, Izuku~?" Despite how she might've felt about him just rushing through her attempt to get him to throw the game, she seemed right back in it just a moment later. He took some time to think, trying to dredge up some other activity.

"Well... I've heard that Beacon's dockyards are pretty touristy and usually have some fun stuff to do. I thought we could try something there." At that, Yang gives a wide smile as she winked back at him.

"Ah, a romantic evening on the pier? Are you sure you've never done this before, Izuku?" He did his best to keep composure as he just nodded, even as Yang hummed to herself in thought.

"Oh! I know the _perfect_ place." Yang gave a quick grin, Yang having looked pretty satisfied with her thought, as she kicked Bumblebee into gear. "Vale doesn't usually do much for Color Week on its own, but the dockyards, the piers especially, usually do have all sorts of activities they do that they kick into high gear when Color Week hits." For a moment it seemed like the game of Chicken was on pause as Yang got her opportunity to play tour guide for him, the blonde having driven Bumblebee onto the road as the two swiftly drove down it. For the entirety of the drive, nothing really came of the game of Chicken; probably because Yang didn't want to get too distracted by driving.

Priorities, they're good things.

Still, as the sun began to dip down slightly, the days having grown shorter and shorter as winter slowly approached, they did reach a section of pier that stretched out for a 'long' way into the water. A sign hung over the entrance to the pier titled 'Luna's Wonder Park' and he could see that, stretched out across the pier, are a lot of various attractions and tourist trap sort of deals that had brought in quite the crowd, even so late into the season and this late at night. Several crane games stretched in rows upon rows near the entrance, a whole wide open area toward the end of the pier where there were several men fishing with... friggin 'huge' fishing poles, a ladder that extended down to the water leading to a smaller dock that has a few boats docked to it, 'tons' of food stands and little shops and game stalls filled to the brim with various trinkets and snacks and, that which most thoroughly dominates the pier's skyline, a massive Ferris Wheel.

It was a pretty big surprise to him; usually he only saw attractions like that during limited times of the year in Mountain Glenn.

"Holy woah, I thought you said that Vale really doesn't do anything for Color Week, Yang?" Momentarily forgoing the game of chicken, Izuku couldn't help but be amazed at the sight stretched out before him, which caused the young woman to chuckle.

"It really doesn't Slugger, this is something pretty different. Luna's Wonder Park is pretty much from late spring all the way into late fall, regardless of whether there's a holiday or not. Heck, it was a family tradition to take Ruby here as part of her birthday when everyone was together." Yang placed her hands on her hips as she looked out at the park, before turning back to Izuku. A genuinely friendly smile was on her face and, Hell, even a slightly nostalgic look as she watched him gawk at the park before them. Eventually though he noticed her grin again as she beckoned him toward the park.

"Now come on, I-zu-ku~... you can't tell me you're done showing a little lady like me a good time..." He fought back the urge to blush as he just coughed into his fist, looking out across the park.

'Well... huh, I've never really gone to a carnival before with a girl. I mean, I've gone with Mom, but that really doesn't count, especially because I wasn't playing a game of embarrassment Chicken with Mom at the time…'

Shaking off that particularly cringe-worthy thought from his mind, he tapped his chin as he took in the sights of the park. Roller coasters, boat rides, the 'Wonder Wheel' as the sign proudly proclaimed it, it was all a lot to take in at once. He tried to really consider his options as he took a lot of this in until, finally, his eyes settled on the various rows of games that seemed to stretch across the pier, side by side. The rows upon rows of hanging prizes, the stuffed animals and the like, it reminded him of a lot of toys he'd try to win or, hopefully, his mom would win for him back in the day. Then the idea hit him; the idea of winning Yang a prize, that would've had to be pretty embarrassing for her, right? After all, if he actually won, then she'd have to lug around some big old thing, right? Besides, even once he either won or lost this game of Chicken, it'd be a nice little souvenir of his day out with Yang. So, swallowing that nervous lump in your throat, he did his best to appear confident as you nod to the stalls.

"How about I try to win you something Yang? Give you something to remember this... m-magical evening by?" Gods, he really wasn't good at purposefully hitting on people. Yang looked at him for a moment, a look of surprise on her face that quickly folded into a big old grin... which then folded into a look that reminded him all too much of that gaze from the Blue Note.

"Oh my... goodness Izuku! I would 'love' that. A nice little toy to remember this day by? You pretty much read my mind!" Yang fluttered her eyelashes a bit as she frowned slightly. "Oh... but I've heard these carnie games can be rigged... I'd worry more but, well..." Yang looked you up and down for a moment, placing a finger just so delicately on her bottom lip as she did. "I know 'you' can win them. After all, you're so tough and strong." He was that, his training had been paying off. "Rippling muscles over every inch of you." ... Okay, he was pretty muscle-y, but it was more toned and fit rather than rippling, still, you supposed- "That square jaw and those broad, strong shoulders that just scream 'man'. There's no way they'd be able to stop you from taking your prize, Iz-u-ku~." ... Okay, he was fairly sure she was having a go at him now. Her tone was completely genuine, or at least, genuinely flirtatious; she was speaking in a low, breathy tone as she listed off his 'features', eyes trailing over him as she did so. Still, he wasn't really the picture of the man she was painting...

...

'SO THEN WHY DO I STILL FEEL LIKE YOU WERE GOING TO THROW UP?!' He swallowed a lump in his throat as he pulled at his collar. 'Jeez, am I just 'this' easy to tease that even when I 'know' she is just having fun that the tease was enough? Or do all guys just get well chuffed when a pretty girl complimented them in such a manner?'

...

'Actually that last part sounds like as good a theory as any.'

Still, despite Yang's rather flirtatious, if false, compliments, he just did his best to clench his fist and give a smile. "Y-Y-Yeah, I can totally do it! I'll get you the best prize out of a stall!" He managed to speak with only a slight hiccup and with no blush on his face, even as he felt his heart pounding in his ears. Yang, again, seemed to stall when he didn't respond, her lips in a bit of a thin line as he managed to keep his composure. Still, a regular old Yang-grin formed on her face as she gave a nod.

"Well let's not waste any more time! Go and fetch me a prize!" Izuku chuckled slightly as he and Yang finally head into the park, each of them paying their way in before doing so. Afterward, their eyes started scanning the various stall games for one of the games he thought he had a solid chance of winning. As his eyes moved about, he locked onto a particular game; a rope ladder, connected at two various ends, that contestants were trying their best to climb up. The ladder would spin and throttle around, tossing people off, and it looked like the aim of the game was to try to get to the other end of the ladder. It looked simple enough to Izuku and he actually turned to try and approach it. Up until Yang lightly grabbed at his shoulder. At first he was worried that she was going for something of a kill as she does so but, as she pulls him off to the side, his turn to see a thoughtful expression on her face.

"I'm sure you'd be great at that game Slugger, but... hmmmm..." Yang tapped her chin, the first time she'd referred to him as 'Slugger' since the two of you started this game of Chicken. Eventually, Yang's lilac eyes shine as she grinned, pointing him in the direction of another stall. That stall had several, classic looking milk bottles stacked on top of a barrel in a small triangle, with contestants throwing baseballs at them. "There. You'll absolutely demolish that game." he was a little bit surprised that Yang was doing that and, as far as he could tell, she wasn't 'lying' to him. So, with a shrug, he followed Yang's lead over to the game.

Manning the stall is a large, 6'2" carnie who looked about forty-five years old. A plain white tank top that stretched over his rotund stomach was worn underneath a light jacket, mostly meant to keep the chill off of him, that didn't do a whole lot to keep his hairy stomach from popping out. Various stains, most of them either sweat or grease, stained the man's wife beater as well, giving him a slightly grungy look. A full, five o'clock shadow graced this man's chin that seemed to be doing its best to distract from the guy's thinning hair line. A pair of blue jeans finished off the look of something that just 'screamed' carnival worker.

"Well, well, well, look at the pretty lookin' pair we got ourselves here. Little blonde gal and a walking bonsai tree. About as skinny as one anyway, hah!" The carnie laughed out loud as he slapped his knee, Izuku having just nervously, 'very nervously', laughed as he scratched at the back of his head while Yang just rolled her eyes.

"Alright, alright big guy, we get it, mind games, throw him off, yada yada. Listen, my friend here's gonna beat your carnival game in one go and get me a top rung prize, so how about we skip the formalities and you go ahead and hook down one of the real good ones, alright?" The carnie looked over at Yang, the giant of a man having just grinned a slightly yellow smile as he raised his eyebrows.

"Oooh, got some piss and vinegar in this one. 'Your friend' huh bonsai? Ouch." Yang again just huffed as she pat him on the shoulder while the carnie steps up the trio of bottles. As he did so, Yang took the opportunity of his back being turned to lean over slightly.

"Alright Slugger, here's the deal... one of those bottles is heavier than the others. He'll place it on the bottom and slightly to the back and 'slightly' behind the other bottle so that most normal people who walk through here won't have the strength to knock down all three at once. Aim for the bottom ones and throw as hard as you can and that top one will just ricochet away too, alright?" Izuku nodded slightly... before a look of confusion came over his face.

"... Wait, I'm 'trying' to win one of the good prizes to embarrass you. Why are you giving me advice to help?" Yang gave him a positively predatory grin as she looked him in the eye.

"First, I like screwing with these carnies, second, well, just cause you win a prize doesn't mean you'll pick one that'll sweep me off my feet." He swore, for a moment, that Yang seemed to try to hold back chuckled as she shook her head a bit, looking at him with that flirtatious look. "So win me a good prize, okay Iz-u-ku~?" Yang slapped his back and pushed him forward to the counter, the carnie having walked back with a baseball.

"Alright there bonsai; throw the ball at the bottles, if you knock all three down on your first try, to get the top rung prizes. Sound good?" Izuku nodded slightly as he grinned that yellow grin of his again. "Good, good. Now come on, let's see if you actually got any muscles in those twigs you call arms there, hyah!" The man's stomach lurched with his laughter as he took a step back away, allowing him plenty of room to make his own toss.

Izuku took a deep breath as he adjusted his grip on the baseball, his eyes locked on the three bottles in front of him. True to Yang's word, he could tell, just ever so slightly, that one of the bottles was positioned behind the other one on the bottom so that it wouldn't be hit with the same first contact on a throw and that, should he aim for it, he'd likely miss the other bottle all-together. It was a 'really' dirty way to rig this game, now that he thought about it, especially if Yang was right that the other bottle was also heavier, but in the end Izuku decided to just ignore it. He wouldn't let a little rigging keep him from winning the game. So, with another deep breath, he brought himself backward as he prepared to throw, his grip tightening.

In one fell swoop he threw the ball and it screamed through the air, slamming into the trio of bottles. The first two flew off without much resistance, having been utterly blown away. The ball slowed ever so slightly from having its force imparted as it struck the third bottle. He was nervous for that split second, however, such nerves prove utterly unnecessary as the bottle, too, soared off into the air after being struck, his ball following through the impact the back of the game stall with a dull thud. The carnie's face dipped into a frown slightly as he looked at that display, even as Yang's hooping and hollering and pumping her fists into the air.

"Yeeaaaah! How do you like your 'bonsai tree' now? First try, all three bottles, no sweat! Woop!" Izuku couldn't help but grin himself as he got caught up in his fellow Hunter-in-Training's excitement, pumping his fist ever so slightly at having won on his first go. Several other people at the park seemed to be slightly envious of him at the moment; a few of the younger ones and women were jealous because he managed to win in one go. For the guys, it was harder to tell what exactly they were most envious of when it came to him. The carnie just bit back a slightly grumbled as he reached out for his hook.

"Alright, alright. I didn't see any funny business with a Semblance either so... grrr... you get your prize, kid." Dropping the insult, the carnie rattled his hook against various prizes. "Luna's Wonder Park maintains a certain promise of quality; these ain't shit prizes, kids, not like you'll get at Sol's Fair Grounds. Take your pick and then get out of here... one grand prize per customer per day." The man clicked his tongue against his yellow teeth as he waited for Izuku to pick out a prize, Yang also seeming all too eager to see what he'd pick out for her.

'Oh boy, so many choices.' His eyes rapidly glanced around the various prizes, trying to pick out the right one. 'It'd need to come with one with some kind of witty joke or one-liner; that's something really confident, cool guys did when they were hitting on girls and giving them gifts, right? Plus knowing Yang's sense of humor, it'd pretty much tickle her right down to the bone if I do that so, hey, even more reason to go for that, right? Okay so... what would be best, then? The bumblebee? Maybe make a joke relating to her bike like 'Well you can't bring 'that' bumblebee into the school'? Maybe, maybe, but you weren't entirely sure. Maybe the bear? Uh... okay, wow, I actually can't think of anything for the bear, I'm stumped. The green plush horse that had green hair? Something to remember I bought when she took it to…'

...

'Nope.'

Briefly his eyes glanced over to the Toshinori doll; as much as that might've been something he would've wanted, he didn't think that Yang would be embarrassed beyond belief. She'd probably laugh, yeah, but he was really not sure that would count for much. So, with a little hesitation, he settled down on his most confident option, the one he'd thought a smooth one-liner for almost immediately. Yeah, it'd be perfect. He'd just need to roll with the execution.

So he ended up picking an orange and yellow dragon off the rack, the giant plush toy having settled comfortably into your arms before he turned to Yang, offering her the most suave look he could manage... which, come to think of it, probably wasn't very suave at all but he'd worry about that later!

"I-I know that heroes aren't supposed to bring the dragon and the fair maiden together, b-but I think we can make an exception this time, right?"

...

'Nailed it.'

"Oi vey..." The stall runner just palmed his face in his hands, shaking his head side to side as he went off to deal with other customers.

Yang just looked at him for a moment, a long drawn out moment, as her mouth squirmed around a bit. For a moment, he thought he saw the corners of her lips start to rise up, her breathing becoming sharp for a moment as she momentarily turned her head a bit, coughing into her fist. He swore he heard something akin to a snort in there but, as soon as Yang turned back, it was all smiles and grins as she practically hopped forward, staring at the prize he'd gotten.

"Oh my gosh Izuku! Thank you soooo much! I 'love' it! It's perfect, and all the better because you got it for me with those manly arms of yours." Again Izuku fought back the instinct to sheepishly grin or blush at Yang's compliments as the blonde woman took the stuffed toy from his arm. It was pretty much half as large as he was so, even with Yang having been ever so slightly taller, it still took up most of her torso as she took hold of it. He watched as Yang looked down at the toy, her attention having been split off from him, as she took a moment to stroke the fuzz of the thing. He saw, for the briefest of moments, a nostalgic glint in her eyes as she quietly muttered something under her breath. Those lilac eyes, warmed by nostalgia, looked up to you as she gives him a wide grin, nodding her head again.

"Thanks Izuku, it's great!" She declared again as her expression evened out into a normal smile. "So what's next there big guy? What else you got up your sleeve?" Yang asked with a toothy grin, to which... Izuku actually shrugged.

"I dunno... honestly, I'm a bit out of ideas. I was going to offer to let you pick what we do next, but if we're-"

"Perfect!" Yang declared all at once as she immediately grabbed him by the shoulder. "Come on, time's a wastin'! If we don't hurry we'll miss our chance!" Before he could even ask Yang what she was on about, the blonde immediately pulled him off through the park, his feet just barely keeping up with hers as he was bodily dragged about by her, several guys outright glaring at him at this point.

'Well, whatever Yang has in mind...couldn't be all bad, right?'

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

'I was wrong,-'

...

'I was horribly, 'horribly' wrong.'

What Yang had been dragging him off to, what the young woman had seemed so eager to rush to in order to ensure that you two would have their 'chance' was in all honesty the biggest attraction in the park... and the one that had him feeling the most nerves at the moment.

The Wonder Wheel.

In front of so many people he could barely count them, Yang Xiao Long had bodily dragged him up to the Wonder Wheel, presented their tickets, and then as soon as cage for the ride opened up, dragged him on board, having practically tossed him in before enthusiastically jumping in herself. The downright predatory gleam had told him damn near everything he could've possibly needed or wanted to know; Yang had fun with his game of Chicken, but now she was primed and ready to get the show on the road. She was going in for the kill. Heck, where better to, to be honest? What theme park attraction, what fairground folly, was better suited for that, then the Ferris Wheel.

Now, he wasn't a suave fellow and he'd never really even technically held hands with a girl before he touched Blake's all those weeks back. However, even he of all people knew how 'romantic' a Ferris Wheel was supposed to be. He and his 'date', being raised higher and higher into the sky, his cage occasionally stopping every now and then as other people left and got on, leaving him more and more time alone. Way up in the sky where no one else could see him... or what he was doing. Alone. With one other person.

Izuku glanced over at Yang again who had sat across from him with her stuffed dragon in hand, the girl just giving him a grin as she daintily waived to him. Still, even with that calm look, he could see it in her eyes. Yang knew she had him cornered... and she knew that he knew that she knew that she had him cornered. His eyes briefly glanced out over the ocean as a means of trying to settle himself, to solidify his iron will... okay, maybe like a copper or bronze will, for the coming ploy. The game was so close... he'd come so far and resisted so much! He couldn't just bow out now, not when it was all coming down to the wire! He took a long swallow of that nervous lump in his throat, turning back to face Yang. Maybe if he struck first, came up with something embarrassing, then maybe Yang would be knocked off her footing and he could sweep this opportunity out from under her!

That hope, however, was dashed when he looked over at where Yang had been sitting... and found nothing.

"Looking for someone, Iz-u-ku~?"

He barely kept from screaming as his head immediately snapped over to the right...

Oh Gods, she knew what she was doing. Yang had positioned herself in such a manner that the broken moon that had appeared in the night sky, as late as the day had dragged on, was practically shining a light down behind her along with the rest of Vale's and the Park's lights. Her hair practically glowed in it all, even as she twirled a strand of it around a solitary finger. Lilac eyes stared into his emerald ones as a soft smile played at her lips. She was still some distance away from him, but that just meant she was leaning over in order to 'appear' closer... and the angle she was leaning meant that if he craned his head-

DON'T LOOK DOWN DON'T LOOK DOWN DON'T LOOK DOWN!

"What's wrong Izuku? Nervous about having an audience?" He nearly choked slightly as Yang slowly dragged herself across the seat next to him, bringing herself closer, her eyes glancing over to the dragon. "Don't worry... it's okay if he watches."

COLD THOUGHTS!

COLD THOUGHTS COLD THOUGHTS COLD THOUGHTS COLD THOUGHTS COLD THOUGHTS COLD THOUGHTS COLD THOUGHTS COLD-

...

*Snerk*

... thoughts?

He watched in some amazement as, after Yang draws slightly closer to him, there was a hesitation in her body language, one that was immediately followed up by the young woman biting her lips as tears well up in the corner of her eyes.

"bw...bwHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Finally, it all seemed to be too much for her as Yang suddenly burst out laughing, the blonde young woman bending her head down slightly as her other hand went for her gut, the other arm supporting itself on Izuku to keep her from falling onto the floor of the cage. More confused than embarrassed, he watched Yang just laugh it out for a bit as she brought self back up, wiping a few tears away as she exhaled deeply.

"Gods Izuku... you needed to see the look in your eyes. Wow, I mean, I thought I've seen panic before but 'wow'." Izuku immediately frowned at that, a slightly disappointed expression on his face as he looked off to the side.

"Oh... so I guess I lose then, huh?"

"PFFFT!" Yang practically blew her cheeks out as she waved him off, causing his further confusion. "Slugger, you kept your composure and didn't flinch. Sure, I thought you might fall over from a stroke if I kept going but you were still looking me dead on. No, you didn't lose Izuku." Yang shrugged her shoulders as, pushing off from him, she switched seats back to her original side of the cage. "I lost. Congrats, you beat me at Chicken."

...

"Huh?" Izuku seemed utterly blown away for a moment as Yang just nodded.

"Yeah, I lost my composure and I flinched hard. You won Izuku, congrats. You're the second person who's ever beaten me at a game like this." Yang leaned back in her seat as she brought the little dragon back in her lap, stroking its fluffy exterior as he just looked at her.

"... Wait, I'm confused. Couldn't you have actually just... I dunno, done something that'd make me lose my cool or something before you lost it? I don't understand how I won that if you could just..." Izuku blushed, finally, as he scratched the back of his head, Yang just snorting slightly as she shook her hands.

"Slugger, I tease a lot and I can appreciate a good looking fella but I'm not 'creepy'. This was a game between friends to see who'd flinch first; of course I could've-" Yang pouted her lips as she gave him a wink, "-immediately gone in to try and give you your first kiss." He immediately blushed as red as a fire truck as Yang suggested this, the blonde just chuckling as she waved at him. "Yeah, I would've won easily... but the name of the game was to make you flinch, and just that, and going straight for 'creeper who doesn't respect personal space' isn't my style. Strictly a 'look don't touch' policy with me on that end." Yang offered a small smile. "You on the other hand? Slugger, you gave it your all... and you know what, it was just fun to watch. So yeah, you won."

...

'Huh, it's weird that I still feel kind of disappointed by that.'

"Oh... well, I was kind of hoping I'd get you to blush for once. You know, get you like you get me..." Yang looked at him for a moment before a smile graced her lips.

"Slugger... I had three boyfriends in and out of my life by the time I was Ruby's age. At this point I think I can safely say that I've been on more first dates than I have fingers. I have heard every macho line, every bad boy come on and every little compliment or gesture you could think of... heck, you don't look 'this' good without drawing a lot of attention." Yang tosses her hair slightly as she continued to smile at him. "Slugger, you could've been the most dashing guy this side of Remnant who rode in on a white motorcycle and offered to take me for the ride of my life and I'd probably be more amused than embarrassed. I'm 'used' to stuff like that."

"Oh... so I didn't stand a chance, huh?" Izuku sighed as he spoke, looking off to the side. Instead of the 'yep' he might've expected, he instead heard a small 'hmm' from Yang as she tapped her chin.

"... Well, I wouldn't say that." Izuku blinked in surprise as he immediately turned back to face her.

"What, you're serious? How?! What did I need to do?" Yang barked out a loud laugh at his enthusiasm, the blonde just waving him off as she leaned forward to pat him on the shoulder.

"You know what Izuku? Don't worry about it. Really, just... be you and that kind of stuff will work out. Trust me." Izuku sighed at the piece of advice but, seeing Yang's genuine smile, he nodded as he sat back in his seat, looking out into the ocean again. The two of them slowly reached the zenith of the Wonder Wheel, hitting the highest point of the ride which allowed them both a 'long' view of the surrounding bits of Vale and a long look out into the ocean. Between the city lights, the moon and the limited starlight... it was something to see.

"So... you wanted to get me like I get you, huh?" Izuku blinked slightly as he looked over at Yang, a thoughtful look on her face as he tilted his head slightly.

"Uh, yeah, that's what I said anyway." Yang nodded slightly as she frowned a little, though that frown lessened slightly as she turned to look back at him.

"Look, Slugger... you know that if my shtick bothered you, it was okay to say something, right?" Izuku blinked slightly, a little surprised, as Yang just smiled. "Look, I get it; constantly getting hit on, even jokingly, for a nervous guy can be a bit of a thing. Heck, I don't think Weiss was kidding back in the Tunnels when she said you looked like you were about ready to die of a heart attack. Granted, that wasn't entirely my doing, but still, I was probably making an embarrassing situation worse." Yang gave him a grin as she nodded. "Sure, it's fun to watch you react and all... heck, it's so weird to see someone who can stand up in a fight like you can act so nervous that it's kind of constantly funny. But it isn't cool for me to do if it's actually bugging you." Yang nodded slightly at that as she turned to face him, plush toy still in her lap.

'Huh, this wasn't quite the turn in the conversation I was expecting.'

It really wasn't where he was expecting the conversation to turn. So much so that he actually end up chuckling despite himself, a surprised laugh that drew Yang attention as she pouted slightly.

"Hey now, I'm being serious here."

"I know, I know. It's just, well, jeez Yang, do you think I'd keep hanging out with you if I didn't like who you are?" He did his best to give Yang a bright, honest smile as he shook his head. "You're funny, energetic and, well obviously, you're really caring. Heck, I have a blast whenever we're just doing stuff, whether it be hanging out like this or sparring or whatever it is we're doing." He nervously glanced off toward the ocean, a little uneasy with being so frank with someone, especially considering what he had on his mind to say. He sheepishly scratch at his cheek slightly before he continued. "Besides... well, you could even argue this has been a real learning experience for me."

"I think it's pretty obvious that I haven't had much experience with girls... or any at all, if I'm being perfectly honest. I've never really had any that particularly cared for what I had to say or would stop to try and help me. Especially not ones who were 'really' cool, social and..." He took a moment to cough into his fist as a blush rose to his cheeks, "-pretty." He turned back to look at Yang, laughing in a self-deprecating manner as he did so. "Heck, when I first met you and Ruby, I pretty much nearly broke down, not to mention how I nearly fumbled being friends with so many of our female friends in the first place." At that point his smile widened greatly as he threw his arms out to the side for emphasis. "Now look at me! I've been spending the entire night playing romantic Chicken with you and I haven't collapsed into a gibbering puddle yet! I'd consider that to be some major progress." He smiled genuinely as he lowered his arms back down to his legs.

"I wouldn't have made that kind of progress if it wasn't for you dragging me out of my shell and being my friend and you're doing it because that's just you being you... and I like that. So don't worry, because sooner or later, I think I'll get the _Yang_ of all this." As he finished he relaxed back into his seat, an earnest smile on his face as he'd, hopefully, disabused Yang of any notion that she might've been bullying him somehow.

The entire time he was speaking, Yang's holding onto that stuffed toy he got her, the giant animal having pretty well obscured Yang's torso and the head of it having hidden the lower part of her face. Still, he could see her eyes blink slightly, a little bit amazed, as they stare right back at him. Before he could worry too much over Yang's silence or her lack of reaction, he saw a playful glint in those eyes as she suddenly-

"PAH!" The stuffed dragon is summarily tossed at his head as Yang chuckled on her end of the cage.

"Big talk coming from you Slugger. You'll get the 'Yang' of all this eventually? Bold words, bold words indeed. I guess I'll just have to step up my game if I don't want to lose out on seeing your blush and stumble your way through a conversation with me." Despite the fact that Yang threatened to keep up the teasing, he couldn't help but grin as it seemed that Yang's been reassured of his friendship with her, a wide smile on her face as she looked over at him. "Now give me that back."

"I-I'm not going to give it back if you're just going to throw it at my head like that!"

"Pssh, like that actually hurt... or if it did, maybe I should kiss it a little to make it better?"

"AAAAAAH!"

It wasn't long before the Ferris Wheel ended up rolling the two back down to the bottom and, as late as it had gotten, it was time to head back to the airbus station before it closed. Bumblebee made the ride a breeze, with him now having the additional duty of holding onto Yang's new stuffed toy on the ride back. In good time they managed to return to Beacon Academy, Bumblebee being returned to the school's garage and the pair of them on their way back to the dorm room. They were left with the distinct satisfaction of having had an excellent night out with ones friends and he got the feeling that Yang had been equally chuffed by it all. Sure, he might not have won his game of Chicken like he hoped he would, but still, everything had pretty much gone great.

Still, he couldn't help one last curiosity. As he watched Yang walk away, he watched her comb her hair behind her ear, tucking it there for a moment as she walked off. For a second, he thought that Yang's ears seemed to be unusually red.

* * *

 **a/n: Once again, next update should come out on the 17th as normally planned despite this one being a day late.**


	62. Passions

_"L'amour est un oiseau rebelle_

 _Que nul ne peut apprivoiser,_

 _Et c'est bien in vain qu'on l'appelle_

 _S'il lui convient de refuser."_

...

Well, that wasn't exactly what Izuku was expecting to hear when he was walking back to his dorm room. His emerald eyes blinked in confusion as he took a few steps forward, standing before his dorm. The sound of music and a rather... loud singing can be heard from the other side of the door, the noise having echoed somewhat out from the barrier before dissipating. On the one hand he was not 'entirely' sure if he even wanted to know but, at the same time, he was kind of curious at that point. With a shrug he knocked on the door, trying to see if someone will answer... only to find no answer. 'Huh, maybe one of the others had left some music playing and forgot to turn it off before they left?' More sure that he wouldn't walk in on an awkward situation he slowly opened the door, only to practically choke when he noticed a head of white hair sitting in a chair, Weiss having occupied the room as she sat at 'her' desk and stared at her Scroll, a fierce frown on her face as she glared at it.

"Weiss?" Izuku called out, trying to get her attention. However, that gesture had been for naught as, instead of actually punching through the music, his weak voice ended up being drowned out by it. With a slight sigh he puff yourself up a bit, closing the door behind him. "Weiss!"

"ACK!" Izuku's sudden shout caused Weiss to practically kick out her own chair, the young woman having fallen backwards in her seat as the back of her chair slammed into the floor and her along with it. Izuku winced slightly, really not liking that his shout had caused that, even as Weiss turned her glare back toward the source of the noise that had surprised her. Upon spotting him, he watched as Weiss' gaze softened ever so slightly, even as she kept a very 'hard' edge to it. "Izuku? Why did you feel the need to shout? I could've heard you... and why didn't you knock?"

"I didn't shout at first... and I did knock." As Izuku replied, he watched as Weiss' face slowly sunk a bit as she took that in, before an embarrassed blush crosses her cheeks.

"... Sorry. Guess I'm a little bit distracted right now. The fact that I've been playing this so loud probably was of no help either." Thoroughly relieved that any hostility Weiss may have directed his way evaporated the second he explained himself, Izuku watched as Weiss forced herself back up from the ground and dusted herself off, fixing her chair slightly. "Was there something you needed, Izuku?" Izuku shook his head slightly as he put his hands in his pockets.

"I was just stopping by to pick up a few things was all... up until I heard that music that is." Weiss nodded understandingly as she reached over to her Scroll to turn down the volume, although she didn't silence it completely. "What is that anyway? I don't really understand what it's saying." Weiss nodded understandingly as she looked over at him.

"It's an old opera written in Tethys a while back, pretty popular for people to perform up in Atlas every now and then as part of concertos, especially if you're around that City State." Weiss remarked, almost clinically, as he nodded.

"Okay.. who's singing it? Was that you?" Some of that annoyance from before cropped up again as Weiss... actually blew her cheeks out. It seemed even the Schnee Heiress realized what an unusual move that was for her as her cheeks went red again.

"... Darn it Nora..." Weiss muttered to herself as she shook her head. "But no Izuku. No-hooo. I'm not the one singing this. Not by a long shot..." Weiss muttered as she shook her head. "No, this is... well, this is a new up and coming singer whose recent opera performance my... father attended recently. He thought I'd like to hear what he considered to be a rather good performance, Figured I'd be excited to know that an... old acquaintance of mine has been making waves in the Atlesian Music scene while I've been at Beacon.." Izuku nodded his head understandingly as he tried his best to smile.

"Well, that's nice of him." Izuku flinched as Weiss scoffed slightly, before continuing. "So you know this person huh? Were they a friend of yours while you were in music?" Weiss just huffed a bit.

"Not really. You see, she was an up and comer who had graduated from the Atlesian Academy for the Arts around the same time as when my father had me start performing following the completion of my tutoring. She was... popular, though I never... well no, I understood why. After all, she had plenty of..." Izuku saw Weiss hands raise up and stop around chest level, her face scowling even deeper before she just dropped her hands, "'talent' and could at the very least carry a tune. Of course, my tutors ensured that my own talents and abilities were more than a match. Their jobs were on the line if my father wasn't satisfied with my ability to perform, after all. Women in Atlesian High Society are expected to be masters of some art. " With that, Weiss huffed as she went to take a seat again, frowning slightly at the Scroll. She pressed a few buttons on it and eventually, the song changed to... yeah, that's definitely Weiss.

"Finest tutors in all of Atlas will get you somewhere, to be certain. I pretty well eclipsed most of my peers and was set to be considered a new star in Atlas' social circles. I suppose now that I've vacated that position, everyone else has some room to start playing for that position. I suppose father just wanted to keep me... updated." Weiss frowned as she leaned back, that annoyed glint in her eyes as she snapped back to look at him, which caused Izuku to flinch.

"You tell me Izuku... of the two of us, who sounds better to you?"

…

'Okay, guess I should give it my best shot…'

"Well... first off, just listening between the two of you, I think that you have the better vocal range. I can tell you're hitting a wider variety of notes, or at least I think you are... or at least it's noticeable enough that I think that's what I'm hearing." Weiss nodded, getting the general gist of what he meant. "As far as holding notes though, I think you're right about her having talent there, she can hold them a little longer than you." Weiss seems to sputter for a moment, though she just nodded with him as she seemed ready to move on from there. "Then there's understanding the two songs. Obviously you kind of have the edge there because I can't understand a single word of what she's saying but, even then, I'm getting a lot more emotion out of your performance... even if the background band drowns you out from time to time. Don't get me wrong, the foreign element of hers is neat, but I feel like I get your song and performance more."

"Then there's the mike... she sounds like she's really close to it." He shrugged as he crossed his arms. "So to me, you're the better of the two, but it'd be cool to hear you sing without such a loud backdrop threatening to drown you out." Izuku saw Weiss nod as he laid down his analysis, the Heiress brushing a strand of hair behind his ear as he did so.

"Well Izuku, you make quite a few salient points." With that, Weiss snapped up as if she was in the middle of a lesson. "Her range for this piece is 'deplorable'. Sure, she can handle the lower ranges quite well, admirably even, and she can hold her notes but she does not pass as mezzosopran 'at all'! She can't hit the right notes for anything and her breathing, yes, you note she sounds like she's close to the microphone but that shouldn't be an issue, actually, shouldn't be an issue on 'two' counts but we'll get to that later! If she had better control over her breathing her pitch and her range would be improved and she wouldn't sound like she's trying to stuff the microphone down her throat! Not to mention her actual use of the language is 'deplorable'. Even if you knew the language she was supposed to be singing, Izuku, I doubt you could understand her in the first place because she just 'butchers' it!"

"But even if all of this was fixed, the fact that she needed a microphone in the first place shows how little skill she has! The opera house she's performing in as part of this performance is very small, something that anyone who could properly cast their voice would be able to sing in and be heard even as far as the back with no difficulties at all! Frankly, she only has two, three, two things going for her..." Weiss stumbles a bit as she blushes, before shaking her head, "-and frankly, I don't see why people have taken to following her in my absence."Izuku nodded very slowly, doing his best to take it all in.

"Wow, that sounds pretty bad. If it's all as you say then your dad really must have some bad taste."

It was weird. What was meant to reassure Weiss seemed to only aggravate her, even as the winds were let ever so slightly out of her sails.

"No... no my father 'knows' good singing and music. He's 'cultured' after all. He'd understand a lot of this about her singing..." Weiss frowned deeply as she walked over to her bed and sat on it, placing a hand on her chin. Izuku blinked at that, as Weiss just scowled straight on ahead.

"Then... I dunno, why would he say something like that and send it to you?" Izuku tilted his head curiously, even as Weiss just frowned more deeply.

"... Izuku... I'd like to ask you a very 'honest' question. No speeches, no hyperbole, no... your usual shtick. Just... an honest answer." He blinked slightly, nodding his head as Weiss' ice blue eyes turned on his emerald ones. "Are you being truthful when you say that you've wanted to be a Hunter your entire life? That you've never really had doubts until you thought you were Broken? That you 'knew' this was your life's purpose?"

...

'Woof, that is a question and a half... but'

"Yes."

Weiss seemed to watch him carefully, 'oh so' very carefully as her eyes scanned about him. As if she were looking for a lie or a sign of doubt. Yet, he knew and he suspected she knew as well; she wouldn't find it. Not here. Not on this.

He watched as Weiss' eyes go slightly wide... as she looked at him. After a moment, he watched her nod slightly as she got up off her seat, dusting herself off as she did so.

"I see. That's... very respectable, Izuku. It's a rare thing for people to find the thing they want to do for the rest of their life... and you've known it for so long." He couldn't help but blink in some surprise. He'd expected Weiss to follow up, to question his resolve or to try to impugn his answer... but she didn't. "Well... I've spent enough time doting on this travesty to singing. I think I'll actually go ahead and go off to practice on my own."

"Uh... sure Weiss, sounds like fun. Good luck." Izuku offered to Weiss, who just gave him a grateful smile and a nod as she moved to leave the room. As she opened the door, she paused for a moment, hanging in between their shared dorm room and the hallway outside.

"Izuku?" She calls back to him, "I didn't get the chance to say this after The Tunnels, but this made me realize that I should get it out now. I'm glad you were made our leader." Before he could even get a chance to ask the 'why' of that sudden declaration, Weiss slid the door closed behind her, the steps of her high heels echoing down the hall.

...

'Huh.'

* * *

"Hmmm... you know what? We totally need to get Toshinori's autograph!"

Izuku's body's first reaction was to immediately choke on the drink that he'd been downing while sitting around with Ruby, the two of them having run into each other around campus while looking for something to do. His body's next reaction, to prevent itself from pretty much drowning itself into some papaya-based beverage that he'd bought out of a vending machine, was to spit it all out in surprise.

"Woah! Holy cow Deku, are you alright, you're not dying on me are you?!" Ruby sounded genuinely terrified that that was the case as he waved her off, coughing and hacking as he rubbed at his throat.

"N-No, I'm okay Ruby, I was just... just taking a breath at the same time I was drinking was all." Ruby grimaced a bit at that, taking a sip from her own drink as she shook her head.

"Bleh, hate when that happens." Izuku nodded in agreement at that as he looked at her with a nervous smile.

"A-Anyway, you were saying something Ruby? A-About trying to get Toshinori's autograph?" He really hoped that he'd either misunderstood what Ruby had said or, better yet, that she hadn't brought up anything remotely similar to that idea 'at all' before he nearly choked on his own drink.

"Yeah! I mean, you've been going on for weeks about how big a fan you are of the guy and how much of an inspiration he's been to you and your decision to become a Hunter. That he's been such a huge deal for you, well, that means a lot and I know you've been so hyped to have him as a teacher here! You were super gushing over him during that first exercise." Ruby chuckled slightly as she said that, scratching the back of her head. "Not that there's anything wrong with that, I gushed over Professor Goodwitch the first time she and I met and she's not even my favorite Huntress of all time." Izuku nodded in understanding, as Ruby continued. "And I could sort of get it; Toshinori's a really big deal, even if I've never really thought much about the guy outside of his status as the Symbol of Peace! This is probably pretty blas... blasph... insulting, but he's not really my favorite Hunter." Ruby said and yeah, that did surprise him given how many people counted Toshinori as their favorite Hunter, he didn't articulate that as the feeling of dread just built up.

"But after last week at the Underground Training Facility... well, I think after seeing that giant hole in the ceiling, I understand it 'a lot' better. Guy's certainly earned his title." With that Ruby gave a big old smile as she threw her arms out to the side, threatening to spill her drink out to the side as she did so. "So hey, why are we sitting around here? You 'definitely' want his autograph, I have to know that for a fact, and you know? I'd really like to add it to my own collection too!" Ruby gave a quick smile as she looked around. "Don't tell anyone else, but because my dad used to be a Hunter, he usually gets a lot of visits from some old friends... I got a lot of signatures back home at my house."

"You don't say..." He muttered to himself as he felt a nervous sweat build up on his skin, one which Ruby noticed almost immediately.

"What's wrong Deku, why so sweaty?" He just chuckled nervously as he raised his hands defensively.

"Oh it's nothing Ruby, it's just, you know... I-I don't know, it seems like Toshinori's been really busy ever since the whole incident and I-I wouldn't want to bug him with something like an autograph." Not to mention that he'd already established with Pyrrha that he'd gotten Toshinori's autograph, so doing it again with Ruby threatened to cause some headaches if the topic ever came up with the both of them. Ruby nodded, but instead of taking it seriously, the young girl just stuck her tongue out at him.

"Aw don't be so scared Deku! You've seen how much Toshinori likes the attention from other students! If he knew how much he meant to you, I'm sure he'd be 'really' excited to give you an autograph!" Wow, Ruby didn't even know how right she was on that, he realized. "Besides, there's no harm in asking, right? He seems like a really nice guy so I doubt he'd get mad! Come on, this is, like, a once in a lifetime chance to get an autograph from your personal hero! Are you really gonna just let it slide?"

...

'Okay, how were you going to handle this?'

'It's bad enough that Pyrrha knows that I and Toshinori had previous contact. The more distance between me and Toshinori that was closed here and there, the more people would notice things. Heck, Tsuyu had already noticed how similar my power set was to Toshinori's and, while he'd managed to push that off by explaining it as part of my fanboyism, he had to wonder if the 'very' forward and observant frog girl wouldn't think twice about that connection between the two if she knew he'd had prior meetings with Toshinori... after all, wouldn't that be something a fan boy like he would want to talk about and show off to people?'

'So if I don't want Ruby to know that I had contact with Toshinori before, I'd need to lie in some way or another 'or' I'd need to find a way to make a better excuse as to why I wouldn't want his autograph. Both of which would add to that earlier problem of spinning 'another' lie on top of the one he told Pyrrha which would slam into each other if the topic ever came up around Ruby and Pyrrha…'

'Gods, I just don't want people to potentially key into my closeness with Toshinori and, potentially from there, some kind of connection related to his ability, to One For All. Why did the universe have to make that so hard…'

'Okay. So the sort of half-truth that I've told Pyrrha should sufficed. It'd keep a lot of loose ends from flying around and potentially tripping me up 'and' it will get me out of this mess... at least in part.'

"Actually Ruby... the truth is, I already have Toshinori's autograph." He remarked somewhat sheepishly as Ruby just blinked.

"Huh? You do? Well when did you get that? I don't think anyone's seen you walk up to him and ask for it yet." Izuku nodded at that, giving her a somewhat nervous smile as he did so.

"Well I didn't actually get it from him here. You see, the truth is, I got it from Toshinori during one of the times he was around Mountain Glenn. It was really lucky actually; I just so happened to run into him!" At that, Ruby's silver eyes went wide with shock and awe, a smile on her face.

"No way! That really 'is' lucky!" Ruby remarked with some excitement as you excitedly nodded back.

"I know, right? What's even better is that he didn't even charge me for it!" Ruby again gave a gasp at that, before they broke out laughing. The moment soon passed as a curious look came over Ruby's face, her head tilting to the side as she scratched the side of her head.

"Well... if that's the case then why didn't you say so earlier Izuku? That really seems like something you'd want to share, given how big an idol Toshinori is for you. I know a lot of us would've been excited for you... heck, why did you even bother pretending to not have it when I brought it up a moment ago." Here he just nervously swallowed again as he scratch his cheek, looking off to the side.

"W-Well that's because... I really didn't want to brag about it and it just slipped my mind." Ruby gave a short 'pfft', as if that was unbelievable, before he shook his head. "I mean it. Being here at Beacon, being a team leader, having my chance to be a Hunter, 'earning' that chance... having friends... it really just made me forget about it. Don't get me wrong, like you said, I do treasure it so I didn't 'completely' forget about it... but it's not always on my mind." Izuku smiled as he looked down at the ground slightly. "Like I said, I don't want to brag about it either. The autograph is amazing and an inspiration but... actually being here, being allowed to have the opportunity to become a Hunter... well, that's more valuable to me than the autograph itself. Beyond that, I just wouldn't want people to be jealous over nothing. I know Toshinori's signature is pretty valuable, so I just didn't want to upset people." Ruby slowly nodded in time with all that, her cheeks no longer puffed up in disbelief as a smile slowly crossed her features.

"I guess that makes sense. I don't really do much bragging over my own parents either, despite everything." Izuku nodded in understanding, before offering Ruby a big smile.

"You know, if you're still interested in getting his autograph, you still can... heck, I can even show you mine so you know what you're going to be getting." At that, Ruby's eyes sparkle as she stepped up slightly.

"You mean it?"

"Sure, let me just..." Izuku quickly swung his bag around and shuffle through it; he usually kept his various notebooks and gear around just in case you read something or came up with something that he'd need to write down. Before long, Hunter Analysis For The Future Vol. 13 was in his hand and, as he flipped through the pages, he presented to Ruby Rose the very same signature that Toshinori had once presented him with.

"Holy cow! He signed the entire page and in this really neato style too! Wait though, why is the notebook so dirty and the edges are burnt... oh wait... Kacchan?"

"Kacchan."

"He really should apologize if he actually did this. That's just rude." Izuku laughed slightly as Ruby spoke, the young woman then flipping through a few pages as her silver eyes scanned them. "Wow... you've really been at this for a while huh? There's so many notes in here and so many Hunters..." He watched as Ruby flipped back to the front. "And it's just Volume 13? You have 12 other volumes full of signatures and Hunters?"

"Yeah. Like I said, I've wanted to be a Hunter for a long time... ever since I was a little kid, even. So I have 'tons' of notes on Hunters... admittedly, the early Volumes really aren't much worth looking at. I was really little after all but, hey, some of its still good." Izuku saw Ruby nod slightly as she looked through his notebook, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Umm... would that include..." He saw Ruby fidget a bit as she looks back at him, seemingly a little nervous. "... Would that include Summer Rose? My mom?"

'... Huh…'

"Uhh... y-yeah, actually it would." He scratched at his neck nervously, dipping back into his bag in order to produce Vol. 9. Ruby seemed to fidget around for a moment, a nervous energy having been built up in her, as he scrounged around for his notes and, from there, flipped through the book to find the right page. "Here we are, the section on Team STRQ. Summer's right at the beginning of it because she was the leader but... well, Ruby..." He paused for a moment, hesitating to hand it over. The choice was pretty much made for him as Ruby reached out a hand, grasped the notebook and took it in. The transition caused a few pages to flip which brought Ruby to the back of the section on STRQ but, to his surprise, he saw Ruby just chortle.

"Wow, you did get better at drawing over time. Uncle Qrow looks so ridiculous here." He sheepishly scratched the back of his head at that; yeah no denying that he really wasn't good at art, and he was even worse in the earlier volumes of his notes. Still, he at least hoped that he'd gotten better over time, at the very least... and hearing Ruby, it seemed to confirm it. Ruby flipped the page from Qrow and... well, he saw her frown slightly; it was Raven Branwen's page just before Qrow Branwen's. he decided to stay 'very' quiet as she flipped through the pages, before he saw her smile again. "'The Wildman Hunter', seriously?" He chuckled a bit nervously as he reached a hand up for his chin.

"Well Patch was considered a 'real' backwater back in those days, so that's part of where the name came from. The other part was the fact that he was apparently a really risky, really ferocious brawler when you got right down to it." Ruby shook her head at that as she just chuckled.

"You really wouldn't think so if you knew him now. He's just dad at this point... still, if that's the case, I guess that means Yang got something else from him too aside from his... ugh, 'jokes'." Ruby rolled her silver eyes a bit as, finally, she flipped through the last page. He expected a lot of things when Ruby hit the page. He expected some kind of distress or some kind of outrage or disbelief. After all, while Summer Rose wasn't considered 'officially' KIA, as no one had ever found her body, it was pretty much considered de facto that she was dead and that no one would ever see her again. Still, that wasn't something he should shove in the face of a young girl who'd lost her mother.

Despite these fears... Ruby's smile remained constantly as she looked at it and, Heck, she even laughed a little bit as she glanced back up at him. "Your art's really terrible; it looks like she's surrounded by just some big white blob."

"Yeah, I didn't exactly know how to draw a white cloak so I just kind of went to town with a bit of white crayon. It was supposed to be her defining feature after all." He admitted somewhat nervously as he scratched his cheek, Ruby just having taken a look over the notes.

"... Summer Rose, Leader of Team STRQ, Second Place Finisher of the 31st Vytal Festival Tournament behind..." He knew it was Raven Branwen who finished first in that tournament, but seeing Ruby's face shift uncomfortably as she was confronted with that name spoke some volumes. Her look wasn't necessarily hateful or even bitter, it was just... a little muddled, a little uncertain. Still, that changed as she moved right along. "Weapon of choice was a longspear-Rifle which was used in conjunction with her Semblance to help keep fights at a medium-long range. Oh that's really cool. I don't really remember what mom took out on missions it was so long ago and none of her pictures have her weapon in it. I wonder what she called it... it definitely had to have a name." Ruby nodded slightly as she continued to read down the page.

"Missions carried out successfully numbering in the dozens, Heck yeah... continued being active even after Team STRQ officially disbanded following the disappearance of..." Ruby frowned again as she just flipped the page. As much information as there was on Summer, her career was still technically short. So there were really only a couple more notes that he jotted down before 'the big one'. "... KIA." He winced as Ruby's smile drooped ever so slightly as he immediately tried to leap into some kind of disaster prevention.

"U-Uh just ignore that, it's technically wrong anyway! No one ever really found Summer Rose, so she's technically just MIA, I was just-"

"Going with what everyone already assumes to be true." he was somewhat surprised as Ruby looked up to her, a smile on her face as she sighed. "Deku, it's okay. We... we have a gravestone for my mom back home. It might not have... have her under it but, well, the message is there. We know." Izuku deflated a bit as Ruby spoke so frankly, the girl having dropped her gaze back down to the page.

"... I'm sorry. It can't be fun to have it shoved in your face though. I really shouldn't have brought this up..." Ruby just laughed a bit as she smiled at him.

"Are you kidding? This had a bunch of stuff I didn't even know about. Dad likes to talk about mom, sure, but... well, he doesn't really talk about her Hunter career all that much. I didn't even know what kind of weapon she used... gotta say, as nice as a Longspear-Rifle combo might be, it sounds too mundane for me. I'll stick with Crescent Rose." Ruby closed the book up as she handed it back to him. "So thanks Deku. I really appreciated this... it was a lot of stuff I didn't even know." He do his best to smile back, even under the circumstances.

"Well... in that case I'm glad to help Ruby. Now, let's see if we can find Toshinori and get you his autograph." He watched as Ruby's face twisted up into a thoughtful expression before she ultimately shook her head.

"You know what? Maybe another time. Right now... I feel like making a call. Maybe I can get it on my own time sometime later." With that Ruby gave him a grin as she suddenly started to run off. "I'll talk to you later Deku, thanks for showing me that!" He blinked in slight surprise as Ruby ran off, presumably to place a call somewhere in private. He waved back as she ran.

"Uh... anytime Ruby, I guess?" Before long he shrugged before continuing on with his walk...

'You know, speaking of Toshinori…'

* * *

"Huh, she was in that good a spirit over Summer Rose huh? Can't say I really expected that; it's a pretty rough thing when you lose family no matter what age you're at. Still, she is Summer and Taiyang's kid. Shouldn't be too surprised that she's resilient." Toshinori Yagi, coughed into his fist following that little bit. After having spoken with Ruby and with Toshinori on the brain, he realized that today might've been a good day for him to go out and check on his mentor and, more than that, maybe even get some training in with him as part of his trying to get back into the groove of improving himself after the past weekend. The two were walking around the main buildings of campus, quite isolated now that people had no reason to go to them, as Toshinori walked around in his skeletal form.

Curious as to what was on Izuku's mind, Toshinori had asked and he'd answered, explaining about how he'd run into Ruby and what had transpired. He was slightly surprised to hear Toshinori speak so familiarly of Summer and Taiyang and... he couldn't lie, he was actually a little curious. Still, he had originally come here to just check on him and maybe get an update on those Monochrome guys.

... Even by Toshinori's standards, his mentor looked like he was completely exhausted. His hair is drooping slightly, his eyes were, if anything, slightly more shallow than usual and he was hunched over slightly as he walked. Honestly, Izuku was concerned: he seemed alright immediately following the fight and now he looked like he's just beaten and battered. HIs concern for his mentor overshadowing his interest in what he knew about Team STRQ, he spoke up.

"Hey, Toshinori? Are you okay? You look exhausted. Nothing's wrong, is it?" Izuku watched as Toshinori perked up slightly, the skeletal man having turned his gaze on his ward as the older man offered as big a smile as he could.

"You kidding? I'm great. Never better. In fact, I probably have enough energy to- blargh!" Izuku flinched just ever so slightly as a small geyser of blood shot out of Toshinori's mouth, quickly to respond by pulling out a handkerchief and offering it to him. Toshinori nodded gratefully as he wiped at his mouth, coughing ever so slightly as he did so. "... Okay, so I'm feeling a little rough. I think the adrenaline's died down and I'm finally starting to feel the effect of having exerted myself so hard." Izuku saw Toshinori take a slight breath as he offered him his handkerchief back, which he swiftly pocketed to be cleaned later. "I checked in with Peach earlier and she said I was no worse for wear... honestly, if I popped into Hero mode right now I'd probably feel fresh as a daisy. I'm just... damn, I'm just feeling sore..." Izuku watched as Toshinori reached his right hand up to his opposite shoulder as he rolled it around, several audible pops heard as he gave a slight sigh of relief.

"Sounds pretty rough." Izuku knew for a fact that he had felt really sore after some tough fights or extended training, so he could only imagine what Toshinori had to be feeling at the moment. The blond man nodded as he loosened up a bit.

"It was. Aizawa really strained his eyes after a while so the end of my fight with that birdbrain ended up being all on me... Aizawa and I were able to really soften him up by keeping him from healing himself with his Semblance constantly but, jeez, I really had to give it my all and go Plus Ultra at the end to make sure he didn't just patch himself up and go in to Round 2 fresh." Toshinori sighed as he rubbed at his chin. "Damn, I can barely even remember the last time I had a fight that tough... actually, that's a lie. I can remember the fights I had that tough of a time with easily." Izuku actually blinked slightly, tilting his head.

"Really? I mean, you've had to have a lot of fights, how could you remember all your tough ones easily?" Toshinori offered him a wide, cocky grin as he pointed to himself with his thumb.

"You kidding me kid? I'm The All Mighty Huntsman, The Symbol of Peace. Sure, I get into a lot of fights but I breeze through so many of them. To a lot of these criminals, their fights with me are probably the most climactic clashes of their lives... for me, it's a Tuesday." Toshinori offered a hearty laugh despite himself which caused Izuku to smile bright at his mentor. After a moment, Toshinori coughed a bit as he reigned himself in. "I haven't had a lot of 'tough' fights in my life. So it's pretty easy for me to remember them on the fly." He watched as Toshinori raised his fingers up to count. "Let's see... there's Nana of course, but I'm not sure if you'd count that since most of the time we sparred I didn't have Aura or One For All... then there's..." He watched as Toshinori 'visibly' shivers in fear. "... The old man. Then there were Glynda and Enji, they were pretty rough to deal with while I was actually figuring out what I could do with One For All. Let's see... I still have a 'little' trouble with Goliath Grimm and those unique Grimm you hear about in legends and fables... Mountain Glenn was probably one of the fights of my life just because of how many Grimm were there and how many people I had to protect."

"And... hrmmm..." Toshinori visibly deflated as his mind continued to move forward. For a moment, he was worried... but then his eyes follow his gaze to his side.

"... And then there's the guy who did that to you." Toshinori's hand reached up to grasp at his old wound, gripping it ever so slightly.

"Yeah... then there was this guy. Only person I can safely say nearly killed me my entire life."

That thought... it scared Izuku a little. Knowing how strong Toshinori was, even now in his weakened state... it was hard to imagine just how powerful he must've been in his prime. So to take that imagination and then to think that there was someone out there who could've possibly killed his mentor, his hero, the man who shaped his hopes and dreams... it sent a chill down his spine. Someone like that... they could've only been a monster.

Yet here Toshinori was, confirming that it was a person. The only person, in fact, who'd come close to ending him.

A human being or a Faunus.

Still, as much as his mind was on that topic, he realized that maybe dipping into it might not be great. Still, he was curious in general...

"Uh... an old man? You don't mean the former Headmaster Nezu, do you?" Toshinori choked for a moment as he narrowed in on that particular subject, the blonde scarecrow having just scratched the back of his head as he shook it no.

"Er, no young man, that's... that's not who I mean. The... the... t-the old man was a friend of Nana's. He helped me finish up my training with One For All." His eyes went wide slightly, a slight shine to them as he gave a genuine smile, as he excitedly clenched his fists.

"Oh wow, you had another teacher I didn't even know about? One who helped with One For All? No way! You have to tell me all about him! Does he know about me? Is he good?" He saw Toshinori's face 'pale' with each question, his eyes narrowing into pinpricks as a layer of sweat just started to slide down his skin, staining his clothes. Immediately he started to feel nervous as he watched his mentor be reduced to such a state. "T-Toshinori? Are you alright?" He watched as Toshinori immediately looked around their immediate vicinity, as if checking behind his shoulder for... something. He was surprised when, all of a sudden, Toshinori blew up into his hero mode, laughing loudly as he picked Izuku up by the back of his shirt, much to his surprise.

"SAY YOUNG MAN, SPEAKING OF TRAINING, I THINK WE SHOULD GET TO OURS! YEP, THAT SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN TO ME! HOW ABOUT WE DO THAT INSTEAD OF JUST SITTING AROUND HERE GABBING I THINK THAT WOULD BE A GREAT IDEA!" He gave a short shout as Toshinori dragged him away from their position. For a moment Izuku was worried that Toshinori transformed out in the open where anyone could've seen him but a quick look around told him that they were well and truly alone. That must've been what Toshinori was looking around for... right? Still, Izuku ended up just shrugging his shoulders as Toshinori dragged him off toward the Emerald Forest.

"Uh... yeah, I guess that sounds great. I was thinking about asking you to train me in that move you offered before."

"AH, THE PATCH SMASH, OF COURSE! A GREAT TECHNIQUE, SOMETHING I DEVELOPED AFTER I WATCHED HOW THE OLD MAN'S SEMBLANCE WORKED!"

"What was his Semblance?"

"AHAHAHA, I THOUGHT I SAID WE SHOULDN'T SIT HERE AND GAB IZUKU, NOW'S THE TIME FOR ACTION, FORGET I SAID ANYTHING!"

"B-But you're the one who-"

"SORRY I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE WIND BLOWING IN OUR EARS YOUNG MAN!"

"What wi-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" He was immediately catapulted into the air as Toshinori took a mighty leap, carrying him even deeper into the Emerald Forest. By the time they'd landed, he'd pretty well forgotten all about what he was trying to talk with Toshinori about... though it seemed to weigh somewhat heavily on his mentor's mind.


	63. Fame

Izuku stretched out his arms as he gave a short yawn, having woken up rather late into the day after having spent the previous evening reading so late into the night. He felt a little groggy from so much sleep and more than a little stiff, Beacon's beds were nice enough but they were hardly the most amazing mattresses a student could've asked for, especially considering their sizes.

Still, Izuku had a plan for today and that plan hadn't called for him to laze about while he waited for the kinks to work themselves out of his bones or for the sleep to drop from his eyes. Today he had planned on picking his Aura training back up with Pyrrha and, to that end, sought out his partner. He knew she was somewhere around school, as none of his teammates had left any note or message that they'd be leaving campus today, but it was hard to say as he'd woken up so much later than the rest of them.

'Still,' Izuku figured, 'I'm sure that I will eventually run into Pyrrha again if I just keep looking around our usual spots.'

"Like, oh my gosh, you're her! You're 'the' Pyrrha Nikos, The Invincible Girl!"

'Speaking of…'

As Izuku turned a corner and craned his head around to find the source of the voice, Izuku smiled slightly as he caught sight of his partner, decked out in her usual attire as she stood in front of another student who seemed just about half a foot or so shorter than her. Pyrrha was standing slightly angled to Izuku, allowing him to just barely make out her expression while also keeping himself out of her line of sight. The girl she was talking to was 'very' excited, a clear shine to her eyes as she looked up at Pyrrha, her fists tightly clenched from her giddiness as she stared up at his partner. For some reason, it seemed a bit...familiar. Like for some reason…

" _HOLY WOAH YOU'RE TOSHINORI YAGI!"_

'Oh,' Izuku suddenly felt the desire to go crawl into a hole, his previous nerdy existence coming back to haunt him 'Fan b-girl. Fan girl.'

"Uh, y-yes, that would be me. Hello~..." Pyrrha chuckled somewhat awkwardly as she greeted the girl in front of her, the tournament fighter having taken a somewhat awkward step back from the enthusiastic young women who, if she even actually noticed at all, made a step forward to compensate.

"Oh my gosh! You know, I 'knew' that you were supposed to be in the First Year Class but I didn't really think I'd ever get the chance to meet you! This is so cool!" The girl pointed to herself as she offered a slightly awkward smile. "You probably don't know who I am but, well, that's pretty natural; I'm technically supposed to be your senior by a year so, uh, hi!" Oh wow. Izuku blinked surprise at that; most of the seniors Izuku himself had come across come across... well, he'd been in complete awe of them. Mirio, Coco, they seemed like the kind of people 'he'd look up to'. To see one of his seniors acting... well, acting like Izuku himself in Pyrrha's presence was a bit of a shock.

"O-Oh! Well, it's nice to meet you. I'm sorry if my reputation has gotten a bit ahead of me, considering you all are my seniors, so-"

"Psssh!" The girl waved her hand dismissively at that. "'Sorry'? Don't be sorry; your reputation is one of the big reasons I've been trying to hard in my own studies for so long!" The girl again turned her gaze on Pyrrha, an excited tint to her eyes. "I've watched your Tournament Career back in Mistral ever since you hit the scene! Your complete control of the battle, your grace under fire and your complete domination of opponents stronger and more experienced to you was just, like, a huge deal for me! I thought it was so amazing that someone who was even younger than me had so much talent, and was putting it to good use to boot! Not like that delinquent Coco, ugh." Izuku frowned a bit at that; having heard someone speak so ill of a friend of his, someone he'd looked up to as a senior now and had helped him in becoming a better leader, it didn't exactly sit well with him. Still, the girl just moved right along as she turned to look back at Pyrrha.

"So seeing that and then hearing that you were going to be my junior this year... well, it made me want to work harder! Not every day that someone whose career you followed so closely becomes your junior, right?" Pyrrha chuckled somewhat nervously, her face somewhat tense from all the attention the girl was pouring on her, while the young woman reached back into her bag. "Listen, I know it's kind of, like, cheesy to ask this and you probably get this all the time but it'd mean the world to me if you'd let me have your autograph! Seriously, it'd be so cool if you would, I'd really appreciate it."

While he didn't necessarily know anything about autographs, Izuku had spent enough time around Toshinori at that point to kind of get a read for those situations. It seemed like the best response to it was always to pretty much just let the fan have their autograph; after all, if really did mean so much to them, then how cool was that? Not only were they getting an autograph from their hero, but they were able to be that hero for them and really just completely make their day.

Izuku himself wouldn't lie; the moment he realized that Toshinori of all people had signed his own notebook with his name, that had pretty much been the highlight of his week up to that point. He wasn't kidding when he said that he would pass it down as a family heirloom. Even something as simple as a signature from his idol was pretty much amazing. Even if they didn't seem sincere, Toshinori would still give it; after all, an autograph was just an autograph right.

Plus, well, if he had been in this girl's shoes, he'd probably be hyped to potentially get a signature too. So he suspected that was what was about to happen. Pyrrha, he knew for a fact, was very kind and 'very' generous. Hell, she'd helped him through so many of his own hurdles in becoming a Hunter, always willing to extend a helping hand to him. She was also pretty experienced when it came to this whole being famous thing so, like for Toshinori, this was probably pretty routine for her too. He expected that she'd just hand over the signature no problem and that would be that...

So it was a bit of a surprise to him when, instead of doing so, Pyrrha seemed to get downright uncomfortable as she reached her right hand over to awkwardly rub at her left.

"Oh... I don't know. I'm retired from being a tournament fighter now so I doubt my autograph's actually worth that much. Besides, like you said, you're my senior... it probably isn't all that great to get an autograph from someone lower than you." Izuku and the girl blinked in confusion in unison, the young woman just forcing a smile back on her face as she gave a slight chuckle.

"I mean, yeah, you're retired but, like, you still won all that fights and kicked all that ass, so it's not like that isn't cool. Besides, you're here to become a Hunter, my job of choice too, so that's even better. Sure, you're younger than me but... well, if I'm being honest, you could probably kick my butt, so it's whatever." The girl just tilted her head to the side slightly as she looked at Pyrrha. "Look, I'm not gonna sell this or anything. I just want your autograph. It'd really mean a lot to me. Please?"

Pyrrha, again, just seemed uncomfortable as she looked down at the shorter, older girl, and it really seemed like Pyrrha would've preferred to not be in that situation. Izuku...hadn't really seen her like that before. Pyrrha seemed to be in...legitimate discomfort.

Still, the girl was only asking for an autograph... then again, maybe that was still a big deal to Pyrrha?

'What to do…' Izuku thought, only to look at Pyrrha's almost collapsing stance, 'Okay then, Social Intervention Plus Ultra!'

"Ah, Pyrrha!" Izuku's sudden exclamation seems to surprise both young women as they jumped a bit, turning their heads back to look at Izuku. While his senior looked a little surprised and shocked still, he saw relief almost immediately wash over Pyrrha's face as she saw him approach, waving his hand in greeting as he walked over.

"Oh, I don't think I know you, you are?"

"Ah, Izuku Midoriya, I'm Pyrrha's partner and the Leader of Team MNVW." Izuku said, with some solid conviction, as he patted Pyrrha on the shoulder, hoping that the gesture signaled his solidarity as the girl looked at Izuku, seeming rather amazed. At the same time, he felt his arm suddenly rise a bit, as Pyrrha suddenly seemed to stand a bit straighter than before.

"OH WOW, REALLY? Holy cow, for you to end up as a Team Leader on a team with someone like Pyrrha Nikos, you must be really good for your age!" Izuku... actually couldn't help but blush at the girl's sudden praise, him sheepishly scratching him cheek as she gave him a look over. He'd had Coco praise him before, but to have him praised by one he'd never spoken with bef-

"... Wait, Izuku Midoriya?" Izuku saw the gears turn in the girl's head before she snapped her fingers. "Oh yeah that's right, you were one of the guys with Pyrrha when Team CRDL got outed for causing that mess with the bathroom, right?"

"By all means he was the one who helped lead us to that conclusion..." Pyrrha added, emphasizing his role in it, as the girl just chuckled nervously.

"Oh wow, really? Man, sorry for not recognizing you but, well, I hope you understand; I didn't exactly spend a lot of time watching you fight on the CCT, after all." The girl bowed her head slightly, still as excitable as ever. "Listen, I'm sorry about borrowing your partner for a moment, but I just really wanted her autograph, so if you two had a moment-"

"Actually, uh, that's the thing; I set up a bit of a team exercise to help us with our combat prowess today. By now we're actually a little late as it is so I-"

"Whaaat? Oh jeez, I'm like, really sorry! I didn't know, I was just 'so' excited to actually meet 'Pyrrha Nikos' of all people and I really just wasn't thinking at all!" He'd mention about how she barely let Pyrrha get a word in edgewise... but then again Pyrrha really wouldn't have been able to tell her so even if she had time considering that he was lying through his teeth. Pyrrha, however, seemed all too willing to go along with it as she waved her hand.

"Oh don't worry, I'm... I'm used to stuff like this. You didn't offend." The girl seemed relieved, having previously bowed her head she raised it up to look back at the two younger students.

"Maybe I could ask for your autograph another time when you're not busy? I'd still be really thrilled if I could get one from you... just maybe not when you're so busy?" The girl implored for a moment and Izuku scratched his cheek slightly.

"Well... maybe another time, yeah?" He figured if he went along with this that it'd be a simple enough solution; it'd get the girl out of Pyrrha's face and made his partner more comfortable. Pyrrha, too, seemed to realize that as she just awkwardly smiled as she looked off to the side.

"Yes, sure, maybe another time when I'm not quite so busy..." The girl's eyes shined a bit at that as she nodded.

"Thanks, I appreciate it! Anyway, I'll leave you guys alone now, I probably have some work I should be doing now myself! Sorry again and I'll see you two around!" Without much prompting the girl immediately turned on her heels and sprinted off, leaving Izuku and Pyrrha pretty much alone in the halls as he gave a short sigh of relief.

"Whew, that was easier than I thought." Izuku muttered to himself, Pyrrha having turned her attention back down towards him, a grateful look on her face.

"Thank you Izuku, I really owe you one. That situation was... well, it was a little bit uncomfortable for me." Izuku nodded; that much had been apparent when he stumbled upon the scenario. However, that had left a few questions in his mind still.

"Yeah, I could tell, you looked like you'd rather be just about anywhere else then there... which... I mean, I'm just curious Pyrrha; aren't you kind of used to this stuff by now?" Izuku asked, tilting his head to the side. The two of them began to walk as you move to get more distance between themselves and the young woman, Pyrrha having sighed as she crossed her arms just underneath her chest.

"Well... yes and no." Izuku looked at her face, and for a moment, he was shocked at the sheer exhaustion on her face, "I've gone through this dozens, if not hundreds, of times now, so I usually know how this is all supposed to go but... well, you never 'quite' get used to fans getting in your face so they can ask you for something, especially if they're really excited about something."

Izuku nodded understandingly at that; he could imagine that he'd even find it hard, sometime down the line, to pull off being the Symbol of Peace the same way Toshinori did. The guy seemed like a natural fit for it with how ham he can go nearly upon command, but Izuku? He'd probably need 'a lot' of practice to be able to stand that kind of attention without getting nervous.

"I can get that. Still, why didn't you just say no if you didn't want to give the girl an autograph? She was in your space and it wasn't like you were open or offering it, so you could've turned her down." At that, Pyrrha frowned a bit as she reached one of her hands up to stroke her arm slightly.

"Well... it's not that I was dead set against giving her an autograph, I really could understand why she wanted one... she just... well, I just..." Pyrrha sighed as she ran a hand through her hair. "I just... don't really want that to define my experience here at Beacon, I guess. I came trying to change my life and image, to get away from 'just' being famous, I guess..." Izuku frowned slightly; Pyrrha didn't even sound entirely convinced of that little statement. However, before he could dig into that, Pyrrha continued. "But on the other hand... well, it was just an autograph. The only harm in giving it out would've been others would've wanted them and then... well, it'd be like it was back in Mistral."

"You make it sound like that's a really bad thing." Izuku said somewhat disconcertingly, while Pyrrha frowned a little. The young woman brought a finger up to her lips as she hummed to herself, as if she was trying to put her thoughts together on the matter.

"... Well... it wasn't 'bad', I guess, not in the way I might be making it sound... it just... well, it wasn't exactly the thing I was looking for when I started tournament fighting." Izuku blinked a little at that. Pyrrha snapped her fingers a bit. "Well, let's start it like this... why do 'you' want to be famous, Izuku?" Izuku blushed a little at that, a nervous chuckle escaping his lips as he scratched at the back of his head sheepishly. He really hadn't been prepared for the conversation to be put back on him.

"W-What? Pyrrha, I don't want to be 'famous' per say. I mean, sure, I want people to know my name and feel safe, but-"

"But you want to be like Toshinori. You want to be The Symbol of Peace." Pyrrha remarked, the young woman's green eyes glancing down at him, a new found intensity suddenly arriving. "Izuku, Toshinori might be a Hunter 90% of the time, but he's also 'famous'. More famous than I am. You have posters of him hanging on our walls. Children Remnant over play with little toys of him. There's going to be a holiday in Mountain Glenn 'dedicated mostly to him' tomorrow. He's The Symbol of Peace precisely because everyone knows his name and everyone looks up to him as the Greatest Huntsman in Remnant, a Hero worth emulating and trusting."

"Don't get me wrong Izuku, I don't think that's why Toshinori does it 'at all', he's clearly in it to save people; a man who just wanted to be famous wouldn't do what he did in Mountain Glenn. I don't even think that's why you want it either; you've said it yourself again and again, that you want to 'help people' and be a beacon of Hope for them. But... you could be a Hero without being in the limelight like Toshinori. Plenty of Hunters operate like that... that's how Professor Aizawa does it, at least." Pyrrha looked back forward. "A Hunter who just quietly does their job and lives their own life..." Izuku saw a slight 'twinkle' in Pyrrha's eyed as the idea passed over her lips and through her mind. "You could be a Hero like that Izuku, but that's not what you want entirely. You don't want to be famous for fame's sake, but for the sake of being a Symbol that... well, might go on regardless of how famous you yourself get."

"So I'd ask... 'why'? Why would you want fame like Toshinori or I have if you could still be a Heroic Hunter without it? Is being The Symbol of Peace for other people worth that much to you?"

"Well... yeah. I'd say that being the Symbol of Peace means that much to me." Izuku remarked with a start as he furrowed his brow a bit, arranging his thoughts in order as he sought to answer Pyrrha as best he could. "It's the biggest reason I look up to Toshinori, after all; not his fame on its own, but the fact that he's able to use that presence to be a Symbol to inspire hope in people who might've nearly lost it on their own." Izuku looked down a bit more as he spoke, Pyrrha watching him as he did so. "Like I said on the first day... I know what it's like to feel hopeless. It can be so hard... to be on your last legs, your face down in the dirt, that weight pressing down on your chest. In a moment like that... you 'need' something to help pick you back up. A boost that reassures you that things can be alright again." Izuku clenched his fists slightly, a spark of determination behind his emerald eyes as he looked back up to his partner.

"I want to be that for people. I want to give people the resolve and the tenacity to keep fighting even when it's looking grim. I want people to have faith that everything will be alright, to have faith in someone if they can't put faith in themselves. Just being a silent Hunter, working from the background... well, it wouldn't be enough. To be that, to be a Hero that could inspire people... well, there's no better way for me to accomplish that than by following Toshinori's example as a Symbol of Peace." Izuku put his hands in his pockets as he softened a bit. "Besides... I really don't think fame should be garnered for fame's sake. When you're as famous as someone like you or Toshinori, you have an incredible power."

"You can influence things because you have this incredible leverage to empower others as much as you can empower yourself. To me, that's what fame should be used for... that's why I want it. Being famous, being a Symbol for others to follow, it means I can use that standing, that leverage, that fame in order to help push others to go beyond what they themselves are capable of. To help them rise up to become their own Symbols of inspiration, to be their own light in the darkness. To inspire them like Toshinori inspired me... and then for them to inspire others like I might inspire them." Izuku clenched a fist. "A single match is all it takes to start a fire... and that fire can grow and spread to start a thousand more. It only takes one Symbol to create others... and that's what I want."

"That's my Dream."

...

A slight silence ell over the pair of them as they both continued on down the hall. Once more he'd spilled his guts on one of the things he considered to be so important to him, his dream, to one of his friends. Pyrrha's green eyes had looked back forward after he finished, momentarily closing them as she seemed to think on it. There was, a look...frustration, admiration, something in between...though finally, she looked at him with genuine friendship.

"... I think that's a good reason to want to be famous Izuku. A grand reason at that." She said, genuinely, with a smile. "Honestly, it's probably good to have considerations like that for why you'd want fame before getting it... it helps to have that kind of perspective on things." Izuku watched as Pyrrha folded her hands together as she lowered her head a bit. For some reason, her pace began to increase in speed, forcing Izuku to try and keep up with her, "I mean... I didn't even think I was going to end up famous like I did. My family was just kind of average in Mistrali society and, height aside, there wasn't much indication I'd be much more than your typical young woman when I entered into a local Combat School. Even when the tournaments started and my wins started to rack up, I didn't quite understand the idea that I'd somehow be thrust into the limelight. I thought it was just a good way of making money while I was also training to be a Huntress…"

"But... well, things change and sometimes they can change fast." Pyrrha reached up for a strand of her hair, wrapping it around her finger as she thought, "Before I knew it, time that I'd usually had for myself was slowly sinking away. It seemed natural... I mean, first it was just appearances and autographs. Then it was endorsement deals and appearances and... well, before I knew it, I was living the high life in Mistral and my family had followed my coat tails up. It was overwhelming and a rush and... it was nothing I'd ever thought I'd have for myself..." Pyrrha laughed a little "I was so unprepared and so overwhelmed by how quickly it all hit that I just ended up going with the flow, listening to agents and my family and just pushing myself on. I figured I'd get back to a place where I was more comfortable eventually."

"People wanted to meet me. To 'be' me. Because I was a great fighter. Because I was tall and imposing. Because I had money and fame and everything most people could ever want. People wanted The Invincible Girl and... well, that's what they got more often than not. That's what I was presented as... the 'Symbol' I'd become."

Pyrrha's own fist clenched like iron, and Izuku frowned as Pyrrha shook her head a bit. "Honestly, I had no idea what I was doing and, increasingly, little idea of how to manage anything or to do anything with what I had... so I just put my life into other people's hands." And her eyes seemed to light with some kind of hot fire, "My schedule was just increasingly about what appointments could be shoved in or about what people would just walk up to me and beg The Invincible Girl for her autograph or her time. It just..."

Pyrrha stopped speaking after that, and came to a stop. Izuku nearly shot past her, and he turned to look back at her. The young woman had taken a deep breath as she sighed. Izuku stayed back, waiting for her to continue... and was instead surprised by Pyrrha just smiling at him as she clapped her hands together. "Now then, as much as your excuse was to get me out of that, I do think that maybe it would be a good idea to do a little training together this weekend, right? I've been a bit slow on my studies after all, so I could use my tutor."

"Oh, uh, sure that's... that's what I was originally coming by for; I wanted to do a bit of Aura training together with you... but... Pyrrha, I mean, you don't have to, I can-"

"It's okay Izuku." Pyrrha nodded her head as she laughed. "It sounds good to me; it sounds like something 'I' want to do." With that, Pyrrha practically dragged him off, further and further away from the sight of that encounter with the fan and back to the shared dorm room of Team MNVW.

* * *

After finishing a short training session with Pyrrha, who had been a bit… over eager in her socialness, Izuku had decided it was time to finally complete that figurine for Mirio. One shopping trip later and he was back in his dorm room, a couple hunks of wood on hand, some paper for him to sketch his ideas out on and a carving knife. It really has been too long since he'd indulged in this hobby of carving little figures out of stuff and, knowing that Mirio would've really liked to have one carved of Toshinori, he was really interested in actually getting himself started back up.

Right after he made sure to cover the carpet with some towels or something to help catch whatever wood shavings might fall off his desk.

After he set up his work space and put all his supplies out, Izuku grabbed a pencil as he turned his attention down to a sheet of paper in front of him. Now, while he still really couldn't draw too well, he found it 'very' helpful to actually put his idea onto paper in some manner of completeness, a sort of visual shorthand so that he knew what he was carving. It helped keep his work on track, even if the drawings weren't great. Especially because it helped him decide on perhaps the most important part of carving out these figures; posing them.

A simple, arms to the side pose was pretty easy to draw; there were no awkward holes to carve out, no chance for the wood to split here and there while he was trying to carefully carve out distinct features separate from the body, nothing too fancy... but, conversely, that would leave it as not being terribly flashy. However, the more flashy the pose was, the more difficult the actual job of carving it without breaking it would be. He was still kind of an amateur but... well, he did really want to impress Mirio, after all.

'Oh no...I sound like some school girl with a crush.' Izuku shook his head, before returning his gaze back down to the wood.

All that in mind, he started roughly sketching out his idea. His inspiration taking hold of him, leaving him oblivious to the passing of time.-

…

Izuku smiled as he wrapped up the little figurine in a bit of paper. He'd either quickly run it out to some shop himself or have it delivered as part of the mail to a place he knew that does a pretty good job of painting figures like this. It'll take them a bit as they did have their own customers to get to but, hey, it would be a quality paint job at the very least.

And with that out of the way, he looked back up at the clock. It was a little around 5:00, so probably a little bit of time before eating dinner, and before having to get ready tonight for everyone's trip tomorrow. He could probably use the rest of his time before then for something productive, but what...

* * *

'Welp, back at it again, I suppose.'

Izuku carefully breathed out as he stretched down to touch his toes, breathing back in as he slowly grabbed at each of them. It'd been a while since he trained with One For All proper. The training room had been open, and gosh darn it, he'd decided to be responsible and train One For All with his last free hours. He'd been training techniques and using 5% to help him in various battles but to train in it well and truly had been something he'd been putting off, at least ever so slightly. Maybe it was because of the fact that he knew what he had to do; while he could feel his control improving when he just used 5% in the flow of a harsh battle, he knew that such a thing was only coming through because of the additional stress he was putting on himself. In the midst of normal training, just sticking to 5% alone probably wouldn't be enough.

Izuku needed to push ever so slightly past his limits, to really tire himself out, if he was going to improve One For All in such a casual environment... which meant, well... good thing he brought the IDSSK with him. Izuku exhaled a bit as you pressed the tips of his fingers into the ground beneath him. Well, time to-

"Starting without someone, Mr. Midoriya?" Izuku nearly jumped out of his skin as he heard Glynda walk up behind him, turning to face the blonde professor.

"A-Ah! Professor Goodwitch, hey! I didn't expect to see you here. Weren't you also-"

"On vacation, yes. It was a very relaxing few days. The weekend will be here soon and Beacon will be up and running again by late Sunday. Which means it's time for me to get back to work." With that, Glynda cracked her riding crop slightly, bringing the IDSSK over to her. "Especially if you're going to be training this evening."

"... Thanks Professor."

"Nothing you need to thank me for Mr. Midoriya." Glynda remarked dryly as she readjusted her spectacles. "Now then, are we going to stand around or are you going to train?"

"I'm training, I'm training!" With that, Izuku immediately hustled off. Welp, good to get back into a routine, he supposed.

'Though,' Izuku smiled, 'I'm really looking forward to going home tomorrow…'

* * *

 **a/n: Next release is on the 27th as usual**


	64. Hunter's Day I

It was the day. The holiday Izuku was 'always' excited for. Well, there were a lot of holidays like that, if he was being perfectly honest, but today was one of the bigger ones. The one he'd celebrated literally every year he could since he realized that all he wanted to be in his life was a Hunter. Hunter's Day, that Color Week Holiday so peculiar and unique to Mountain Glenn that celebrated the profession he idolized, the heroes he shaped himself after. The people he wanted to be.

Especially that one man. That one Hunter who stood above the rest as The Symbol of Peace. His inspiration, the man he specifically shaped his life after... his hero and now his mentor, Toshinori Yagi. While the holiday was meant for all Hunters, in particular it celebrated the man who had stood beside Mountain Glenn when so few others would. It celebrated his bravery and his courage, and the bravery and courage of all those Hunters who bought the time needed for him to come and who then worked with him to save the day. It was that drive, that desire to help save people, that would be celebrated during Hunter day in Mountain Glenn and Izuku was 'excited' as ever to actually get out there and celebrate.

But most of all, he was excited because 'I'm going to celebrate with my friends... Friends!' For once in his life since he discovered he was Broken and was ostracized by all the kids his age in Mountain Glenn, he had friends! Friends that he was going to celebrate his favorite holiday with! Honestly, he was so excited at that point that he thought he was going to burst! Still, he couldn't get too excited or hyped up just yet. After all, there was no telling if his friends had their own plans or if they were going to go off and do their own thing today. After all, Hunter's Day was a distinctly Mountain Glenn Holiday: there was no telling if any of his friends, almost all of them not from his town save for Bakugou, would really care about going to celebrate the holiday.

He'd have to round up his friends and see who'd be open to going. So, taking a moment to think, He sent off some messages in his Scroll to see who was going where and what they'd be doing.

It took a little over a half hour to figure out who was free and who'd be willing to go. He had to admit, his heart soared a little bit to know that so many of his friends, regardless of what might be going on or who else might be going, were willing to go along with him to celebrate a holiday that he held so very near and dear to his heart.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"Oh boy... back on this metal monstrosity again. Literally a week after we had to take a trip to and back... fuuuuun..." Weiss muttered to herself as she kept her grip on the seat cushions of the bullet train, her pallor once again pale as Izuku just chuckled.

"Well hey, it's getting better with exposure isn't it? You don't look nearly as bad as last time." Yang chuckled in agreement as she leaned back in her seat, looking over at the Schnee Company Heiress.

"Yeah Slugger, you're right; Weiss Cream looks a few shades more vibrant than she did last time. Progress!" A few errant laughs escaped some of the other members of the train as Weiss just glared over at Yang.

"Yang, one day, I'll find what you're horribly afraid of and I'll 'destroy' you with it." The blonde brawler just blew out her cheeks a bit as she waved Weiss off, taking it as the bluster of a girl who was all too occupied with how freaked out she was feeling.

"Come on guys, enough of that. We're about ready to head off to a HUUUGE party being thrown in our honor at Mountain Glenn! We should be more focused on being excited than we should about this train ride! Although it still is pretty crazy!" Nora declared as she, again, seemed quite excited to not only be going to Mountain Glenn again but also to be on the bullet train again. Pyrrha for her part frowned slightly as she patted Nora on the shoulder.

"Now Nora, we 'aren't' the ones being celebrated here, not to any extreme degree, I think. It's a celebration for Hunters, remember, and we're just Hunters-in-Training. Besides, it sounds like the holiday more pertains to Toshinori in specific... so we should probably manage our expectations." Izuku nodded in agreement; as much as he shared in Nora's excitement, it was probably best to manage the bubbly bomber's expectations. If she went into Mountain Glenn thinking that the city was literally celebrating her and her friends as people then, well, she'd only be in for disappointment. While Hunters were all given their due on the holiday, with a variety of 'very' nice specials and deals being offered to anyone of the profession, they were still students and, well, he'd never exactly heard of Hunters-in-Training being really held up in the holiday.

Besides, it was basically Mountain Glenn's way of telling Toshinori thank you for... well, for everything. So even among Hunters, it was pretty clear who most of Mountain Glenn looked forward to seeing when the evening wound down and the main celebration was ready to be held in downtown.

"Come on Pyrrha, this is still totally cool! Besides, we helped save all those people in The Tunnels! You saw how all those news guys were walking up to us like we were big time heroes! I don't think Nora's too far off on this!" Ruby said, the young silver eyed Huntress having practically shivered with excitement as Ren just shrugged.

"While it's distinctly possible that we might get recognized, I still think that to expect us to be celebrated to any degree is perhaps a bit hopeful. Still, I suppose you never know." Nora just nodded her head vigorously in agreement, Ren having just sighed as he, like Izuku, probably imagined that Nora had only 'really' taken note of the 'you never know' part of his sentence.

"Besides, as far as most people are concerned, Toshinori's the one who ended up running in, beating up the major members of the Monochrome League and then helping to save everyone... and they wouldn't be far off." Blake commented dryly as she flipped a page in her book. "If it wasn't for him, we'd probably have had trouble with that bird brain, so credit where credit's due."

"True... but I'd still say that some credit is due to us. Especially those who were able to successfully lead and fight during the emergency." Shoto spoke dryly as he kept his arms lightly crossed. Kacchan just grunted somewhat in agreement as he leaned his head back into his hands, having rested against his seat for the ride.

"Damn right. Without us a lot of those 'actual Hunters' in the Tunnels wouldn't have done jack shit without Toshinori. We're fuckin' owed that praise and credit for it." Yang gave a faux surprised look as she looked over at Bakugo.

"'We'? You're actually including us? Aw, I knew you cared 'Kacchan~'." Immediately Bakugou took a turn for the pissed off and angered as he glared over at Yang.

"WHAT'D YOU FUCKIN' CALL ME YOU-... YOU... you... mmMMM... MMMmmm... fuckin' Deku with that shitty ass nickname, now that fuckin'..." It was a rather remarkable display to watch Bakugou go from at the top of his lungs livid, ready to start a fight with Yang to Ren's semblance causing him to momentarily stumble as his skin tone grayed out for a moment. It seemed ready to break at any given moment but, it held and, Bakugou seemed to subdue himself. After a moment, full color returned to the childhood bully/friend as he just waved off the potential fight as he turned away and grumbled to himself, Ren having sighed slightly as he looked over at Yang.

"Heh, sorry, couldn't resist."

"Well, for today at least, maybe we should. Izuku did invite us to this celebration after all, let's not try to bring down the good mood." Izuku flinched back a bit as he raised his hands, waving both Yang and Ren down with a shake of his head.

"O-Oh it's okay, I mean, not like I want Yang and Kacchan to go at it, but you know this is normal, so it's not like-"

"Nah, Ren has a point. Today's supposed to be a holiday, so I guess I can be in a cheery mood and not slap Bakugou around a bit if he's not going to go out of his way to be an asshole today." Bakugou scoffed as he glared over at Yang but a look from Ruby, slightly pleading, actually got the bombastic teen to just quietly mutter to himself.

"Jeez, he's like an angrier, more pissed off Fox... at least it seems like you guys have an immediate disarm button." Coco chuckled as she ribbed Fox, who had been sitting next to her with an even expression. Up to that point anyway; as soon as Coco started to bust his chops, Fox just scoffed as he looked off to the side.

"Come on Coco... I think what they said should apply to you and Fox too. Don't start busting his chops now while everyone's in a good mood." Yatsu remarked dryly as Velvet, who had sat off mostly in a corner with her own team, deeply uncomfortable with just how many people were in the train car at once, nodded in agreement with her giant teammate. Coco just held up her hands defensively as she acquiesced to the rest of her team and, after that, everything cooled off.

Conversation slowly stopped and, after a moment, the train had slowed to its own stop. Which was actually pretty great timing all told. Now all that needed to be done was for them all to get off the train with the rest of the tourists that had been aboard. Admittedly, there weren't a lot; while there were tourists who did seek out Mountain Glenn in order to celebrate the cities unique holiday, it wasn't an overwhelmingly interesting thing to most people outside of Mountain Glenn. They'd had to share a car with some tourists but them and the rest that had arrived with hadn't been too much of a hassle to deal with once they were out and about in the station.

" _Thank you for your patience, Ladies and Gentlemen, and welcome to Mountain Glenn: The City of Hope. Happy Hunter's Day!_ " The unique announcement played as the great vault doors opened from the station out into the rest of Mountain Glenn proper. His friends had already seen the view of Mountain Glenn following the stations opening so he knew that they at least had some expectations going in. Though, to his satisfaction, he saw that those expectations were once again completely blown out of the water; they had seen Mountain Glenn during a normal, average day after all. They hadn't expected to see Mountain Glenn on what it viewed as perhaps its most important holiday.

The white capped mountains, having just been a plain backdrop to the city skyline previous, had turned into veritable attraction in and of themselves; powerful lights shined from the tallest buildings to blanket the sides of the mountains in various shades of light that sparkled off of the freshly fallen snow. A veritable rainbow of the colors of the Four Kingdoms were displayed on various parts of the mountain that gave the town its name, a shining beacon of mixed hues that drew the eyes and created a magnificent backdrop to the entire city.

Were that the only thing it would have been impressive in its own right. However, the sheer magnitude of lights and decorations ended up drawing the eyes as well. Banners and lights were strewn across various posts and lamps that had dotted the city's streets, the banners having danced in the autumn wind while bells hanging from the ends of them lightly clanged together. Musical performances going on across the city, either from various open air stages or the various clubs and bars replaced the usual sounds of traffic and the hurried footsteps of pedestrians. Shop and buildings had their lights on bright, with several more strung over their entrances, in a bid to attract customers, even as numerous food and game stalls had been set up on the very streets themselves.

People wearing seasonal clothing, jackets and long pants, made up the majority of the people out in the streets and about in the town celebrating, though if one paid close attention they could see some people dressed up in some suits and ties or fancy dresses. It was a veritable 'party' for most people, with some even going so far as to wear costumes. It was most commonly seen with kids who, true to what he used to wear back when he was younger, had Toshinori onesies on as they ran about the streets.

"... OH MY GODS, THAT'S ADORABLE!" Nora practically squee'd as they all watched as a small group of children ran about many of them chasing an adult who, for their entertainment, had put on an Ursa outfit while their parents watched form some distance, taking pictures of the display. "JUST LOOK! LOOK AT THAT... URSA COSTUME!" Nora declared with a loud laugh. "I 'need' it!" Weiss lightly palmed her forehead, shaking her head slightly.

"Yes... of course that's what you'd point out about this situation Nora... please... please don't let them be available. If she actually got one, I don't think I'd be able to continue living..."

...

For a moment Izuku felt sympathetic to Weiss' quiet prayers to the Gods. The idea of Nora running around Beacon in an Ursa costume was very... distressing.

"Still those outfits really are pretty adorable. Did you two ever wear those?" Pyrrha turned to look back at Izuku and Bakugou, both of whom reacted with some embarrassment.

"As if I'd have been caught dead wearing something lame like that! Get real!" Bakugou declared loudly as he scoffed, looking off to the side. Izuku, on the other hand, just stared ahead like a deer caught in the headlights, his cheeks turning red as everyone started to look at him.

"... Are there pictures, Deku?" Coco asked with an amused grin as that 'immediately' broke him out of his stupor.

"WELL LET'S GET GOING GUYS THIS HOLIDAY'S NOT GONNA CELEBRATE ITSELF!" With that Izuku immediately zoomed off into the crowd, the rest of his friends, and Bakugou who was dragged behind him, having followed him deeper into the city. Some people would break off here and there to see stuff, others would stick to some groups, but all told everyone was in direct contact with Izuku through their Scrolls, so getting back in touch with them to set up for some activity would be pretty easy. All that remained was to decide... well, just what he was going to get up to and with who for the evening.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"Jeez, can you guys even 'see' the moon on most nights? I mean, I know I saw them before but I didn't realize how tall those suckers are." Yang remarked as she stopped for a moment, whistling as she comically leaned back as she looked all the way up the scale of the Mountain Glenn Walls. While Izuku hadn't been close enough to them for such a display to be necessary, indeed he was still, along with Bakugou...

…

Well, Bakugou was more like an unwilling participant who tossed in his two cents every now and then, but still, giving 'their' friends a tour of Mountain Glenn's downtown. However, despite how overblown Yang had been about it, there was no denying that there was 'some' truth to her amazement; even as far away from the Walls of The City as they were, they dominated the skyline past the tall buildings, with all but the larger structures having been dwarfed by them. Yang also hadn't been too far off about the moon; it was a little ways above it now but...

"There are times where it seems like we can't see it, even when it should be in the night sky, but that's usually dependent on the time of year." Izuku sheepishly scratched his cheek upon admitting that as Bakugou just scoffed.

"Besides, Vale's walls are even taller, so I don't get why you're putting on the act Blondie." Yang frowned as she started to walk back to join the group.

"Well I'm sorry if I'm trying to play a good tourist for Slugger's guide here and enjoying myself, Ka-" Ruby elbowed her sister slightly, the blonde brawler having sighed as she rolled her eyes. "Bakugo. Besides, I get that; but I'll be damned if I barely ever actually see the wall around Vale thanks to how tall all the other buildings are. Here you really can't escape it."

"Or break into it, more appropriately." Shoto remarked dryly as he looked back in front, Ren having nodded appreciatively. The tour, all told, had been going extremely well, the whole lot of them having passed through a good number of Mountain Glenn's districts as part of the show of the city. Izuku was just kind of worried because... well, he thought the reason 'this' particular topic of discussion was coming up was because people were getting a little bored. Like Yang said, Mountain Glenn really didn't have much that distinguished it outside of its defensive works because, for over a decade, or even two, after the attack on the city that's where all the focus went. So long as there were enough buildings for businesses and houses for people Mountain Glenn had been content to just build up its defensive infrastructure. There were no great monuments or truly towering structures that took up Mountain Glenn's skyline. Hell, it was only in the last five years that buildings that were built even taller than the wall finally appeared. Despite having lived here his entire life, and as proud of his hometown as he was, he was ready to admit that Mountain Glenn wasn't much of a city to look at, aesthetically.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Mountain Glenn doesn't really have much in the way of real 'tourist traps' that we have an opportunity to show to you all. It really has been function over style here for a long while."

"Makes sense. I imagine any town that had been about ready to be wiped off the map save for the intervention of The Symbol of Peace probably would take that attitude." Blake remarked as she still seemed to be interested in taking in the city around here.

"Besides, it's not like there's nothing to see! Look at all these shops! All these businesses... ALL THESE REALLY COOL COSTUMES!" Nora still seemed enthralled by the various outfits and looks that people were running around with, the orange-haired girl having grinned like a woman possessed as she spotted a few Grimm costumes running around.

"But those are things that you'd find in most cities. I think what Izuku means is that Mountain Glenn doesn't really have much... hmmm, soul, I'd say. At least compared to a place like Atlas or Vale." Izuku nodded slightly, though he stumbled back a bit as Ruby frowned and shook her head.

"Oh come on, that's not true. Sure, it doesn't have fancy buildings or skyscrapers but, psssh, who really needs those eyesores. The place has soul in all the right places; gun factories, weapon forges, big old defenses, Hunter Training Facilities, the works!" Ruby threw her hands up in the air, while Weiss just sighed slightly.

"Besides, I think that looking for the soul of a city in terms of its buildings is looking in the wrong place. The people are a place's soul... without people, buildings are just piles of stone waiting to collapse." Ren offered sagely, much to Nora's agreement, as he looked around. "And if one were to ask me, the people of Mountain Glenn look pretty vibrant. Especially right now. Maybe we should be focusing less on what one might consider a traditional tour and ask our two residents what they actually consider to be the soul of Mountain Glenn."

"I think that's a 'great' idea." Pyrrha offered with a wide smile, one which caused Izuku to nervously chuckle as everyone turned their attentions on him and Bakugou.

"I'll leave that to Deku... the sooner we get this over with the sooner I can get this shit with my Team and the old hag done." Yang rolled her eyes as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Figured you wouldn't even be able to speak well about your own mom. That poor woman must be the picture of mental health after having to put up with you..."

"Hah!"

"*Snerk*"

The fact that he, of all people, chortled while Bakugou barked out a laugh of that was probably the bigger surprise to everyone else, as Izuku flushed in embarrassment while putting his hands over his mouth.

"Right, that's a good one." Bakugou just continued to chuckle while Izuku finally looked back at everyone else.

"Uh... Miss Mitsuki Bakugo is a... unique person, I think is probably the best way to put it."

He was really glad that he and the others opted to just let RSBR handle that particular meeting on their own. Seeing Katsuki and Miss Bakugo in the same room together... well, it was bound to get explosive...

Oh thank the Gods that Tsuyu wasn't here. She probably would have read his mind and whipped him for that pun.

But more to the point... hmmm... what he considered to be the soul of the city, huh.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"Eh, so we're going to be coming here later? Seems a bit like we're skipping to the main course aren't we Slugger?" The whole lot of them, along with several hundred other people, slowly maneuvered around town as they approach the main city square where the night's main event was set to go down later. It was a bit rough as, like them, there had been plenty of other tourists and locals looking to take a quick stop by the Statue to pay their respects or to just see the thing before hundreds upon hundreds, if not thousands, of people packed in close tonight to take a look at the main event itself. Izuku lightly shrugged as he scratched at the back of his head.

"Eh, maybe, but I figure we probably won't get a chance to get a good close up look of it later thanks to the crowd that'll be gathered and... well, I think most people in Mountain Glenn would like to think of this as the biggest thing to see in the city. Not literally of course, but it's important to a lot of folks."

"Well I'm sure it'll look pretty fantastic if it's meant to be a monument to the entire event." Pyrrha gave a chipper remark as she smiled, the mood having lifted as, slowly but surely, they all broke through the crowd and finally got into the front of it all. As maneuvered around the horde of tourists and locals, they were greeted by a rather impressive sight: contrary to the statue at Beacon, the monument placed in the dead center of a wide open section of the city had a lot more oomph to it. The statues of Enji and Toshinori, while impressive in their own right, had fairly typical poses; the two of them lightly flexing or in some way looking strong while the fountain stood in the midst of them. The monument, for that really is what it was more than a statue, stood atop a lump of metal, roughly in the shape of some beast's carcass, likely that of the Goliath that had been slain in the video. The statue had one foot planted firmly on top, the motion of the moment clear; it was ascending to the top of the creature.

The statue hadn't posed its arms, per say; the arms were bent back and away from the front as several dozen other figures, barely defined but with enough detail to show that they were some mix of humans and Faunus, were on the statue's back, secured there by the arms of the giant of a man that had carried so many out of the devastation. If those details were left slightly diminished, as if to give room for onlookers to implant themselves onto the visages of the people, then Toshinori's actual statue was carved and placed in 'fine' detail. Every detail of his attire had been lightly carved into the statue and it was easy to tell the likeness of the man was spot on. Most importantly, it seemed, was the smile of the man; though a facsimile, it easily and greatly mimicked the cheerful smile of the man who had saved the city on that day.

The light of the city lightly bounced off the finish of the statue, giving it a presence, a shimmer, above the rest of the monument. At the base of the monument a huge number of letters, gifts and flowers had been placed, gifts meant for the Symbol of Peace himself as thanks for his part in having saved the city.

The fact that, even all these years later, that pile of letters, those gifts and those signs of gratitude and thanks were 'easily' reaching up to his knees before being taken away was as sure a sign as any that no one in Mountain Glenn had forgotten what they owed to the man depicted on that monument. To the Symbol of Peace. Their Hopes, their Dreams, their lives had been saved from a bitter end that day and, as cheesy as it might've sounded, it was hard to ever feel like the debt of having those things spared could ever be paid back.

Though clearly as more children laid down letters with hastily scrawled on addresses and adults left a variety of little odds and ends, Mountain Glenn wasn't above 'trying' to do so.

"Dang, does it usually get that piled up?" Nora remarked, watching somewhat greedily as she saw a few people dropping small tubs of baked goods at the foot of the monument, Ruby having joined in her hungry stare as she saw a bucket of cookies added to the pile. Kacchan just shrugged as he looked up at the man on the monument himself, the shining statue that stood at its center piece.

"Hell no... people just get sentimental this time of the year is all. You'll see some letters or some other pointless shit like that, but this is when it gets really crowded with junk."

"I don't suppose you've ever put something here then, have you?" Shoto asked, very flatly and genuinely curiously, hearing Bakugo's description. The explosive young man just scoffed as he looked off to the side.

"I have, I'm not some fuckin' ingrate after all."

"Could've fooled us..." Yang quietly muttered to herself, a glare having been earned from Kacchan while the others just watched for a bit.

"It is pretty nice looking. I'm kind of surprised; so much of the rest of this city seems pretty utilitarian. I'd expect to find an art display like this somewhere in Atlas, not Mountain Glenn." Weiss remarked as she placed a finger on her cheek, Lie Ren just having looked on at the monument as he gave a short smile.

"Hmmm. It's interesting. Material and men were put aside to design and build this thing right in the middle of the city, with a whole section of it pretty much cleared out for there to be space to gather around for it. Indeed, out of character for the rest of the city... but I think that just shows the depth of their gratitude."

"They thought saying thank you was important enough to push all other concerns out." Blake chuckled slightly as she combed hair behind her ear. "No wonder the Councils get annoyed with him; you don't see anyone building monuments like these to any of them."

"Well it looks pretty cool to boot. Makes the one back in Beacon look pretty... eh... by comparison." Ruby remarked as she placed her hands behind her head. Izuku nodded his head before turning back to the rest of his friends.

"Yeah and, well, I think that was by design. Toshinori's such a larger than life figure around here, everyone's put so much on his shoulders that it felt like we should give something back. At least, that's the way my mom told it." He scratched his cheek, his friends having all nodded in understanding before he heaved a light sigh. "Anyway, yeah, this is where we're going to meet back up around eleven. I'd say now is as good a time as any to break off and start taking in the city for ourselves." Everyone nodded in agreement as Kacchan just sighed.

"Welp, guess it's time to get this bullshit over with. Come on Runt, Icy-Hot..." Ren just blinked as it seemed Bakugou was trying to work a name through his head, before he just scoffed. "Whatever, let's just see the old hag and be done with it." The other three shrugged as Kacchan walked off, the whole lot of them having waved back as they followed.

"I think that's probably a good sign that we should go ahead and meet Miss Midoriya ourselves." Pyrrha remarked as his team gathered up quickly, the others just nodding understandingly.

"Sounds good. We'll go look for Team CFVY and see what they're up to. You all have fun now, you hear!" Yang lightly joked as she and Blake waved the four of them off. For the moment, they all had broken off into their separate ways though, with the way the night was going, it wouldn't be for too long.

* * *

 **a/n: Next update will be on July 1st as normal.**


	65. Hunter's Day II

"Alright, so let's take this nice and easy okay? My mom's a pretty nervous person just like me, so a whole bunch of new people at once is going to be a little much for her."

"Izuku, we all saw how your mom acted back at the UTF, we understand. Besides, I really don't have to think you have to worry about... well, Weiss and myself." Pyrrha seemed to do her best to speak circumspectly as she coughed into her fist, doing what she could to be polite. Weiss, however, seemed to have none of that desire to be indirect around Nora as the white haired Heiress immediately turned on her partner and gave her a light glare.

"Nora, you are going to be on your best behavior here! Izuku is introducing us to his 'mother' as part of his 'team'. We need to put our best foot forward and give her the best first impression possible, alright? So no hijinks!" Weiss wagged her finger at Nora, the bubbly bomber just having puffed out her cheeks slightly as she placed her hands on her hips indignantly.

"Oh come on Weiss, when have I 'ever' been prone to hijinks?"

...

"Nora, I swear, I will never 'stop' spraying you with the water bottle if you don't behave yourself." Weiss leaned back and rubbed her temples as Nora just immediately nodded in understanding.

"Come on guys, I'm 'kidding'. I'll keep a hold on the reigns; I promise, I'll be on my best behavior! I understand how important it is for Izuku's mom to like us: we're going to be his teammates from now on, after all! We're practically family already!" While Izuku and Pyrrha both smiled at that bit of positivity from Nora, he watched as Weiss inadvertently shivered, as if the idea frightened her. "Something wrong, partner?"

"No, nothing... I was just... imagining introducing you to my sister was all." Weiss shuddered again as Nora just grinned nice and wide.

"And you're so excited you're shaking! Don't worry Weiss, I'll be my very best around your family too when we get to meet them!" Nora chirped as, for a moment, Izuku thought Weiss was going to be sick.

"Right... well... let's just... burn that bridge when we cross it. For now, chins up everyone, feet together, be casual but not too casual and-"

"Weiss, it's okay, we don't have to be 'that' formal. My mom will love you guys; I'm just saying she can get a little spooked like me so just take it easy on her at first, give her time to get used to you all..." And the fact that they were three insanely attractive young women on a team with her own son. Izuku 'knew' his mom was going to have that on her mind tonight... 'hopefully' it wouldn't be on the forefront though. So, with the pep talk out of the way, he took a deep breath as he walked up to the door and rapped his knuckles against it. "Hey mom? It's me, Izuku. Are you home or-"

*SLAM*

"IZUKU, DEAR! YOU'RE HOME!" Izuku let out a squeak as his mom immediately enveloped him in a big old hug as soon as she opened the door, as his feet lifted up into the air from the force. While his mom wasn't crying like she had before, he could feel her smile as she pressed her face into his chest. "Oh it's 'so' good to have you home even for a bit honey! It's been so quiet ever since you left for Beacon, I've really missed you! Oh, thank you for coming by to visit dear!" Inko eventually pulled back as she gave him a bright, cheerful smile, one that he gladly returned as he struggled to hug his mom back.

"It's really good to see you again too mom, last week was too short." Izuku finally managed to pat his mom's back which seemed to get her to release him, allowing him to take a breath of relief.

"Plus you aren't just out of that dreadful Tunnel! You're actually safe and in... good company." Inko finally took a moment to realize that the two of them weren't alone, his three teammates just looking on at the scene with a few surprised expressions.

"... Oh my gosh... SHE'S EXACTLY AS CUTE AS EVERYONE SAID SHE WAS!" Nora declared as she bent down slightly so she was more at head level with Inko. "Oh I just want to hug your mom Izuku, she's adorable!" Weiss 'immediately' slapped her hand across the back of Nora's head, getting the girl to back up a bit as her display spooked his mom ever so slightly.

"Oh, why, thank you. I... I appreciate that, I suppose." Inko intoned nervously as she looked up at the rest of his team. He could already tell she had that nervous look in her eye, as if she was trying to figure out just from sight alone if he was dating any of these girls. Izuku blushed slightly as he shook his head, giving his mom a winning smile as he presented his team.

"Mom, this is the rest of Team MNVW. This is Pyrrha Nikos, my partner." Pyrrha gave a warm, practiced smile as she stepped forward, giving Inko a slight bow.

"It's a pleasure to meet you miss, Izuku's only had wonderful things to say about you." Inko actually smiled a bit at that as she nodded back.

"Oh I'm sure, and it's been the same on my end. It's nice to finally meet you Miss Nikos." Izuku nodded as he then introduced Weiss.

"This is Weiss Schnee, one of my teammates."

"I'm also the-"

"The Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, I'm aware. Izuku's told me about you as well." She blurted out in a rush, only to catch herself, and close her mouth shot for a second. She then blushed as she scratched the back of her head. "You'll have to forgive me Miss Schnee, my house is probably not quite what you're used to, but I've cleaned it up before my son's visit so-"

"Oh, no, no, please, don't worry, it'll be fine. After living with these three, I'm sure your house will be wonderful Mrs. Midoriya." Inko relaxed visibly as Weiss did her best to reassure her, which finally brought them to Nora.

"This is Weiss' partner, Nora Valkyrie."

"Hi there! Sorry for before, I was just so excited to meet you." Inko lightened up even more as Nora seemed to reel back her energy. Before his mother could fully respond, however, Nora's eyes glimmered. "Oh hey! Mind if I ask you something? No one's answered my question about this yet and I figured you'd know." Inko just gave a curious tilt to her head while a positively 'dangerous' look filled Weiss' gaze.

"Oh, uh, of course Miss Valkyrie, go right ahead."

"Nora, what are you-"

"Oh please, Nora's fine Dekumama! Anyway, I was wondering: what's a condom and what do they have to do with grandbabies?"

...

Pyrrha's face had turned as red as her hair. Weiss' face was red as well, though Izuku couldn't tell if it was from how embarrassed she was or how 'furious' she was. Izuku felt his own cheeks burning bright and his mom? His mom looked like she was about to cry.

"IZUKU! YOU TOLD ME YOU WEREN'T HAVING, I MEAN, WHY WOULDN'T YOU TELL THIS GIRL ABOUT THE CONDOMS I SENT AND WHAT THEY WERE FOR?! HAVE YOU BEEN DOING IT WITHOUT PROTECTION! I TOLD YOU I'M NOT READY TO BE A GRANDMAMA YET!"

"MOM IT'S NOT LIKE THAT, NORA'S JUST-"

"MISS VALKYRIE-"

"Nora-"

"-I'M SO SORRY IF MY SON'S CALLOUS BEHAVIOR HAS FORCED YOU INTO A PLACE YOU DON'T WANT TO BE! PLEASE, GIVE HIM A CHANCE, I PROMISE HE'S A GOOD BOY! AT LEAST LET ME SEE MY GRANDCHILDREN WHEN THEY'RE BORN!"

"MOM, NORA ISN'T PREGNANT AND SHE AND I AREN'T-"

"What?! There'd even be a doubt that he'd let you see your grandbabies? For shame, Fearless Leader!" Nora gave him a quick 'tut tut' a couple times before snapping a salute to Inko. "I promise Dekumama, you'll see your grandbabies when they're born! I'll make sure of it!"

"THANK YOU, YOU'RE A SAINT!"

"MOOOOM! I'M NOT SLEEPING WITH NORA, THIS IS A HUGE MISUNDERSTANDING!"

"Pffft, what are you talking about Izuku? Of course you're sleeping with me! You're sleeping with all three of us, right?"

...

The last thing he heard before he fainted was the sound of his mom hitting the ground and the sound of Weiss just repeatedly slapping Nora across her head to the screams of 'YOU IDIOT'.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

Her name was Inko Midoriya...

Her son was 'not' having a polygamist relationship with his three teammates.

Her son has 'not' been having unprotected sex with Nora Valkyrie that has resulted in her being pregnant with her grandchildren.

Nora Valkyrie was just a very silly girl who sometimes can put her foot in her mouth.

These were things she had been reassured off and, so, she managed to stop crying about where she went wrong raising her son. She probably shouldn't have panicked quite so quickly; Izuku really was a good boy, he wouldn't do something like that. Still, it was just such a shock to have that brought up. She still felt bad for having panicked so quickly but, well, Izuku was her baby. Even sending him those condoms with that letter was hard for her to do.

However, enough of that... for now. Right now, she had three young women that she very much wanted to get to know better and wanted to ask some questions. To that end, she was going to make a nice dinner for everyone to enjoy together while they all talked. To that end...

"Izuku, honey?" Her darling son snapped his head as soon as she spoke up, along with his three teammates, as she gave him an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, but I don't have what I need on hand right now to make the dinner I have in mind... or much at all. I'm afraid I've been a bit lax with buying stuff for dinner ever since you left."

"O-oh madam, please, don't feel like you have to get this ready if you don't have what you need, we can just get something else, we don't want to impose!" Inko was actually surprised by how polite and nice Miss Nikos had proven herself to be. From what she read up on her she was a rather wealthy and famous celebrity back in Mistral. While she didn't want to judge necessarily, Inko knew that teenagers exposed to that sort of lifestyle had a tendency to come out as brash or arrogant. She was glad to see that, despite her fame, she was such a polite young woman.

"Hogwash. I'm not going to send you four out without dinner when we're supposed to get to know each other. Izuku will just have to head out to get the ingredients I need while I prepare everything else."

"W-What? Mom, I mean, Pyrrha's right, we don't-"

"Pfft, come on Fearless Leader! I've never had a home cooked meal like this before! It'll be great!"

...

That was a very, 'very' sad thing that Miss Valkyrie let slip just then but Inko was content to leave it be for a moment as she just looked back at her son. She knew why he was hesitant; Izuku wanted to stick around to make sure everything went perfectly. Her son was a lot like her in a lot of ways; very sharp, but also very sensitive. He'd brought his friends over and he wanted his mother to get along with them. He'd do what he could to make sure everything went well no matter what. While She appreciated that... she wanted to get to know these girls without her son hovering over their shoulders. For that, he needed out of the apartment for a moment.

"Please Izuku, I haven't cooked for you in so long plus, well, it's been ages since we had company like this. Just let me, please?" Izuku deflated slightly and even Miss Nikos seemed to fall back under the request.

"Well thank you Mrs. Midoriya, you're very kind." Miss Schnee seemed to be quite aware of her manners; the young lady offered a slight bow as she spoke. Just from first impressions, the girls did seem nice. She just wanted to be sure... and to learn some other things, maybe.

"Alright, well... do you have a list mom?" She just smiled at her son as she broke off the paper from her notepad, handing it off. She wasn't lying, after all; she really hadn't gotten anything together as far as food goes. She'd been living by herself so big dinners really hadn't been necessary. She'd put off the shopping trip as she didn't expect Izuku to come back with guests; She'd have to be better prepared in the future.

"Oh, here's the money for it; I'm not going to ask you to pay for this, after all." Before Izuku could even begin to argue, She had the Lien in his hand, the three young women having looked thoroughly amused as Izuku just sighed.

"Right. I'll be back soon, everyone take care!" With a nod from the four of them sending him off, Izuku closed the door behind him, the noise of his feet slowly drifting away as he ran off. Now then, time to actually set up the pots and pans for the meal and to start boiling some water and cutting up what she did have... and time to start figuring some things out. She knew her son wouldn't lie to her, per say... but she wanted to be sure that everything was fine. Izuku had a habit of keeping things from her if they were hurting him or if he thought it'd hurt her after all. He was a thoughtful boy like that but, well...

She was his mother. If her baby boy needed her in any way, even if it was only for advice or a kind word, she wanted to know so that she 'could' be there for him.

She promised, after all.

'Now then, time to get to know these girls better... and 'maybe' figure some things out about my son's time at Beacon.'

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

As Inko left the stove for a bit to allow the water inside the pot time to boil, she heard a bit of banging around from Izuku's room here and there. Her eyes glanced around; Miss Schnee was sitting down and chatting amicably with Miss Nikos and, to her knowledge, Izuku hadn't come back from the store. A short 'oh dear' later and she made her way over to Izuku's open door, Miss Nora Valkyrie having found her way inside the room and glancing around, curious.

"Oh, hello there! Sorry, I just stumbled across Fearless Leader's room and, well, I had to take a bit of a peak!" Inko watched with amazement as Miss Valkyrie seemed to really take a lot of interest in her son's various things that he hadn't taken to Beacon. "I didn't know that Izuku had little toys like these still, I wonder why he didn't bring them to Beacon with his cool posters!" Inko's gaze went where Nora had locked on as she looked up at a few figurines of Toshinori that Izuku had left posed on his desk, the little action figured she'd gotten for him so long ago getting a bit dusty when left in a room with no one occupying it.

"Well, I'd have to assume that Izuku would've felt pretty embarrassed about bringing those kinds of things to a school. He probably would've worried... anyway, Miss Valkyrie, perhaps you could wait for Izuku to come back to-"

"Pfft, come on, these are awesome. I only ever had this little wooden hammer from home and I bring that thing around wherever I go! This kind of stuff would've been so cool to have posed around our dorm room!" Inko was a little flummoxed, on the one hand, by Miss Valkyrie's seemingly genuine intrigue and excitement for her sons old things. On the other hand, it's a little refreshing; she knew that Izuku was a little worried about even bringing his posters, so it was good to know that he had found such nice company.

Still, it 'was' her sons room and Miss Valkyrie was being a bit nosy, so-

"Ooooh, what's this?" A few sheets of paper had been sticking out from a random drawer, something she hadn't noticed in her time occasionally dropping by to clean off the dust from the room from time to time, as Nora immediately opened the door slightly and pulled it out. For a moment, she panicked; what might the girl have found that her son just stuffed in a drawer...

What would her son have just stuffed in drawer, presumably so people wouldn't see it?!

Worrying that Miss Valkyrie might've come across something private, she was about to be a little rash and go over and grab it when Miss Valkyrie, presumably, read off the title of the papers. "'Aim To Pass, Beacon Dream Plan' huh?" Immediately, she sighed in relief. It wasn't anything like those cute little stories he used to write that he got really shy over or anything... worse. It was just that old exercise plan of his with the diet on it. Inko smiled slightly.

"Oh, that's just the exercise and diet plan that Izuku was following in the year before Beacon's Initiation. It was really all so sudden; one day he was just doing his normal studies and the next... well, he really started to push himself." Nora nodded as she started going over the sheets, looking through them.

"Wow this is a pretty cool exercise program. Man, to think he was doing this when he still thought he was... you know. This would've been pretty tough even with Aura." Inko nodded; her son's unlocking of his Aura, despite the odds, had been such a recent thing. Heck, he'd come home a couple nights before Beacon's Initiation to tell her the good news himself! She'd been so amazed and so happy for him! Still, that had meant that the program was as tough as Miss Valkyrie said.

"Well... I guess my son thought that the only way he was going to get into Beacon without Aura was to push himself. Guess it helped still but, well, I'm glad it turned out to be different." Nora nodded vigorously as she walked over to Nora, ready to guide the young woman out of the room. "I'm just so surprised that he found such a professional seeming program on the web." Nora gives a short 'pfft' at that.

"Oh trust me Dekumama, you'd be really surprised what you can find online these days! There's tons of cool stuff, like all kinds of amazing pancake recipes!" The girl was certainly full of vim and vigor, She'd give her that. It must've been a bit much for her boy to handle at first but it seemed like she liked him well enough. "But yeah, this is a pretty crazy online workout plan! I mean, it even has his sleep and class schedule worked out on it!"

...

"Wait what?" Immediately the two of them blinked a little, both their eyes snapping back to the Dream Plan. Despite having come in, ostensibly, to get her back out of her son's room... she couldn't lie, she was suddenly curious. Lo and behold, there it was; her son's sleep had even been scheduled in the plan and time was made to allocate for when he'd be in class between workouts. "Wow this is pretty specific..." Nora remarked a bit as she looked over the plan a little more. "Do you think he got it from a teacher or something? It does seem like it'd be pretty crazy if he just got this off online from somewhere."

"... No. No I don't think so. None of the teachers at Birch Academy thought his goal of getting to Beacon was feasible, much less something they should encourage. I know, I got a lot of calls to that effect, even from the head of the School. Wherever Izuku would've gotten this plan, it wouldn't have come from the school... and looking at it, it seems a little 'too' well put together to be just something from online." She frowned a little as she looked down at the Dream Plan, having missed a dawning look of discomfort that was coming across Miss Valkyrie's face. Before long, Miss Valkyrie blew out her cheeks again as she tossed the Dream Plan over her shoulder, surprising Inko.

"Well who knows! I mean, Izuku's a pretty smart guy right, maybe he just came up with it himself! Like he... studied or something! Yeah, Izuku's a real quick learner, I'm sure he could've come up with his own plan in no time!" Before she could interject, Miss Valkyrie placed her hand on Mrs. Midoriya's shoulder and started walking out of her son's room. "Oh wow, you know, it was 'pretty' rude of me to just barge into Fearless Leader's room like this while he wasn't here, I should 'really' be ashamed of myself! Thanks for coming in to try to stop me Miss Midoriya, I promise I'll be better about this, hey why don't we go ahead and check out how your preparations are coming, I think that sounds like fun!" The orange haired girl ran her mouth a mile a minute as she quickly rushed out of Izuku's room, having brought her foot around to close the door behind her.

'... Miss Valkyrie is an... interesting young woman,' Inko decided. Giving a nod, before slowly closing the door to her son's room

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"Miss Nikos?"

"Ah!"

For the past several minutes while she had Nora on 'tell me when the water really starts to boil' duty after that odd little to do in her son's room, she'd noticed something. Miss Schnee, as if expecting that Nora would try something or would otherwise fall back in her responsibilities, had kept her eyes on the young woman like a hawk, the two 'partners' as Izuku described them shortly devolving into a little... she didn't want to call it an argument because, to her, it was beyond clear that neither of their hearts was actually in it and, furthermore, that Nora seemed to be having fun with Weiss. The two of them lightly chatted or, in Miss Schnee's case, bickered back and forth and, all the while, what Inko took notice of was Miss Nikos who had been watching from a seat nearby. She might've expected some kind of exasperation from the young woman who seemed to be a nervous sort much like her son but... well, that wasn't what was there at all.

In fact, it seemed Miss Nikos was almost delighted by the little display that the two young women put on, Miss Nikos having lightly smiled as she watched her other teammates go on and on. Inko had to admit, she was a bit surprised to see that from someone of her status and so deigned to try and talk to her next.

She hadn't expected her to be quite so jumpy, which had even made Inko jump when she reacted to suddenly.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to startle you!" The young Mistrali girl had quickly apologized... wait, what?

"Miss Nikos, I think I'm the one who should be apologizing for startling you. You wouldn't have jumped if I had been more careful. No need to apologize." Mrs. Midoriya shook her head slightly as the girl just nodded her head again.

"Oh, of course, I'm sorry." Inko just blinked again as she tilted her head slightly to the side. She'd read up on Miss Nikos' career in Mistral and the amount of wealth that she would've presumably been accustomed too; after all, one didn't end up on the front of so many Pumpkin Pete products without accruing a small amount of fame. She'd figured she'd have ended up like other celebrities, confident at the very least, even if she was as nice as her son had said. However, instead the girl seemed to be acting like she was navigating some kind of deadly storm at the moment, as if a wrong turn or phrase could ruin the evening.

"Well don't worry about it, it's perfectly fine." Inko did her best to assuage the girl who did seem to calm down after a moment, the two of them turning back to the kitchen where the little 'fight' between Miss Schnee and Nora had seemingly turned into Miss Schnee having taken a moment to instruct Nora on what she was supposed to be doing... with Nora just nodding as attentively as she could. That smile she'd seen on Miss Nikos' face came back and, after a moment, She couldn't help but offer her own.

"You look like you're having fun." Inko offered calmly, Miss Nikos having just blinked slightly as she nervously laughed.

"Oh, have I been staring?" I'm... er..." The young woman coughed into her fist before she continued. "But yes, I am having quite a bit of fun. Weiss and Nora are a pretty odd pair to have ended up being partners. They're... very different from each other and their manners of working with each other, well-" Miss Nikos chuckled to herself, "-can be... interesting."

"Nora, pay attention!"

"Ah!" Heads turn back to see that Miss Schnee, having wet her from a faucet, had flicked the water in Nora's face, causing the girl to stumble around a bit.

"I see." Inko offered, blinking somewhat at the display while Pyrrha just laughed.

"It's honestly been a bit of experience; just being around people my age without having to worry about much of anything else." Izuku's mother just nodded slightly at that. It was probably no surprise; she'd been in the limelight for a long time as a tournament fighter. The girl probably has lead a pretty sheltered life... however, where one might have expected that to lead her to put on airs, it seems to have instead had a similar effect to her own son's isolation from children his age. "So yes, I have been having fun... I honestly don't think I'd trade my experience with my Team and the rest of our friends for anything else right now. It's been... it's been pretty wonderful."

The sincerity she said that with was almost heartbreaking.

"Well, let it be known that my son's said much the same when we've been talking over the phone." Pyrrha craned her head up, as Inko offered the best smile she could. "He's been talking about how amazing his three teammates have been, what great friends he's had and just... well, just how much his time at Beacon's meant to him. It's been reassuring to hear..." And that moment in particular had been reassuring to see. "Thank you for giving my son a chance, Miss Nikos."

"Oh, no, please. Izuku's the one who walked up to me and tried to be friends without even knowing who I was. I should be thanking him... and, please, Mrs. Midoriya, umm... you don't have to be so formal. I'm fine being called Pyrrha."

"NORA!"

The two flinched for a moment, though a smile remained on Inko's face as she nodded. "Well Pyrrha, I think that's my cue to get back." She immediately headed back toward the kitchen, ready to try and put down whatever chaos had erupted in there.

Pyrrha Nikos... the first friend her son made himself after leaving. She seemed like a nice girl.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"I do apologize if this isn't quite what you're used to Miss Schnee. I didn't quite expect that I'd have such company when my son left for Beacon and, well, I realize that it's probably a lot more rustic than what you might've expected." Now, Weiss Schnee wasn't someone she quite knew what to expect out of. The entire time she'd been in your home it'd been like she was walking on eggshells, as if nervous about every last step she took or every other corner she peeked around. Inko knew how wealthy the Schnees were.

'Everyone' knew how wealthy the Schnees were.

The girl had probably never seen a home as cramped and as... well, plain as the apartment had been. And it wasn't like it was low end; it was a nice apartment she and her husband could afford. But compared to what she knew of the Schnee family wealth, it probably 'paled' in comparison to what the young woman had been after. Not wanting to make a poor impression for one of her son's teammates, she decided she'd try to head that off, offering a slight apology to the young woman.

So she was surprised when, instead of just turning imperiously toward her and accepting the apology, the young woman stiffened a bit as she immediately turned and offered a nervous, strained smile. "Oh please Mrs. Midoriya, don't worry about that. This is a perfectly fine home! It's quite cozy and comfortable and none too big. Please, don't think you have to worry about my tastes here, this place is just so very... homey?" The girl seemed to stretch to find a word, her entire demeanor and behavior having caused Inko some confusion.

"Homey?"

"O-Oh! Uh, perhaps not the best choice of word, it's quite nice for its size and probably more than suitable for you and your family's needs! I didn't mean to say anything about how it looked ma'am." Inko offered a small nod after that...

Wait...

"Miss Schnee... am I making you nervous?" The young woman flinched slightly, though she just stood up straight as she tilted her chin up.

"Not at all Mrs. Midoriya. I was merely ensuring that you understood I meant no offense in my description of your home." The young woman's hands reached down to even out her skirt a little as she spoke. "I am, after all, a guest in your abode and, furthermore, you're the mother of my team leader and friend. It wouldn't do if I paid you some unintentional insult."

... ''She' is afraid of insulting 'me'?' Inko nearly felt her jaw drop.

"O-Oh, I see. Well please, try not to worry Miss Schnee. I was just worried that my home wouldn't be... well, up to what you might be used to. You're my son's teammate and he's stressed how impressive of a young woman you are so I was a little worried that my home might not quite be up to stuff."

"Oh there's, well, please don't worry about that. After living with everyone else for well over a month at this point... well, your home is quite amazing compared to the state I sometimes find our dorm room in." Miss Schnee spoke sincerely as she tried to offer a smile. "Besides Mrs. Midoriya, I am the one in your home, as I said. It's my job to present to you 'my' best face as part of assuring you that your son is in good company. Please, don't feel like you need to impress me."

...

"Oh thank goodness that's a load off my mind." The young woman blushed as Inko visibly deflated a bit, the stress just pouring out of her. "I'm sorry, it's just, well, when I figured out you all would be coming and with you and Pyrrha being such big people on the world stage, I just got a little worked up I suppose. We've never had such important people here, after all."

"In fairness madam, right now the important person here is you. You're the one we're here to make a good impression on 'because' your Izuku's mother and... well, while it isn't an absolute necessity, I think everyone, especially Izuku, would like it if we could all get along."

Hmmm, prim, proper but not the sort of imperious person she might've expected from the Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company... well, that really 'was' a load of her mind. Inko knew how nervous son could be around people... it seemed like he was being genuine about the young woman, rather than putting a pleasant face on a situation that could've wrecked his nerves.

"Well... thank you Miss Schnee. Would you like some tea while we wait for my son to get back?" Finding it much easier to get into the swing of things now that she understood exactly where things stood between herself and the young Heiress, she immediately felt a little more comfortable. Miss Schnee, on the other hand, just nodded gratefully.

"Well I would be delighted Mrs. Midoriya, thank you... but please, Weiss is fine." Inko nodded as she turned and went to the kitchen, ready to put on a nice kettle of tea for her various guests.

While the girl did seem to have a nervous sort of energy about her, there was no denying that she was quite polite and, when she had a hand on a situation, quite diplomatic in her own way. Who knows, perhaps Izuku could even improve his manners with the presence of the young Heiress around.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"... Could I ask you three something?"

The three young women, having been various scattered about either with cups of tea or busily reading something or other turned their gaze as Inko stepped out from the kitchen, her hands wringing slightly. Her son was a good boy, she knew that to be true... but as evidenced by her talk a little while back, he was so hesitant to do or say things that might hurt her... he was so afraid of it, it seemed. Now, Izuku was an honest boy but... well, there was always that nagging feeling in the back of her mind that maybe he didn't tell her 'everything'. That he held some things back so she wouldn't worry about him or so she wouldn't get scared. She didn't even really know that he was going to be in Mountain Glenn for some dangerous test until news of how things were going wrong came up.

Izuku just didn't want her to worry... which just made her worry even more.

"Izuku... well, Izuku tends to try to spare my feelings when it comes to how things are going in his life. He's always telling me how well things are going at school and how happy he is but... well, I'm sure I don't have to tell you that my son can be a bit... overzealous sometimes." Nora, Weiss and Pyrrha all shared a glance with each other, their lips thinning slightly. She sighed, figuring that her son's hard work, his 'very' hard work, did indeed continue on to his days at Beacon Academy. She wasn't surprised... but she wanted to know if he was still alright.

"So I figure that... well, while he isn't here that maybe I could hear it from you three, as his team and as his friends... is Izuku... is my boy doing okay at Beacon? He's not pushing himself too hard is he? I know he's going to get hurt in a school like Beacon, he came home with all kinds of bruises and cuts from Combat School from the training they expected, but... I just want to know that he's doing alright? I know he's said he's made friends and I believe him, but he had such a hard time at the Combat School because of what we thought was his condition and... well, I know he's behind and that has to be rough..." She sighed as she reached a hand up to wipe at the corners of her eyes.

The three young women just looked at her with sympathy for a moment before they all closed in on each other, seeming to have words amidst themselves...

"Well..." The three girls, after a few moments, broke up as they all turned to face her, slightly sheepish expressions on all their faces. "You see, Mrs. Midoriya... first off, let us assure you that Izuku's doing 'very' well at Beacon!" Weiss started them all off as both Pyrrha and Nora nodded.

"Yeah, Fearless Leader's totally made a ton of friends besides us and he's been doing really well in all his classes and stuff! He's probably in, like, the top... uh-"

"Ten percent?" Weiss offered, clearly guessing off the top of her head.

"Yeah, ten percent of our class!" Both Weiss and Pyrrha nodded in agreement with the assessment. Then, taking the lead, Pyrrha stepped forward, and gave a truly genuine smile.

"More importantly he's gotten to this position and acted in a very upfront and honorable manner. A lot of students know Izuku by his good reputation around the school. He's even getting along well with some of our professors." The other two nodded in agreement with Pyrrha as she spoke, while Inko just nodded her head very slowly.

"... And?" She knew there was something to follow up to all of that. They wouldn't start with such overwhelmingly positive news, such 'good' news, if they didn't have something to follow it up. Especially not when they had explicitly stated that they were 'reassuring' her of something. Still, she'd tough it out. Whatever they threw at her, she wouldn't cry, she wouldn't break down. She would be strong for her son and for his team. She promised she'd support him now that he was so close to having his dream, after all. Besides, how bad could it have honestly been?

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"Oh jeez, don't tell me I'm getting stick..." He muttered quietly to himself as he rubbed at his ears, feeling them getting quite warm. He ascended the stairs with some haste, bags of groceries lightly bouncing around his arms as he rushed to get up to the apartment. Who knew what his mom was getting up to with his team, after all; he wanted to be there to help guide them through the water of getting to know his mom and getting her comfortable with them, and having to spend so much time picking up what they all would need for dinner had just proved to be a hassle. Most people were preparing for big family meals after the festivities were over, after all, the best way to cap off a good Hunter's Day for most people who lived in Mountain Glenn, so he found that most stores he stopped by were either sold out or had long lines... which was probably what his mom had in mind now that he thought about it.

Still, as he walked back up to his mom's apartment and reached for the handle, he couldn't help but sigh in relief. He hadn't been gone for 'that' long and his mom couldn't have had that much time in order to really drill your friends on much of anything that might've spooked her. How bad could it have honestly been?

"IZUKU MYYYYY BAAAAAABY!"

Upon opening the door, he got a good picture of how bad it had gone. With reflexes barely fast enough to have registered that his mom was rushing to scoop him up in a hug, tears pouring down like torrents from her eyes, he quickly tossed the groceries over to his teammates, who were all watching the display of his mother jumping over the couch to tackle him with some amount of shock. Thankfully they all manage to catch the groceries while he caught his mom... and immediately felt her pretty much snap him up into a rib breaking hug.

"M-MOM, WHATEVER YOU THINK IS GOING ON, I PROMISE IT'S JUST A MISUNDERSTANDING, MY TEAMMATES-"

"TOLD ME THAT YOUR SEMBLANCE BREAKS YOU ALMOST EVERY TIME YOU SERIOUSLY USE IT IZUKU?! IS THAT A MISUNDERSTANDING!?"

...

'Oh jeez.'

His silence seemed to be enough of an answer for his mom who immediately howled as she continued to hug him. "MY BABY BOY'S BEEN BREAKING HIS ARMS AND LEGS THIS ENTIRE TIME BECAUSE HE HAS SOME CRAZY SEMBLANCE, OH MY POOR CHILD, THAT HAS TO BE SO PAINFUL, I'M SO SORRY I DIDN'T KNOW!"

"Oh you probably shouldn't worry Dekumama, I mean, Izuku doesn't even seem like it hurts him all tha-" Pyrrha and Weiss immediately slap their hands over Nora's mouth and he was 'grateful' for the assist. He didn't think 'Izuku's done it enough times by now that it doesn't hurt nearly as badly' would be very assuring to his mom. Plus, in all honesty, it wouldn't even be mostly true. Yeah, he'd gotten 'used' to it but it didn't hurt any less. Now he just knew how to grit his teeth and go through it... still hurt 'pretty' badly.

"OH IZUKU, ARE YOU STILL HURT, YOU'RE NOT STILL HURT ARE YOU?!" His mom tried to pull up his sleeves to see if his arms were broken or if there was any sign of damage; thankfully not, his Aura had patched that up all the way, but she still seemed to panic. "OOOH! I'LL GET THE FIRST AID KIT! I CAN SHOW YOUR TEAM HOW TO TREAT YOU WHEN YOU GET HURT LIKE-"

"Actually ma'am, we already have a first aid kit back at our dorm." Slowly their heads turned back to his teammates, Weiss having spoken up to keep Inko from running off.

"Yeah! We even have a super cool nickname for it! We call it the Izuku's Done Some... Super Training Kit, yeah..." Nora seemed to realize, thankfully, that maybe revealing the Izuku's Done Something Stupid Kit's name wouldn't have been a grand idea. Pyrrha just nodded in agreement with Nora as she smiled at Inko.

"We're still a little rough around the edges but we've actually got a class that teaches First Aid... and we've gotten a lot of practice with it." Pyrrha gives a bright smile as, slowly, Inko approached, seemingly stunned for a moment. He was worried about what she was going to do next when, all of a sudden, his mother grabbed all three of them and wrapped them up in a hug, her tears pouring forth again.

"THANK YOU! OH GODS, YOU THREE ARE SAINTS, I DON'T KNOW HOW I'LL EVER REPAY YOU FOR LOOKING AFTER MY BABY BOY LIKE THAT!"

Izuku sighed in relief, even as Weiss had a minor freak-out from having been so suddenly hugged like that, Pyrrha just seemed embarrassed and Nora was laughing all she could, considering the pressure his mom was likely putting on her lungs. Well, it seemed like things had gone pretty well despite his absence, something he could definitely be pretty grateful for in the grand scope of things.

Maybe he didn't need to micromanage it after all. His friends were pretty amazing people on the whole, so he should've had more faith in them.


	66. Hunter's Day III

"Welcome, welcome, to the Ni Hao Nyan! Hunters get their meals half off as part of today's Holiday Celebrations! So to all our heroes, come and get your cheap food and enjoy the company of good looking girls 'ny-ow'!"

"... Thank the Gods we didn't bring Yang here. It'd be store-approved cat puns the entire time we're eating. I wouldn't want to lose my dinner over this." Blake muttered, her hand placed firmly on her forehead as she and the rest of them wandered into the store. Izuku, Blake, Pyrrha and Ren had all broken off to the Ni Hao Nyan, the restaurant that had been advertised on the train last week. While Izuku might've had dinner at his mom's already, he decided that it was probably an okay idea to go ahead and head here, considering how much Blake seemed like she was 'very' interested in the food being advertised at the store. Pyrrha had decided to join him, stuffed as she was from his mom's cooking, and Ren had come for a little taste of home himself.

"You really don't care for cats or cat puns do you?" Blake bristled a bit at Ren's blunt discernment of the situation, the black haired young woman just having sighed as she shook her head.

"No, it's... well okay, yes, I don't like cat puns, but cats... it's whatever." Blake muttered as she looked up at the menu, her amber eyes immediately having taken on a new shine to them as she saw the various dishes that were being advertised. "Let's just... let's just get some food. I think that'll take my mind off of it."

"Yes, I think that'd be good. Who knows, maybe I'll have a little desert to finish off Miss Midoriya's meal. A little taste of home to bring it all together." Pyrrha remarked brightly as they all took a seat at the counter. Immediately an older gentleman who one could only guess to be the chef, judging by his attire and the various stains on his apron, walked up to the counter, a wide smile on his face.

"Well hello there. Welcome to the Ni Hao Nyan, finest Mistrali food this side of the Grand Ocean. Name's Lee, happy to be of service to you on this day of all days. What can I... uh... hmmm." The gentleman before them, Lee, seemed to stop slightly in his tracks as he took notice of Pyrrha, the man's eyes opening ever so slightly wider as if he was trying to take her in. Pyrrha ducked her head off to the side for a moment, for all the good it did, as the man immediately gasped a bit as he gave her a bright smile.

"Well Hell, who'da thunk? 'The' Pyrrha Nikos coming into my restaurant to have a bite to eat? Gods' sake, that's an honor right there miss." Immediately quite a few people in shop took notice, their heads turning about as they all eventually find the small group.

"Hey yeah that is Pyrrha Nikos, who are those other kids with her?" One of the other customers muttered to a friend nearby, the four having momentarily gotten a bit uncomfortable from the entire display. However, all at once, he was pretty surprised as the guy sitting across from the fella slapped his upside the head.

"You idiot, isn't it obvious? if that's Pyrrha Nikos then those are some of the kids that were running around the UTF on the day of the attack!"

"Oh hey, you're right! I recognize the green haired kid from the paper last week!"

"Amber said that the black haired one was with Miss Nikos during most of the incident and saved her and some of her other colleagues."

"Oh yeah, I heard from John that the kid with the pink stripe in his hair had some crazy Semblance or other that kept 'em safe too." Soon enough the entire restaurant was whispering about the four of them, having taken their attention from solely on Pyrrha to being jointly shared between the group. Pyrrha especially seemed surprised, though the rest were pretty stunned by the recognition as well.

"Well I'll be damned, sounds like I just had a whole group'a heroes stumble into my establishment. How about that?" Izuku and Blake practically turned red at the description of the two as 'heroes', Blake having immediately tried to play it down while Izuku just couldn't help but smile and sheepishly scratch the back of his head. Ren, meanwhile, just seemed pretty well chuffed as he looked around, a slight smile on his face.

"O-Oh no, listen, we're not, or, I'm not... just, we were doing what we-"

"Well don't you four worry. You might be students but, far as I'm concerned, you all qualify for the special. Consider everything you buy here at the Ni Hao Nyan half off."

"... O-Oh! Well, I mean, if you insist." Blake's reluctance seemed to immediately vanish, which just caused Ren and Pyrrha and Izuku to chuckle a little.

"You 'really' like fish, huh Blake?"

"Oh hush and let me have this..." Blake muttered, seeming embarrassed even as her excitement was evident. Before long the owner of the establishment took their orders and, well, from there the evening devolved into some talking and some light dining. Izuku and Pyrrha had taken some desert just to have something to munch on with Ren and Blake, while the two of them dug into their own plates... or, two plates in Blake's case, as the black haired young woman seemed dead set on putting herself into a fish induced coma.

Izuku laughed a little as he looked between his friends. It had been a pretty good choice after all.

"You uncomfortable Pyrrha? I mean, I know that the whole celebrity thing... well..." Izuku quietly popped some of the desert in his mouth to push the rest of the sentence out. He didn't know how much Pyrrha would've wanted his talk from earlier in the week to get out among their friends, so he wanted to keep a bit subtle about it. Pyrrha just flinched a bit as she smiled back, a forced grin on her face.

"Oh Izuku, don't worry. I'm fine. I-It really doesn't bother me at all, I mean, what would-"

"You really aren't that subtle about it Pyrrha." His partner nearly jerked right off her seat as Ren suddenly interrupted her, the young man taking a moment to take the fish stew in front of him to drink from the broth. "Ah... it really is quite good... anyway, you don't have to put on airs Pyrrha or pretend you aren't bothered, we can tell."

"... That easy huh?"

"Eh like Ren says, you really aren't 'that' subtle about it." Blake remarked, a content sigh escaping her lips as she finished another piece of fish. "Sir... more?" The cook laughed as he nodded, preparing Blake another plate as Blake turned to look at Pyrrha. "Listen... I-we! We can like take this out instead of continuing to eat here if the attention really does bug you. We're all out here together, after all. It'd suck if you were the only one not enjoying yourself." Blake remarked in her usual dry tone as she waited for her fish to arrive, while Pyrrha just sighed.

"It's not that I'm not enjoying myself, I'm having a good time with you all... I'm just worried that all this attention might be a hassle." She looked at the rest of them. "I mean, we were just hanging out and then all of a sudden people just kind of started... well..." Pyrrha lightly swung her hand around, motioning to the people who were taking the odd picture of whispering about either Pyrrha or the rest. "I'm used to it by now, it's part of being out in public for me... I just worry that it... might feel bothersome for you all to be around me in that case."

"Pyrrha, we're not going to hold it against you that people started staring at us just because we were hanging out with you. Heck, you even heard them; they noticed who we were right after, so we probably would've been recognized ourselves eventually." Blake nodded as a fresh plate of well done fish had been placed in front of her.

"Besides, I'm not complaining about super cheap fish..." Blake blushed slightly at the enthusiasm that had momentarily overtaken her, coughing into her fist. "B-Besides, even if the attention's a bit bothersome, it'd be poor form of us to complain about it when you have to deal with it every day." Izuku nodded in agreement with Blake as he turned to face his partner.

"Pyrrha, we'd want to hang out with you no matter what because you're our friend. Famous or not, all these people pressing in or not, we'd prefer to have you here than have you not here just because some people might notice. You don't have to worry so much." With the three of you reassuring her at once, Pyrrha seemed to sigh in relief as she relaxed her shoulders. "But seriously, if the attention is bothering 'you' we can leave at any time."

"Thank you all... but no. This is a nice restaurant with a nice atmosphere. I don't want to leave just because of that. 'I'm' fine, I was just worried about you all." The three frowned skeptically at that but, when it became clear that Pyrrha wasn't going to bend, they all shrugged and went back to eating. Well, except Izuku who vaguely noticed Pyrrha whispering 'but thanks for asking, Izuku'.

He smiled and gave her a small shrug before turning back to his desert. Despite the attention, it really was a nice place to sit down and eat.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"Sure you want to do this Slugger? Test your strength against three 'very' strong young women? Jeez, brave guy right here, brave guy... or maybe you just want to impress us little ladies with how you've got muscles! Oooh~, muy macho!"

"Oh don't tease Deku like that. The little guy's gonna do his best and try to beat us! Sure, it might be in vein because well, good luck being stronger than me, but that's brave of him!"

"You two should be worried! Fearless leader can pull off all kinds of stuff when he puts his mind to it! Don't count him out just because we're all stronger than him without his Semblance!"

...

'Why did I think this was a good idea?' He sighed slightly as he realized that none of them were actually being mean. Yang was just teasing as usual, the girl giving him a slight, Cheshire grin as they all made their way over to the hammer and bell. Coco, meanwhile, just seemed to be treating him, as ever, like a kid sibling or something from her position as her senior. Nora? Nora meant well but, as usual, she was way too honest and unaware that most people would probably consider what she'd just said to be putting their foot in their mouth.

He couldn't exactly blame them though; he did pretty much walk face first into that by going up against three other people who he 'knew' for a fact were stronger than him without using One For All... and even if he did use One For All, he was fairly certain that Coco was still stronger than him. He pretty much walked into that game expecting to get creamed... but it just seemed like fun. It'd be a way for Nora to get to swing around a hammer and cause devastation without actually breaking anything, Yang would adore the opportunity to tease and poke at him while also getting to show off her own strength at what was a Fair game, essentially, and Coco? Coco would probably just think the attempt by a bunch of her juniors to beat her in a game of strength would be funny.

So everyone would enjoy themselves and, if he was being really honest, he had fun too. As embarrassing as being around those three in particular could be, especially to his pride, they were still pretty fun people to hang out with. Eventually the four of them walked up to the game of strength and... wow they really went all out. The general set up was the same; hammer, lever, bell, but the theme of the game of strength had really been stressed. Beside the back of the game was a wooden cutout of Toshinori, flexing his muscles as he grinned. A little speech bubble was cut out and placed next to his head as well: 'Can you best the All Mighty Huntsman? Pick up this hammer and GO BEYOND!'.

It was a fun looking game and a lot of guys, and even a good number of girls, were taking a crack at it. Most of them, the vast majority in fact, didn't even come close to hitting the bell, while others managed to hit it. As the four walked up, the man nodded at them all as he gestured.

"Come one, come all! The City of Mountain Glenn has graciously provided the funds for every man, woman and child in this city to get their turn on this here All Mighty Bell Test! If you ring the bell, you win a prize! Simple as that! The man muttered under his breath shortly after, coughing into his fist as he noticed the group walking up. "Well hey there, looks like we've got ourselves a fine little squad here! Ready to take your chances on this here machine?"

"You know it!" Yang declared, slamming her fists together.

"Oooh, we've got some fire here. Stand back everybody or you're liable to get burned!" Yang chuckled as she cracked her knuckles, the young woman walking up to grab the hammer as she did so. "Now little lady, just to be sure; Hunter's are permitted to perform, Gods know we'd be terrible people if we didn't let them try to win this game on their own holiday, but, well, if you do happen to happen to have a Semblance, go ahead and hold back on it."

"Wouldn't dream of cheating sir. Trust me, I get the same go around at Luna's Wonder Park."

"Ah, that trash pile. You know you should really go to Sol's Fair Grounds. Much better quality games, prizes and rides there, I'll tell you." Yang just rolled her eyes at the man before she brought the hammer up on her shoulder, the rest shortly falling in line behind her.

Yang gave a loud laugh as she swung the hammer behind her head and, with a great deal of power, slammed it into the lever of the Bell Test. The weight was flung up towards the bell and with a loud 'clang' the bell rang out for the entire crowd.

"Woah-ho-ho! That was a little too easy for you! A mighty little lady we seem to have, ladies and gents!" Yang just gave a bit of a holler as she flexed her arms, walking off to the side so that Nora could fall in behind her. Izuku just watched Nora silently giggle to herself as she picked up the hammer, tossing it around a bit as if trying to get a feel for it. Despite Nora's lackadaisical attitude as she swung the hammer, seeming more intent on making a bit of a show of it than of swinging as hard as she could, the weight was flung up the scale and struck the bell, signaling that Nora had won as well. "Well I'll be an Ursa's uncle ladies and gents, seems like we've got ourselves a small group of would be Toshinori's walking up to play our game today!" Nora just cackled as she high fived Yang, Coco having walked up to the little station next.

It wasn't even a surprise when Coco, with a hardy swing, manages to 'dent' the bell with the force of it, the young woman just giving herself a light round of applause to go along with the rest of the crowd. "Jeez! You lot are going to run us dry on prizes at this rate, can't wait to see what the last of ya manage to pull off!"

...

Okay, hat made him a little nervous. It would've been one thing if someone else had managed to not ring the bell, he'd have been fine with not ringing it then. He could have commiserated with them. Now though, now expectations were up as he took the hammer from Coco and slung it over his shoulder. He took a deep breath as he fiddled with his grip on the hammer, tightening it as he reared both arms back. 'I can do this, I can totally do this!'

With a great swing he slammed the hammer down on the lever and watched as the weight ended up scaling up towards the bell. For a moment, for a brief moment, it seemed like it was going to hit, that it was going to make it...

Only to stop 'just' barely short of it and slide on back down, the bell having remained silent.

"Oof. Tough luck there fella tough luck. Don't worry though, there's always next year." His head drifted down a bit at that, chuckling sheepishly as he set the hammer off to the side for someone else to pick up.

"Y-Yeah, next year." He gave a slight sigh at that. Being honest, he'd never actually won that game. He figured after all his training and his Aura that maybe he'd stand a chance that time... but eh, the guy was right. He did have next year to try again. He'd definitely be able to win then. Walking over to his friends you see that the trio of them are already picking out a prize. He was actually kind of relieved; it would've been pretty embarrassing for everyone involved; Yang and Coco probably would've felt a little bad about teasing him at that point and Nora? Well, Nora would've tried to reassure him in her usual way. It was best to just let the moment slink away and have the embarrassment go with it, he thought.

As he thought on his failed attempt, he listened to what his friends were contemplating as they looked through the shop.

"Hmmm... man, this is tricky. I mean, I know that Yatsu would just give his doll away to some girl in order to impress or win her over, so obviously I don't pick him... but do I pick on Fox by giving him this cute little plush doll to carry around for the rest of the festival or do I get the one for Velvet because she's actually going to enjoy it... such a hard choice..." Coco bit her thumb slightly as she looked between the two, Nora just having gotten right up beside the second year Team Leader as she nodded vigorously.

"I know right? So many options! I wish I could take all of these..." Nora glanced over to the stall runner who pointed to his two eyes and then back to Nora, causing the girl to chuckle nervously as she went back to scanning over the crowd of toys. Izuku sighed slightly as he shook his head. He'd made some pretty ridiculous friends over the course of these past... well, nearly two months now that he thought about it. Still, they were his friends and he might as well get in there to help them out a little bit. So, with as smile he stepped forward, about ready to either help Nora pick something out or to tell Coco to just get something nice for Velvet.

That was, up until a curtain of blonde hair ended up right in front of him, the slight momentum that had dragged most of the hair in front of the person underneath it giving way so that he could see Yang Xiao Long as she plopped something into his arms, the pair of them having suddenly cradled to catch whatever it was she put in there, as she looked at him with a wide grin.

"Here ya go Slugger, don't worry about not winning a prize this time around; Yang's got your back. Fair's... Fair, right? Eh, eh?" He was stunned for a moment, having been surprised by Yang just having suddenly gotten in front of him out of the blue like that, as he glanced down at what she'd put in his arms, pun momentarily ignored.

Placed into his arms was a stuffed doll of the Symbol of Peace himself, Toshinori Yagi, mid-flex and with that cheerful smile stitched painstakingly into his face. It was slightly plushy, most likely with cotton having filled the inside of it, but the likeness to Toshinori was still uncanny. It was pretty big too; not huge but big enough that it did fit snug into his arms. A slight bit of red dusted his cheeks as the entire situation crashed down on him... a girl... a girl had just gotten him a gift.

'I JUST GOT A GIFT FROM A GIRL! A FRIEND SURE BUT STILL YANG WAS AN ATTRACTIVE GIRL WHO GOT ME A GIFT!'

Before the thought could get too far away from him, it was 'Yang' after all and he knew her well enough to know that if he showed how giddy or embarrassed that made him then she would tease him to no end. So, looking to at least keep some of his ground, he coughed into his fist as he sheepishly scratched his cheek.

"T-T-Thanks Yang, I really appreciate it. This is really cool... but... well, is it fair? I mean, I think the one I won at Luna's Wonder Park was a little bigger, right?" Yang snorted slightly, bringing a fist up to her lip to help squelch a laugh in the making as she just continued to smile.

"You know what Slugger? That's a fair point. Still, I think you of all people would consider the possibilities here."

"... What do you mean?" Yang just grinned as she leaned forward slightly, causing him to back away a bit.

"I mean, you of all people would know that no matter how small the package is-" He frowned slightly as Yang hovered a hand over the top of his head, the gesture combined with her leaning to meet him at eye level reminding him that Yang was still pretty much taller than him, "-that 'big' surprises can still wait inside." He blushed slightly, coughing a bit as Yang gave him a wink and leaned back, walking away as she laughed a little at his expense... well, not 'at his expense', but still!

The people who 'were' laughing at his expense, however, seemed to be Nora and Coco, each having picked out a prize; a little frog on Nora's part a rabbit on Velvet's, as they chuckle at him. Eventually, Nora leaned over and, in an attempt at a whisper, broke the tension.

"... What are we laughing at, by the way?" Nora asked, causing Coco to roll her eyes.

"Poor, poor innocent Nora. You don't know better... and poor, sweet innocent Deku. That's a nice little gift you got. Not often you see that trope turned around." Izuku blushed as Coco ran off after Yang, Nora just shrugging as she walked beside him while the two went to catch up with the others.

"... Why did you pick up a frog, Nora?"

"Well, for one, it seems sad that Tsuyu wouldn't get a chance to hang out with all of us, so I thought it'd be cool if we got her something to commemorate the day."

"Wow Nora, that's really nice of you! What made you think of doing that for her?" At that, Nora gave a wry grin.

"Yang's pun did... speaking of, 'for two'-" With that Nora reeled back her arm and threw the plush doll Yang's way, -"'RIBBIT RIBBIT'!" Nora did her best impression of Tsuyu which, to be frank, wasn't 'too' bad considering Tsuyu's usual monotone as the plush doll lightly bumped into the back of Yang's head. Still, it managed to get a response out of Yang who immediately ducked down, covering the back of her head.

It turned out to be a pretty good time, all things considered.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"Jeez, you weren't kidding, this place got really crowded 'really' fast!" Ruby whined a bit as the crowd of people all shimmied and moved around their little group, bumping into them all occasionally as they all filtered into the town square. Thousands upon thousands of children were holding hands or otherwise being held with adults who sought to not lose them in the crowd, and people of all ages had gathered into place. Some were those old enough to remember the very day the holiday had been meant to commemorate itself, while others, like himself, had only ever been old enough to see videos of it on the CCT. Man or woman, human or Faunus, young or old, all had gathered into the town square of Mountain Glenn in order to see the night's grand finale. The way everyone was spaced out hadn't much helped with the room problem; the crowd had mostly been forced to make a half-circle on the opposite side of Toshinori's statue, the monument to the Symbol of Peace having its back face the grand, lit-up mountains that had given the city its name.

"Yeah, I was expecting a crowd but... jeez, I can't even see the street a long ways back." Yang quickly stood up on the tips of her toes to check the fact, the girl's face shifting into a frown as a several taller individuals had been placed periodically in the crowd behind her, blocking her view all the more.

"So I'm guessing this isn't just going to be fireworks then? I mean, everyone would still be able to see fireworks but, well-" Weiss pointed out the various screens that had been set up on the sides of buildings, and on top of the smaller ones, on the various streets leading up to the town square, a low hum coming from each of them as it seemed power had been connected to them.

"Yeah, that's right." Kacchan answered a bit curtly as he scratched at his neck a bit, though Izuku followed up with an eager nod.

"The event's gotten so huge year after year that they have been necessary for a while now... lucky us, we got here early enough to actually get to see everything up close." He couldn't help the excited smile that came over his features as he practically bubbled; the best part of the night was coming, the exciting climax. He couldn't help but feel giddy!

"Awww, look at how excited you are Deku! You could power half this city just by yourself with all that fidgeting around." Izuku blushed as Coco teased you slightly, Velvet having pretty firmly parked herself between her partner, Yatsu and Fox while the crowd smothered in around them all, clearly nervous at so many people being around.

"Hmmm... he's not the only one. The excitement in the air is almost palpable." Shoto offered in a neutral, off-handed manner, to which Ren only offered a nod of agreement.

"Yeah! So come on Fearless Leader, spill the beans! What's gonna happen!? You can't just leave us all in the dark like this! We'll go positively crazy if we have to sit in anticipation for a moment longer!" Nora was practically jittering, the bubbly bomber having practically fed off of the crowd's excitement and anticipation.

"I wouldn't go that far." Blake offered, her book firmly in her pocket as her amber eyes glanced about the crowd.

"Still, I would hazard to say that most of us 'are' curious." Pyrrha offered, everyone else having nodded as Izuku just smiled slightly. Before he could speak, it began; the various lights in the buildings surrounding them all went dark. For blocks and blocks around, the City of Mountain Glenn went dark, with only a few here and there to keep the crowd lightly illuminated. Following that, the various lights that had shined on the side of the Mountains finally dimmed as well, the color that had been painted against the white, snowy backdrop having faded away.

"Oooh it's starting! You all will see soon enough!" His friends all clammed up, even Nora, as they all looked around. They took notice of how most of the crowd was looking a large building just behind the monument to Toshinori and, without much other guidance, their eyes fall there as well. However, tonight proved to be a surprise even to him and the citizens who had been there year after year. As, instead of the expected, sudden arrival of Toshinori from the top of the building, the lights went up on the Mountain again. The colorful display had been rather new that year and, while it had looked nice, it hadn't really taken up much of his imagination.

However, as the Mountain was lit up again, the white snow shimmering slightly as various lights were shone upon it, he felt his breath being stolen away, especially as the audio began to play.

Fire cracked and roared as a roaring inferno dominated much of the side of the mountain. Buildings crushed and demolished as the screams of the imperiled and threatened were heard playing. The bodies of Grimm, numbering in the sheer hundreds, littered the streets. People were standing around those dissolving bodies, their expressions awash in a mix of awe, fear and disbelief.

 _"W-Who is he? The guy's already saved at least a hundred people and it hasn't even been ten minutes!"_

A man, wide-eyed and looking for all the world that even 'he' thought he'd lost his mind was briefly seen as the scenes went on. Suddenly, a 'huge' impact burst into the audio, an explosion of sound and force having taken place 'waaaay' away from whatever angle the camera had been held at. For a moment, people panicked as they ran and then, mere seconds later, something big, something 'huge' crashed into the frame. As the dust settled and the people worked their way back towards the thing that had crashed so suddenly, there was an audible gasp; a Goliath. Its tusks have been shattered and the skull plating that protected its head had been caved in and destroyed. The beast itself, one of the most powerful known Grimm, was dissipating before everyone's eyes.

Before the next line was even spoken, Izuku knew what that video was; he'd watched it nearly every day when he was a kid after all.

 _"T-This is... this is crazy! I can't believe it!"_

At the height of that uncertainty, at the height of the emotion of the crowd... Izuku saw it. Slowly clambering over the Goliath's corpse... that stack of injured people, held aloft by a powerful pair of shoulders.

At that most dire moment... a Hero had arrived.

 _"HAAAH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAAAA! HA HAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAAAA!"_

 _"LOOK, HE'S GOT MORE!"_

With a mighty stomp, the man who would be known from that day forward as the All Mighty Huntsman, The Symbol of Peace and Hope, was plain to see on the video camera. Nearly a dozen people, Faunus and Human alike, were either held in one of his arms or were hanging onto his neck, their bodies weary and injured and yet still 'very much alive'. A slight trickle of blood, the only visible sign of injury on the man, oozed down his temple as Toshinori Yagi spoke with that booming voice of his which echoed throughout the various speakers set up for the crowd in the back as well as for the main square.

 _"Fear not citizens, Hope has arrived!"_

It would've been the perfect moment... had it not been for a slight 'whistling' sound Izuku heard in his ears. Before he could even question it, a 'huge' impact suddenly slammed into the middle of the town square, a few dozen feet in front of the statue, as a cloud of smoke was kicked up from the impact. For a brief moment, everyone flinched away; when their gazes had returned, smiles were abound. For from that smoke and debris rose the very man himself, dressed in the same garb that he had worn on that very day. The smile on his face perfectly matched both the visage of the monument behind him and the wide, shining grin that was displayed on the side of the mountain. Then, and only then, did his mentor speak.

" **BECAUSE I AM HERE**!" The voice proudly declared, both from the speakers and from the man himself, as the crowd around them 'lost their minds'. A roar of applause and cheers rang out, banners and flags being waved about as, slowly but surely, the video displayed on the side of the mountain gave way to a series of hues; Yellow, Red, Blue and White, the colors that marked the Symbol of Peace himself. Toshinori just belted out his signature laugh, his smile evident as he waved at the crowd, the man's head looking round and round as if he was taking care to try to make eye contact with every member of the audience gathered here tonight. For several minutes the raucous cheering and hollering continued as, after a while, a man with a microphone quickly stepped forward from the crowd, offering the device to Toshinori. With an appreciative nod, the Symbol of Peace took the microphone and began to address the crowd.

"It is good to see you again, Mountain Glenn." A loud cheer erupted again as Toshinori just waved, waiting for the energy to subside as the crowd, and with baited breath, they stopped and waited for the man of the hour to speak. "You know... whenever I come to Mountain Glenn, I am 'always' met with new surprises. Not just from the new sights that there always seems to be in this city; although, it does seem like every time I turn around, some new family or a new business has moved into this growing settlement, brought here by the promise that this city holds and what it represents. I remember a few years ago when the first skyscraper started to go up in Mountain Glenn, the first the city had seen ever since the Grimm's attack. I was taken aback for a moment; it was as sure a sign as any that Mountain Glenn had come a long way."

Izuku remembered that year; when the skyscraper had finished, Toshinori had made his entrance off of it; diving off the very top of it before making his debut. Apparently he wasn't the only one; another light roar of prideful applause and cheers rose up through the ranks of Mountain Glenn's citizens before again they went silent.

"However, I find that there's something like that every time I come back. Some new building which catches my eye, a business which shows promise in its drive to thrive... a person who gives me new insight into what it means to be a Hero." Izuku couldn't help but choke a bit as, he swore, Toshinori's eyes somehow found his amidst the crowd, the man's smile widening before he turned to the rest of the gathered citizens. "This... this is what I think is truly special about Mountain Glenn. What makes this city the way it is. I go around and I hear people tell me that Mountain Glenn is the way it is only because of me... and well, as much as I'd like to take credit for it, I'm afraid that I can't accept it."

"Oh come on Toshi!" There's a slight wave of disapproval from the crowd at that as the Symbol of Peace just laughed and shook his head.

"No, I'm quite serious. I am not the man who has made Mountain Glenn the Symbol it is. I am not responsible for what you people represent to the entirety of Remnant." The crowd went silent as Toshinori Yagi pointed a finger to the mountain behind him. "Over three decades ago now, the people of Vale dared to hope; they dared to believe that the peace and prosperity that Humanity and Faunuskind had known generations before was not the last to be seen here in this world. That through effort and determination that we two species had in ourselves a potential to drive our light into the darkness around us and to shine forth for all the world to see. To show that the Grimm had not pushed us back forward into our contained spaces... but rather, that they had merely temporarily impeded our dreams and our desire to live our lives to the fullest."

"In one moment, the Grimm sought to challenge that. In one moment, the Grimm sought to destroy that hope... and yes, for that moment, I was there to ensure they could not succeed. However, I was merely the hero of a moment, a singular man at a singular time who made a difference. I could not make the people of Mountain Glenn stay in their city, where fear might've otherwise dictated that their town, their hopes and dreams, be abandoned in the name of safety." Toshinori's smile grew again, his teeth shining in the low light as he raised a singular finger toward the sky.

"Yet in that moment, and for all the moments to come, the people of Mountain Glenn made themselves not just the heroes of their hopes and dreams, but of the hopes and dreams of All People across Remnant! For as much as I might assure people that 'I m here', Mountain Glenn, you have assured them of so much more! That we, Humans and Faunus alike, stand strong against the shadows that creep at our doorsteps. That we will not fade away into obscure nothingness! That our hopes and dreams, the hopes and dreams of those who came before us and those who will come long after, are worth fighting for with every last scrap of our strength! You have inspired the people of Vale to live outside the walls of their city for the first time in many centuries, you have inspired the men and women of Atlas to rise to the occasions that they know they can and have made brave men and women of Mistral and Vacuo who may have settled for less, who may have settled for the shadows!"

"That is why I am here now Mountain Glenn, and why I have returned every year since that day! To remind the world of what you mean to them, of what your struggles and successes mean! The world may call my Alma Mater 'Beacon', but if you ask me, there is no greater light that shines in all of Remnant than this city. Why?" With that, Toshinori pointed to the crowd and, presumably, a camera as various screens showed him pointing directly at it. "Because what you assure to the world, what you declare with every singular moment of your existence, is that 'We are here'!"

The applause and cheers roared over the crowd as Toshinori finished, the man of the hour just laughing again as he waved to the people, his smile planted firmly on his face.

"Tonight has been an amazing night Mountain Glenn, and we're only 'just' getting to the good part. So remember, for the sake of yourselves, for the sake of Vale and for the sake of Remnant: to GO BEYOND!"

 **"PLUS ULTRA!"**

With that, Toshinori tossed the microphone back into the crowd and, as the crowd roared out his signature phrase, The Symbol of Peace and Hope rocketed into the air with a single bound, his body soaring across the light up Mountain as, in the very next moment, a volley of fireworks exploded in the night sky behind him, lighting up his visage as he soared through the air. The crowd cheered and hollered and roared as fireworks exploded across the night sky, lighting up the dimmed city as everyone turned their eyes upward both to watch as Toshinori leapt away and as the party really ramped up into its final moments. Izuku could 'hear', even over the cheers and the fireworks, Nora whooping and hollering as she shook someone, presumably Ren, as Izuku's friends all turned their eyes to the night sky, their eyes variously wide with awe and smiles firmly planted on all of their faces. For the briefest of moments he could swear he even saw Bakugou crack a slight grin, though that was quickly squashed in and of itself.

When the fireworks would fade and the people would begin to depart, they all would need to make their way back to the train station. The airbus to Beacon would stay open later given the Festival but it wouldn't stay so for long. As his friends excitedly talked about the night, or most of them, though even Shoto, Blake and Ren seemed relatively buzzed by the evening, Izuku couldn't help but smile.

Not just because tonight was amazing... but because one day, he would be the one to stand before the people of Remnant and reassure them as Toshinori had.

It terrified Izuku…

But at the same time…

'I've never been more excited in my entire life!'


	67. Tales of Beacon VIII

As much as Toshinori didn't want to be there, he had to admit is was kinda nice to just relax for a little bit. Mountain Glenn had a pretty nice hospital with its comfy beds and warm meals, which 'Mister Kagemusha' was staying in over the weekend for the sake of observation after that attack in the tunnels.

Apparently looking like a dehydrated scarecrow had worried some of the doctors. Who'da imagined that?

He had to remind himself every now and again that he could use the rest after nearly wearing himself out, that everyone had things under control and the evildoers were routed. But he didn't like just sitting on his hind end while others had to pick up his slack, and all the unknowns about that 'Monochrome League' put him further on edge. Who were they? What did they want, aside from his head? It seemed a pretty lofty goal, wanting the head of the Symbol of Peace, but there didn't seem to be a logical explanation for the why.

And unlike so many other lowlifes that tried to kill him, that bunch had already proven they might be able to pull it off.

That birdbrain...thing that looked like a knockoff Grimm was hellaciously tough, and that was just the tip of the iceberg. They were smart enough to plan ahead, to bring a small army of mercenaries or fanatics or just greedy idiots, and the ones in charge had semblances that were too powerful for them to have just missed. In the end there were just too many unknowns, and all he could do was sit here like a useless piece of flotsam to get his strength back.

Strength he was losing in inches every day.

How long until he was utterly spent? How long until the last gasp finally gave out? Would it be a quiet whimper in the dark, or a loud whimper where it was nice and public? Knowing his luck, it'd probably be in the middle of some big event, and where would that leave the Symbol of Peace then, hm?

Some symbol he was.

As he sighed and tried to fight off his darkening mood, the sound of the opening door drew his attention. Even before the person was fully revealed, he knew her just from the shadow she cast on the floor. Hell, ask any Hunter on that continent and they'd probably be able to identify it.

Nobody, not nobody, forgot Glynda Goodwitch.

For a moment he felt like he was back in school, sick in bed when she stepped in, her expression cool and collected as she took him in, sighed, and shook her head. Heh. Guess it was familiar to her too. After a slow and dedicated roll her shoulder, to better accommodate the bag she had, she turned around to say some quick thanks to the nurse before she slipped the rest of the way inside. "One of these days, you will be the death of me." She said, though the lack of acid in her tone told him she wasn't quite exasperated with him yet.

"Ah. Sorry about the trouble, Glynda." Toshinori chuckled feebly, scratching the back of his head as she casually made her way over to a chair beside the bed. He hated the idea of aggravating her of all people, and not just because they were old teammates or the fact she was one of the strongest Huntswomen on this planet. It was because she's always been stuck looking after him, putting the pieces of his sorry butt back together when she wasn't being Ozpin's right hand or the staff's babysitter. Probably the hardest working woman in the four kingdoms, and he did what he did best and just added to her workload. Some friend he w-

"That's enough of that." Her voice snapped him out of his darkening thoughts, glasses glinting ominously in the overhead fluorescent lights as she reached into her bag and pulled out a knife..and a green apple? "I came here because you're my friend, not an obligation. So I would appreciate it if you didn't look like I was here to yell at you." With that said there was a flex of her power before the knife began to bite into the apple, slowly peeling it and floating out of the way as she leaned back over to pull her scroll out of her bag. It was oddly jarring to see her power being used so mundanely, when not even 12 hours ago she had charged after him into the underground with a swarm of Huntsmen at her heels, using her semblance like it was the bitch-slap of an angry god. Did she really not realize how casually intimidating she was?

'...this is Glynda. Of course she knows!'

"I also decided to share with you some footage you might enjoy from the tunnels' security cameras." After several quick taps on the scroll, she set it into his lap, letting him see the familiar face of Izuku Midoriya charging into battle. "From what I saw he lead the charge into four separate rooms, stopping several major threats against the city, as well as a small army of men and Grimm along the way." He couldn't look away from the screen as she spoke, but the definite pride in her tone just made him grin all the more. "All in all, I would say he acquitted himself most handily."

"Geez, kid, if this'd been me I'd've been crowing from the rooftops." Yet again that boy surprised him in only the best ways. Looks like be broke more than a few of his fingers in the process, but damned if he didn't kick ass and take names. As that crossed his mind, another thought lingered. One that had stemmed from an older conversation he'd had with the boy. "The guys he hit; how are they doing?" It would seem like an odd question to most, worrying about the people that had tried to kill so many innocents, but she understood the underlying concern in his tone and thoughts.

Did he understand the weight of the power in his hands? In the thick of a life-or-death moment, did Izuku act in a way that truly befitted One for All?

This time he did manage to tear his gaze away from the screen, and felt the worry ebb from his mind when he saw the bemused smile curling her lips. "Nothing more than they deserved, I'd say. Bruising and some sprains from landing wrong, but the worst was a broken bone or two. As I said, he acquitted himself most handily."

"Couldn't have said it better myself, Glyn." He chuckled, apparently feeling well enough to abbreviate her name while she was feeling charitable. She didn't mind it in private, but that sort of thing in public would get one stuck upside down like a piñata until they learned their lesson. A lesson he and Todoroki had been forced to learn more than a few times back in school. Thankfully over the years he had at least learned one trick to stave off her possible wrath. Distraction! "So, any idea who these Monochrome jokers are?"

If she actually bought the distraction, he couldn't tell as she sighed, held out a hand, and caught the perfectly cut coil of apple skin as if finally fell free in one long strand. "Nothing as of yet. I've sent a message to Qrow, but he's out on a mission and isn't replying. As always with him, that could be either a good or bad thing." She sighed and took a bite of the discarded skin as her knife continued its work, cutting and sectioning the slowly spinning apple. "Bartholomew is looking into Monochrome cults, but I doubt he'll find much outside of some stuffy Atlesians with more lien then sense." She leaned back into the chair and closed her eyes, for just a split second looking as tired as she actually was before opening those striking emerald orbs and offering him a wry smirk. "I'm of the opinion they just took the name to sound intimidating, and wouldn't know monochrome from actual chrome."

...okay that was pretty funny, covering his mouth when he snickered in case he coughed up any blood and ruined the good mood. Hey! No immediate blood vomit! Maybe the rest was a good thing after all. "I dunno. I'm willing to bet they're being lead by some long-lost descendant or bastard child with a god complex, and are actually hidden in some doom fortress somewhere in old Mantle."

"Doom fortress?" Glynda snorted. "Really? You've been reading too many X-Ray comics. Why not a militarized iceberg while we're at it?"

"Because it'd be too cold?"

That got her to actually blink, then just stare at him for a long moment. Then, of all things, she actually chuckled, the sound so unexpected it actually sent Toshinori into snickers. Before either of them knew it, they were both trying not to laugh outright, even as she leaned against the railing on his bed and set down the neatly slices apple pieces, with the core casually dropping into the garbage. "Eat up before you say something even more absurd. I have more apples if you're hungry." With that she took another bite from the skin she'd claimed for herself, picked up one of the pieces with her power, and gently let it drift towards his head.

Normally he'd object to being babied, but it was from a place of caring, and he knew he was one of the privileged few to receive her dotage. So he bit into the apple, swallowed his pride, and just decided to really let himself relax for the time being. It was like Izuku said, he couldn't really do everything nor was he expected to. Things were being sorted out as best they could, and he knew he could trust the people handling it. So he needed to focus on making sure he recovered and was up to snuff when he was really needed, and maybe just enjoy this moment with his old friend.

And just like every other moment with the Good-but-Scary Witch, he wouldn't trade it for the world.

* * *

Weiss looked out over the crowd that surrounded the park in front of her, and groaned.

"How is it so hard to keep an eye on that girl. I swear, sometimes I think her brains are made of pancake batter."

After leaving Inko Midoriya's home, team MNVW had somehow separated, and despite everyone's agreement to stay together until they actually met up with the rest of their group, they had found themselves separated. First they were split up into sets of partners, a massive crowd getting in between the four of them. This had left Weiss with the enviable task of trying to control Nora on her own. And she had thought she had done a good job of that.

...until Nora had seen sign for some of a sale those Ursa costumes. Within seconds, and Weiss had found herself on her own.

That had been half an hour ago. Weiss had been looking for her teammate for the entire time, and had somehow found herself three streets over, and standing what looks like a small park. And in that park, a crowd had formed, one with hundreds of people before a stage that seemed to have been erected over the past week. Not a ramshackle one mind you, but definitely an impermanent one.

"How am I going to find her in this crowd," the Schnee heiress growled at the back of her throat.

SCREECH!

Weiss came to a stop, and looked over at the stadium. They were clearly setting up the sound system, and it looked like a band was starting to come out. Fairly generic all things told, probably a band had just come in for the festival. There were more important things to worry about...like finding her partner.

"Nora!"

"Oh, WEISS!"

Weiss smiled, and turned backwards to where the voice of her teammate had originated, and then felt her stomach drop.

"WHAT ARE YOU WEARING!?"

Nora was wearing one of those onesies. But, she seemed to have opted not to buy not one of the Ursa onesies, that would have been bad enough, but had gone for the even more tacky and eye tormenting Toshinori outfit. The suit had two proud antenna standing up a full foot above Nora's head, the gold and red and blue seemed to mix in weird ways due to Nora not really fitting the outfit all that well. And worse of all, Nora had that stupid smile.

"AH HA HA!" Nora's hands were on her hips, and she had thrown her head back to give a hearty laugh, "NEVER FEAR! FOR I AM HERE!"

"You are going to take that off ri-"

"Oh Weiss."

Weiss stopped, and looked back over her shoulder (All the while wondering why everyone always called out to her as soon as her back is turned to them), and felt a sigh of relief come through her lips.

"Shoto," she felt a weight lift from her shoulders. Finally, a voice of reason in the cacophony of madness.

"Weiss, Nora," he waved as he walked up to the two of them. He stared at them both blankly, and seemed thoroughly nonplussed, before coughing, and asking, "I thought you were both still with the rest of your team."

At the back of her mind, Weiss felt an unease return to her conciseness. She was forgetting something...

"We got separated," she shook her head, "Listen, Shoto, I need your help."

"With what?"

Well Weiss thought it would be obvious. The fact that her teammate was dressed as a clown, did Shoto not have eyes?

"Um, well," Weiss then motioned her head back towards her partner, "Don't you think that's a bit strange?"

Shoto looked at Nora, then looked back at Weiss.

"I don't follow."

'Oh right,' Weiss felt the sweat gather on the back of her head, and a vein begin to bulge on the front, 'I forgot. Your worse at social situations than Izuku is.'

"Doesn't that look terrible," Weiss asked, trying to lead Shoto to the correct decision, only to flinch at the derisive laugh from behind her.

"You just don't know good fashion when you see it," Nora declared, crossing her arms and smirking confidently. Weiss felt the perverse desire to get out the spray bottle increase greatly within her, though she pushed it down quickly. No reason to cause a scene in public. Any sort of news about Weiss having to discipline her teammate might reach her family, and she can already imagine the...reaction if they found out about some of the things Nora had lead her to do.

Team MNVW still refuses to speak of the Omelets Incident.

Even Nora.

"I would have to question that anyone would know more about fashion than the Heir to the SDC-"

Weiss felt tears run down her face, a wide smile splitting it in half as she clasped her hands in joy.

'Shoto you wonderful man. I could ki-'

"On the other hand, those outfits do seem popular," he continued, pointing to several other Onesies in the crowd, "So clearly you are merely attempting to participate fully in the local traditions. Therefore, I think we can put aside fashionability for the sake of cultural acceptance, don't you Weiss?"

'-ck your ass you socially-dumb, mouth-breathing, ungrateful piece of sh-"

Weiss's inner insults and Nora's sheering were suddenly cut off, as the speakers began to blare up.

 **"Hello Mountain Glenn!"** The voice, male though high pitched, stated, **"Are you ready to Rock!?"**

The crowd, and Nora, cheered wildly. They cheered for what seemed to be a full minute, before finally settling down. Then, when the sound was gone, the first bit of music began to play. It was on a piano, and it took Weiss a few seconds to recognize that song...

"Oh no."

"ALRIGHT!" Nora began to wave her arms in the air, "I love this song!"

"Of course you do," Weiss, grabbed Nora, "Too bad we have to-" she then looked around, and realized that the three of them had quickly been surrounded and in general swallowed by the crowd, "-go?"

Weiss knew she was doomed. Not just because it was that song, the bane of the entire Atlesian Court, but because it wasn't just coming from the speakers. The crowd around her was singing too.

Including her wonderful partner. Nora, Weiss had found out long ago, couldn't actually sing, but would rather shout at the top of her lungs, and claim that was "Singing". And it was...

...in the same way that a six week rotten apple would technically count as food.

"I hate this song so much."

"Why?"

Weiss looked back at Shoto with a glare that she was sure could turn a man to stone. Unfortunately, she was not a gorgon, and Weiss would be forced to explain this to him.

"First of all, it is definitely simple," The song had slowed to the piano again, "You hear the piano. That is a simple four chord structure. The simplest and most basic song structure of the past century. You write those chords, and you are saying, 'I don't care about complexity or music as a medium'."

She then continued, "And the rest of the song is just like that. It's mostly cheesy lyrics that are put on by people who only want to reach the largest crowd, and get them to buy a record or download them on their scroll. The Lyrics don't actually mean anything on their own artistic level beyond getting a cheap connection to the audience."

The crowd cheered wildly, as Weiss threw up her hands in frustration as the singer inserted Mountain Glenn directly into the lyrics.

"See what I mean. They can just change the lyrics just go get the crowd to cheer," she rubbed her temples , "The replacement lyrics don't even scan well at all!"

Shoto looked back up at the stands, and then over at Weiss again. Weiss grumbled once more.

"I think I can see your point, at least a bit."

"A bit," Weiss huffed, Glaring up at the stage, "Shoto, this stuff," she refused to refer to it as music, "Is the very thing I fought against in all my time training as a singer in the Atlesian Circuit. It is cheap-seat, heart on your sleeve, completely unrefined schlock!"

"You are right," Shoto nodded. Then he added a question.

"And what's wrong with that?"

"Wha?"

The guitar had started up. The strings started on two close together chords, but surely moved apart until they were quite distinct, only stopping when the drums were slammed to live.

"What's wrong with trying to reach the crowd?" Shoto looked out at the cheering crowd, many people waving their arms in the air, just as Nora was.

"Wel-"

"After all," Shoto continued, a wistful look appearing in his eyes, "Isn't that what Toshinori Yagi does best? Isn't that what he showed us the greatest gift we as Huntsmen can provide to the people of this broken world, the inspiration and hope to overcome all the evil that surrounds us?"

"Yes, but," Weiss found herself fumbling, trying to reestablish her argument.

"I mean," Shoto continued, "They do seem quite good at it. It's quite clear that they put a lot of thought in how this song would go. It doesn't seem to be just thrown together."

"Well yes," Weiss nodded, "The instrument's don't really form together into some unlistenable sludge or anything. And the songwriter does understand the way around rhyming lyrics," she stopped, and looked down again, "And yes, the structure of the song is impressive, with the chorus only actually being sung once in the whole song, at the end, but-"

"But...?"

"But-"

Weiss listened to the drawers roar to life alongside the guitar and bass. She could tell every individual note that they were playing, and it brought back memories of her training. Of her studying the classics, of learning the circles of fifths, and general theory. Of the hours she had worked attempting to write her own concertos, one day to be truly honed into her own. And most of all, she thought of her father listening to records of the current big performances, and the very next day, her being assigned those specific pieces, with the tutors being given the express order to make sure she could do it even better.

And then she thought back to the record she had just received. Her old ri-no, she did not have that low self-esteem. That little jealous witch had been given a classic of the ages, and yet had shown to be completely incapable of handling it. She had only managed to hold on because of a large number of little pieces of assistance, like a microphone in a small theater, allowing her to even come within a fraction of success. And yet she had been praised up and down for it. A mediocre performance of high art was all it took to earn high praise of the Atlesian court.

And here...well honestly, the singer's voice would never be accepted at an Atlesian Court. Too...wrong to do any of the classics.

And yet he was perfect for the song. He hit the notes, absolutely correctly, moved to the next line with the music at the exact right moment. He kept the microphone at the appropriate distance, and it was quite clear that he was only using it at all because he was singing to the open night.

The singer...no, the performer was perfect for that lowbrow song. He clearly understood the music he was singing, and the way he was writing the melody and lyrics together to form...music.

She looked over at Nora. While originally Nora had been shouting her singing, she had seemed to join in with the rest of the crowd. While she was still smiling, however, Weiss could also see tears begin to form at the sides of her partner's eyes, and tried to guess what connection the song would have to her. But, knowing that Nora had come from some backwater village with limited communication access, she could almost guess that the song would probably only begin to matter to her after she and Ren had returned to civilization. Or perhaps she had known someone with the record before the tragedy befell her hometown.

She looked back over to Shoto, and she noticed his mouth was moving with the words of everyone else. He was still clearly too shy to really start openly singing, but still, even doing so quietly was a big step on his social development.

The guitar started up, taking center stage, with the drums providing a bit of backing sound. The song is still stupid. It's still cheesy. It still aimed right at her heart without out any real consideration about what it was trying to say. There was absolutely no place for it in the high place of the Atlesian court.

And yet, for all Weiss's long built up resistance came crashing down with the next word the singer said. And to part of her eternal shame, Weiss sang the chorus with the crowd.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"That was so great!" Nora danced around in front of both Shoto and Weiss, who both looked wistfully at their friend as though she were a child they were tasked with looking after. They had just gotten out of the concert, and were on their way to meet up with the rest of their group.

"Shoto," Weiss finally said, when she thought that she could see that Nora was out of earshot, "Thank you."

"Oh...what for?"

"For making me look at myself in a way I should have, but often fail too."

"Oh."

The two continued to walk, trying to figure out what to say next.

"You're welcome."

"I think...I think," Weiss finally caught what she wanted to say, "That this is important to me, because it means that there is one less place that my father is next to me. One less place where his judgment matters."

"Ah," Shoto kept walking, "I didn't do anything wrong this time, did I?"

"No, no," Weiss chuckled, "I will tell you if you do anything out of line. Deal?"

"Deal."

Weiss smiled, feeling a bit warmer all of the sudden, which was kind of weird while standing next to an ice user. Three seconds later, the two had caught up to Nora, who was looking at Weiss with a small smirk on her lips.

"What?"

"Oh," Nora seemed caught off guard, before turning around, "Just was enjoying the fact that I was right about a song and you were wrong."

"Whatever."

Still though. That was new. Perhaps there was a record store in Vale that she could go to try and listen to some new music like this. Allow her to spread her wings beyond the old Atlesian Classics. Maybe start out with some more respected stuff, then move on down.

After all. She had enjoyed this last song, so who knows, Schlock might just be her thing.

* * *

Lie Ren was rather tolerant when it came to Izuku Midoriya's occasional difficulties with people. If anything, it was a nice contrast to the bluntness some of his team members exhibited or the way Nora would straight-out ask him everything, no matter how blunt or out of the world it may be. But even Lie Ren's patience had his limits - and watching the young boy from Mountain Glenn circle around the question he apparently wanted to ask him for a good five minutes - had already crossed that line.

"Out with it, Midoriya. It can't be that difficult, can it? You're probably just over thinking things. Just ask away."

"Ok, then I'll just spill it out."

Izuku looked around to ensure no-one else was listening in.

"Ren, would you dance with me?"

"Of course... huh?"

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"Are you sure this is safe, Ren?"

"I assure you, the rest of my teammates is off for at least an hour or two. Todoroki is off to train his Semblance and Bakugou is training Ruby in close combat. No way he'd let her rest after a mere hour."

Izuku nodded, his doubts cleared.

"So basically, Weiss and you stopped meeting for her to teach you dancing, ever since you beat her in that sparring match in that somewhat... embarrassing manner?" Ren inquired.

Izuku immediately had a look of guilt on his face, so the young ninja quickly spoke on.

"But I thought you two managed to patch up that problem since a good while already?"

"We did, but at first it still felt a little too awkward to ask her to pick it up again. With me touching her while dancing, I felt it would remind her about the spar. I felt it was too early, that I should maybe let that wound to her pride heal a little more first, before ripping off the band-aid."

Ren nodded, that sounded like a worthwhile consideration, given what he knew about the Schnee heir's demeanor.

"But then I started thinking I should still try to improve my skills on my own during that down time, if only to ensure what little I learned wouldn't dull due to me not using it."

Lie Ren chuckled, but figured that really fit Izuku Midoriya. Always the perfectionist, so dedicated to improving himself, yet so quickly to discount almost anything he already mastered. Reminding him to not belittle his skills would probably be pointless. Ren quickly jerked one of his knees to participate in a more difficult maneuver. Due to his upbringing he had gotten some skills at dancing, both as preparation to improve a mere growing child's developing coordination and in preparation for his future role as the head of his family household as the heir of his name and lineage.

"Also I thought Weiss might be pleasantly surprised if I put in that extra effort. Which might dull any rough edges still left from the incident."

"I believe others might call that fishing for brownie points with her, wouldn't they, Izuku?"

Izuku nodded sheepishly.

"But to train dancing, you really need a partner. And at that point I was thinking how I never really danced with anyone but Weiss, which isn't enough to truly hone a skill, to not even speak about mastering it."

"You seemed to be quite up to the task when it came to Yang Xiao-Long during Pyrrha's birthday party."

"That was different, it was a spur of the moment thing and I really only used exactly what Weiss taught me and took Yang by surprise to boot."

Ren couldn't deny that. He briefly wondered if it really was just surprise or something more that allowed Izuku Midoriya to basically sweep the girl off her feet like he had done back then.

"Asking a girl to train with me by myself is something entirely different as well, since they might take it to mean something else, especially if I'd get all embarrassed and fidgety about asking. Heck, Blake thought I wanted to ask her out during initiation, when I only wanted to ask for directions because I was so nervous talking to her."

Lie Ren just nodded. Though an attractive girl like Blake used to being hit on was probably part of it as well, he could easily imagine the scene.

"And so, if asking a girl was out, that logically only left asking a boy. And when it came to dexterity and grace of movement, you definitely would be among the first of any people I could think of. Also, if I went by process of elimination it was still the same result. Tenya was out because I can't picture him dancing at all and he's got a certain nervous activity to his motions that would probably make it really awkward for me to try to match up to. I'm really not good enough to tackle that kind of difficulty yet. Todoroki doesn't seem the type either, but considering his lineage might have still been a candidate. But I really don't know him that well yet and his upbringing seems a sore topic with him in general."

Ren was aware of Izuku glancing at him, an unspoken question in his eyes. But it wasn't Ren's place to talk about that, even less as an actual friend of Todoroki who was more aware of the true scope, so he simply nodded to confirm Izuku's estimation, but reveal nothing else.

"Plus, Weiss and him just had some kind of falling out apparently, so I really don't know how either of them would have taken it and I wouldn't dream of hurting their chance to patch things up. And Kacchan..."

"Was out for obvious reasons, like exploding the skin of your face for even asking?"

"Yeah, pretty much that. Also he can never hear about this either or he'd never let me live it down."

"I suppose you're right in that regard. Plus, I doubt Bakugo has any elegant bone in his body to begin with. You forgot someone though. From what I've heard he's quite popular with some of the ladies outside of our social circle and supposed to be a good dancer."

"Who?", Izuku immediately inquired, nearly botching his footwork. While one dancing partner was good and well, having another with a different style and demeanor would be even better!

"Oh, it's someone you know and who surely feels like he owes you something."

Izuku looked at him, still puzzled.

"I'm sure one Cardin Winchester really wouldn't mind having a dance with you.", Ren closed off.

Izuku just stared at Ren blankly, who did his best to hide his chuckle.

"You know, just because I'm used to it due to being in a team with Nora, it really doesn't mean I'm enough of a masochist to actively seek being hit with a steel hammer."

The chuckle wasn't hidden anymore.

"Ren, your footwork is surprisingly good, probably better than mine! Nevertheless, if Cardin knew about your involvement in the toilet case, that it was that light step of yours that did him in, he'd probably be happy to have that special sort of dancing lesson with you as his priority. Honestly, if we plan to let someone break both of our legs, I'd think Nora would forever hold it against the two of us if we let someone else beside her do the deed."

Ren smiled at that, knowingly.

"You're right. Nora can get pretty jealous at times..."

Ren suddenly noticed a sound.

Nora Valkyrie stood in the door, her expression a mixture of shock and an eerie smile. How long the girl had she been standing there none of the two boys could say for sure. Nor when she had even developed the kind of stealth that had allowed her to stay unnoticed until now. Wait, was that a string of drool on the edge of her mouth?

"Soooooo, you two... I have no real idea what's going on here. But let's talk business. Who's gonna bribe me so I forget telling everyone else what happened in here? I demand pancakes, but I'm sure that isn't all the combined efforts of two skilled young boys like you can come up with to satisfy little old me.

"Also, who said you two should stop what you were doing? Keep going while we barter, I'll just get myself a nice and comfy chair."

The door closed with a sound of damnation as the two young boys gripped each other tighter at the fright at what they may have unleashed.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

Blake sat on the top of the building, holding her scroll. Rewatching the video she had just taken for the third time already.

"I should delete this. I promised Izuku not to stalk him anymore."

She watched Izuku whirl Lie Ren around, the other boy repaying the debt in kind a minute later. Despite how queasy and nervous Izuku could be, he could look quite determined, even dominant, while dancing. Just like back then, when he had managed to dance Yang of all people into embarrassed and silent submissiveness.

"But this is pure gold. And technically I wasn't stalking _him_ , quite the opposite, I was trying to catch Lie Ren and tell him I stopped following Izuku and that I wouldn't share any info with him anymore. Not my fault I checked from the window if he was alone in that room or not. Not my fault I stumbled over this juicy little scene."

Kinda funny how she never found anything to bribe Izuku with over the course of weeks, but just the moment she stopped even wanting to find anything, she hit pay dirt by accident.

"I mean, it's not really a bad thing, is it? I'm not even planning on using it, this really is just for my personal enjoyme... err, collection. Not like it would hurt anybody, right?"

Blake realized it was a little silly to loudly talk to herself. But she also realized no one was arguing against that logic. Which totally made this the right thing to do, didn't it? Her voice of reason and her conscience apparently shared that sentiment, or at least some of her more eccentric tastes, and stayed silent.

Way to go, inner Blake!

"Oh, who am I kidding, that's a keeper if I've ever seen one. Frickin' archived."

* * *

 **E/N: GoodWitchy Women by Preventer, Schlock By Wind-Waker, and Training Montage by Vandalgyon**

 **-Shovern**

 **You all know the song!**

 **-Wind-Waker.**

 **She took the midnight train going aaanyywhereeee!~~**

 **-Shovern**


	68. The Black Cat

"... Gods, how do you even 'broach' a subject like this?"

Izuku stopped in his tracks, having heard the voice on the very edge of his hearing as he looked around. It was faint, so faint he'd damn near thought he hadn't heard it for a moment before, again, it hit his ears.

"I mean really. 'Oh hey Izuku. So hey, recently I've been having my conscience kick at me because of all the lies I've been telling one of the few friends here at Beacon I 'really' have... No, I don't just mean the lies about stalking you. Why yes, of course there's more lies. Have you 'met' me? Of course I've been lying about something else this entire time. Trust me Izuku, it's probably always best to assume that I'm lying to you. Seems like it's 'kind' of a thing with me. Plus hey, 'bonus points', I've been lying about literally everything about me. Stuff that really reaches down to the fundamental aspects about who I am. And those? Yeah, those aren't even 'the worst' lies! You don't actually know 'anything' about me'... Yeah, that'll go over 'great'..."

Izuku couldn't really make out the brunt of the words but he recognized the tenor of the voice well enough, a smile popping onto his face. Having finished The King Under The Mountain a while ago now, he'd been looking forward to getting together with Blake in order to talk about it. With the library having been closed most of the week it had seemed like the smarter idea to Izuku to wait until it was opened back up again so that, when he and Blake would finish discussing the book, Izuku could go and get another. Almost a week later and, hey, with the school week right around the corner from starting again, the Library had been opened back up to the student body, albeit to a 'very' limited degree. Izuku'd spent the better part of the day looking around for her and now, following the sound of her voice, he thought he'd found her.

"... What am I going to do... I-I can't tell him about... 'that'. There's no way. He'd have to turn me in; that'd be the only right thing to do. Not even-" The sound of a thud overcame Blake's voice, the sound of a book hitting something solid. "-had infinite patience and... and that's worse. That's 'so' much worse. No matter how much he says he wants to trust me... Gods, let's not even get started on this ridiculous... ugh, 'romance' crap." Finally, after crossing a corner of a building, Izuku spotted her. Blake, the copy of The King Under The Mountain he had retrieved for her, at her side as her hands reached up for her temples, the black haired young woman rubbing at them to fight off a headache before her hands slowly slid over her face. Izuku frowned slightly as he paused though, after a moment, Izuku again walked up to Blake. As if she'd heard him from that great distance somehow, Blake immediately turned her head up to face him, a surprised look on her face.

"Oh, Izuku. Hey." Izuku watched as Blake took a slight breath as she placed her hands neatly in her lap, her body language somewhat tense as she seemed to be keeping a tight grip on herself. "Didn't expect to see you out this late. What's up?" He frowned slightly as he shrugged, taking a standing position near the black haired young woman.

"Well I heard that they opened up the library for people to bring back or pick up books today so I thought, well, I'd read our book so why not try to find you so we could discuss it and then pick another one, like usual?" Izuku watched as Blake nodded slightly, a minor 'ah' escaping her lips as she quickly slid over and patted the seat down next to her.

"Sounds... sounds good to me, Izuku. Come on, take a seat then." Izuku nodded, slowly, as he quickly sat on the edge of the fountain with Blake, the cold stone sending a slight shiver up his spine as he shook it out a bit. Blake smiled ever so slightly as she reached over for her own copy of the book, preparing to crack it open... however, before she could really settle in herself, Izuku watched as Blake scooted ever so slightly away from him, the young woman calmly combing a stand of hair behind her ear as she did so. Still feeling that frown tug at the corner of his lips, he turned over to face Blake.

"Hey listen, Blake... are you doing alright? I heard you muttering a little ways away and... well, you looked a little distressed while I was walking up." For a moment Izuku would swear there was even the slightest twitch of Blake's bow as he spoke up, the young woman's body language tensing ever so slightly. Eventually, Blake just looked over at him, a sorry look on her face as she shrugged.

"I've... been thinking about a lot of stuff lately. Just, you know, trying to work through some of it. Been a bit of a mess as of late, you know?" Izuku nodded slightly at that, a slight tilt to his head.

"Does it have anything to do with what we talked about before?" Izuku watched Blake squirm a bit as he brought up that particular conversation, the young woman blushing as she looked off to the side.

"Yeah... yeah, it does. Not in the way you might think though, honest... I mean... urgh..." Blake just rubbed at her temples again, his concern being ever more apparent.

"Blake, listen, if you need to talk I'm your friend. I'm more than willing to hear you out." Blake paused a bit at that, though she eventually just gave him a soft smile as she shook her head.

"Izuku, thank you but... I think I'd honestly rather just get my mind off all this stuff rather than dwell on it right now. This week's been a good week after all, no need to spoil it." Before he could argue, Blake cracked open her book and placed it on her lap. In short order he followed the same gesture, not wanting to press Blake too hard there and then.

"Alright... you want to start us off as usual?" Blake nodded slightly at that, her smile fading down into her usual, casual expression as she flipped through the pages a few times.

"It's an interesting little story for when it was mostly written. I mean, I know people back then were concerned about the fates of their souls and what not but... well, the tales back then were usually more black and wait morality plays, yeah? Don't get me wrong, none of the characters here besides maybe Morgan have a really complex morality themselves... but the way it gets worked around does get pretty grey for the time." Blake tapped a picture here and there as she went through the text, Izuku nodding as Izuku followed along. "I mean... The Quest for the Holy Grail is really the thing that sets this entire thing off, right? The symbolism is obvious; the Grail is the utmost good in the story, something pure and noble and something most assuredly worth chasing. Arthur's Men, his Knights of The Round... they're good men in most ways, loyal people, 'strong' people... and yet..."

Blake hummed as she placed a hand on her cheek. "It's not like with Victor Frankenstein; this wasn't an ideal or journey taken for the wrong reasons or with an ultimately fatal end goal in mind. This wasn't breaking the laws of nature or trying to be God, this was 'honoring' the Gods that they would've known back then. It was a journey that most people would agree is a good thing; The Holy Grail. Yet... this pursuit of something good and noble, undertaken by relatively good men... it just saps all of Camelot. So many of Arthur's knights either lose their way, die or just fall off the face of the story in the pursuit of the Grail, leaving only Knights so apathetic to Arthur's court that, even knowing that Lancelot is betraying Arthur in so serious a manner, they stay silent rather than tell their king or apprehend him. Percival, a kind and good man who had previously attempted the Grail Quest, ends up failing himself, unable to do what was required of him... 'twice'. He couldn't see the Grail on his own 'twice'. He only succeeded in the Quest himself by accompanying Galahad."

"Then there's Lancelot... aside from the big thing, he's a loyal Knight, arguably Arthur's best and the one closest to him and a good leader... but the Grail rejects him again and again, casts him as unworthy and for a reason: he's... he's just stabbing the person who trusts him so greatly in the back, without regard to what it means. He doesn't care, he doesn't show remorse for it until he's caught... it's meaningful to him, his love of Guinevere enough to justify his betrayal, even when anyone else and no less than the Grail itself sees the stain in him. So he just keeps on lying, keeps on justifying what he's doing, all because of his own desires. Because no matter how deep his betrayal or how much the Grail shows him the error of his ways... he can't see himself as in the wrong. Heck, even 'after' the Grail Quest, when he's been so thoroughly slapped down by The Grail, he goes right on back to sleeping with Arthur's wife. Just... just goes right back to lying. Meanwhile Arthur... Arthur ends up being blindsided by all of this. One of his knights rouses the rest into the Grail Quest, against Arthur's wish, his wife and his best friend sleep around behind his back and it's no less than his own 'enemy', Morgan, who eventually feels bad enough for him to tell him the truth... and when he learns it? He does the only thing he can as an honorable man: he challenges Lancelot for his honor…"

"And he's rewarded with Mordred trying to take everything else, he's rewarded with near death. Camelot falls and... that's it. The only person who was good enough for all this, the only man Arthur could've trusted unconditionally, was Galahad, the man who finally completed the Grail Quest and the Gods took him to the Heavens for his reward." Blake scratched her cheek slightly, a slight reflection of Izuku's own gesture, as she sighed. "If Frankenstein was the story of a man who needed his companions to stop him before he undertook a fool's errand for pride... what does The Grail Quest and The Fall of Camelot tell us? That even good men who pursue a noble goal will eventually be rendered ash for their effort? That even the best of us will pass on before we see the consequences of our efforts play out? That the rest are just doomed to see the worst among them take advantage of their exhaustion and weakness?"

Izuku frowned slightly as he took in what Blake's saying, rubbing his chin ever so slightly as he did so. While he couldn't deny that a lot of what Blake described did happen in the book... well, to him, the message wasn't necessarily supposed to be 'about' all that stuff. It wasn't the end of Camelot that was the end all be all lesson and, most certainly, it wasn't that good deeds were doomed to be punished either. Izuku collected his thoughts, but by bit, before he turned his head to face her.

"I think that to a certain extent you might be right; that the biggest part of the story is that you should not let the righteousness of your cause blind you to the consequences and significance of your deeds. That you should pay attention to the costs of the pursuit. On the other hand... I think there's more to the idea, and something all together different, than the thought that good is doomed to nothing but ash in pursuit of something good. After all, there were plenty of ways to keep Camelot from falling the way it had." Izuku raised a finger that he lightly pulled back, as if counting something off. "So the first problem I think the book is bring us toward was communication, or the lack thereof. Whenever the knights found their image, ability or virtue challenged, they sought to deal with it alone, rather than entrust it to even their closest friends. Some of it was independence, in those days they did not have long distance communications, so knights on quests could not reasonably develop a habit of relying on others. Some of it was fear of the reaction they might garner. They probably feared knowingly showing their worse nature to their fellow knights..." Blake nodded in some agreement, a slightly forlorn smile on her face as she chuckled.

"'Hell is other people', right?" Izuku blinked in confusion at that as Blake coughed into her fist. "Sorry, uh, another play that I've read before... go on." Blake waved Izuku to continue, which he did.

"That does bring us neatly into the next big problem though. The second problem was trust. Betraying trust, both in little ways and in large, cultivated an environment of suspicion and doubt, which only fostered more doubts. When the Knights hid from each other or only came upon each other's worst secrets out of accident and oversight... well, it just created this spiral. Because no one would communicate or lean on each other, they just stewed and festered on their own... Mordred being the prime example. His betrayal was born as much out of his concerns about Lancelot and what his treachery meant for the kingdom as it was out of his own ambition." Blake was... quiet as Izuku made that point, the young woman just nodding her head stiffly as she did so.

"The final problem was overreach. When the Holy Grail was revealed to the Court at Camelot in vision, the best and the brightest of Arthur's Knights vowed to Quest for it and bring it back. Even if Arthur was hesitant, he allowed his knights to go on this dangerous Quest when he might've stopped them. On the one hand, this meant that there was bound to be at least one member of these knights who might succeed in securing the Grail... but that also meant that his court was increasingly left with the worst and least virtuous of the knights, such that when rebellion came, many gladly stood against him. The Knights of Camelot, the best of them, and even Arthur by allowing them to leave forgot the needs of the Kingdom for The Grail." Izuku leaned forward slightly, elbows on his knees as he looked forward.

"Because they couldn't support one and other through communication, because they didn't trust or each other or were too keen on betraying that trust time and time again... because they had spent so much in pursuit of their goal while forgetting that their homes also needed them, Camelot was lost. Not because good men are doomed to such a fate, but because good men can make mistakes too. We're meant to learn from the mistakes and be better people by it; to talk with each other and be willing and ready to trust, even if it isn't easy. To remember that there's more to our lives than whatever Quest we set ourselves upon..." Izuku's lips were razor thin at that, even as he otherwise keep an even expression.

'Some person I am to talk about that, right?' Sure, Izuku had managed to balance his time and life between friends and the pursuit of his dream alright so far, but there was a time where he felt the negative effects of overwork creeping up on him. Where he was too overextended and nearly cost Izuku his health. More than that though... he was talking about communication and trust to one of his friends when he was still very much keeping One For All from all of them. Sure, he had his reasons and they were good ones; there were a lot of risks involved with letting people know about One For All, especially if it ever got out to the wrong people... or, worse, if the wrong people knew his friends knew.

Still, how much could Izuku honestly say he trusted his new friends if he was keeping secrets from them and lying to them about the nature of his own Soul to cover those tracks?

Izuku failed to notice that Blake seemed to have a similarly contemplative look next to him, though her expression was far more bent into an uncomfortable shape. The young, black haired woman ran a strand of hair behind her ear as she looked down at the ground, seemingly unwilling to look at Izuku for a moment. As the moment drew on and his thoughts lessened, Blake really snapped him out of his reverie.

"Yeah... you're definitely more a King Arthur."

"... Huh?" Izuku blinked as that statement drew him out of his thoughts. Blake chanced a glance his way, a soft smile on her face as she shook her head.

"It's nothing. Kind of stupid really. When I read this book... well, after everything, it was kind of easy to see you in a couple roles and I was trying to figure out which one fit best. I was thinking Galahad but... heh, no offense there Izuku, but you're hardly walking, talking 'perfection' written into a newly introduced character into the mythos." Izuku chuckled a bit as he nodded in agreement, Blake having hummed. "So... that leaves Arthur. Self-sacrificing, keen on duty, serving the innocent and the weak. A person with a vision and dedicated to seeing it through. Heck, you've even already saved a few lives between the Emerald Forest and The Tunnels. A good person... a trusting person." Izuku saw that conflicted look again at the last part, as he just grinned a little.

"I dunno though Blake... King Arthur? You're putting me a little high up on the Totem Pole, don't you think?" Izuku laughed nervously as he scratched the back of his head, Blake just smiled as she closed her eyes and shook her head.

"Maybe... but between everything that's happened and the person you've shown me you are, knowingly or not... that's how it seems to me Izuku. Besides; it's your dream right? To be that high on the stack? To be the Symbol of Peace. If... when you accomplish it, then it'll fit completely." Blake nodded to herself, seeming sure of the moment, while Izuku just smiled slightly and looked forward, scratching his cheek with his finger as he took a moment to think. He smiled even more as he faced Blake, giving her a bright, shining Izuku Midoriya grin. One that Toshinori Yagi himself would have been proud of if he saw it.

"Well, if that's the case and I'm Arthur... then I'd definitely want you to be my Percival, Blake." Blake literally choked for a moment, a shade of red coming onto her cheeks as she glanced over at Izuku. Before she can stop him or ask, Izuku continued on, his smile dipping down slightly as he took a moment to look Blake in the eyes. "Yeah, Percival... Blake, I've never pried into how you lived your life before coming to Beacon. I don't know what choices you made or how it all ended... but just from talking to you, I know that there was a lot on your shoulders. Both good and bad." Blake's blush died down as she chanced a glance away, her eyes darting away from his as she looked down at the ground.

"However... I also know that you're trying your best to make up for whatever it is; because you're here. You came here, looking for something of your own. You could be anywhere else but instead you're in some place training to do what's right." Izuku did his best to smile nice and wide for Blake, even as she seemed to not be looking at him directly. "You're Percival because whatever that good or bad is I know you're the kind of person who wants to do what you think is right."

There was a silence that fell over the pair of them as he finished. Izuku watched Blake's form... and there was so much tension in her body language. She was stiff, her hands gripping at the edge of the fountain till her knuckles ran white. A mix of a smile and a frown struggling on her lips as a slight dusting of red could be seen on her cheeks.

Eventually, however, it all folded into a frown as Blake's body relaxed... but only ever so slightly.

"... No... no, you're wrong Izuku..." Without looking at him Blake pushed herself up from the fountain, standing back up on her own two feet. Izuku blinked, a concerned frown falling onto his lips as he quickly stood up. Before he could get a word in edgewise Blake turned to face him, her face twisted into a conflicted grimace as a mixture of guilt and shame washed over her expression. "Izuku... you couldn't be more wrong. You couldn't be further off the mark if you 'tried'. Izuku... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry... I've... I'm not the person you think I am. I'm worse Izuku. I'm so much worse."

"Blake... listen, whatever you did, I'm-"

"No! Gods, Izuku, listen to you! Whatever I did? Really? Whatever I did, whatever I've done, I'd still be a person that would be worth being around you? No matter what stupid, dumb mistake I made, no matter how badly I acted? Izuku... I keep saying that you're trusting and, Gods it's the worst and best thing about you." Blake shook her head. "You're actually who you set yourself up to be. You put your faith in others to work with you and, when they put their faith in you, you do whatever you have to in order to meet it! Even if it means getting thrown at the maw of a Grimm to shatter your arm to save a partner or just breaking finger after finger to save innocent people! You're a hero, and you want to think the best of everyone and... Gods, Izuku, it's going to hurt you! 'I'm' going to hurt you if you put that trust in me!"

Izuku flinched for a moment at Blake's manner of fact way of speaking. While it was clear that the girl in front of him was angry and, yes, she was shouting at him... it was not aimed at him. No, every barb, every hurtful word, even the anger she's radiating... it's all pointed back at her. Her face scrunched up in a loathing scowl as she shook her head.

"I've been lying to you. Way before even the stalking, I lied to your face! You, someone just trying his hardest to help... who 'knows' that he can trust people... I've... I've lied about who I even am. On the most basic level... Izuku... you don't even know..." Blake ran a hand through her hair, absentmindedly brushing it across her ribbon as she looked up at the boy in front of her. "Izuku... please, just go."

"What? Blake-"

"If you stay around me I'm going to hurt you. That's... that's just in my nature. That's who I am. That's probably the most truthful thing I've ever said to you..." Blake scornfully, bitterly laughed at that as she brought her arms up to wrap around her torso, her head drooping as her eyes lowered. "Anyone who ever put a modicum of trust or faith in me knows that... and Gods... I don't want to be the person who does that to you Izuku. You're... you're 'my friend'... but..." Blake continued to shake her head as she stared stubbornly at the ground. "But you're wrong... I'm not doing what I think is right... I'm running. I'm trying to get away... I'm... I'm not a good person. I'm not fit to be anyone's friend. So... so just... do yourself a favor, Izuku and don't bother with me. Please." Blake deflated as she finished, keeping her eyes firmly locked on the ground. He was left a little stunned for a moment, pretty much unable to speak. When he did recover, Blake was still standing there, eyes locked on the ground.

Blake was not even looking at him. The young woman, having just given her best shot to get Izuku, 'Izuku' to get away from her, to leave her alone, wasn't even looking him in the eye. As if she expected that after everything she said, after all the ways she put herself down, how she revealed the absolute pits of her self-loathing, that he'd just leave. That there wouldn't be any question, that she wouldn't even have to look up to watch you go... like she couldn't watch it. A deep frown marked his face as he looked down at his friend, watching her arms hang limply by her side as she just waited for him to talk off. In the end he took a deep breath and hold it, knowing then and there what he had to do.

"Blake..." The young woman in front of him sighed, more defeated and tired than annoyed, as her head raised just ever so slightly. Before she could ask him to go again... well...

Izuku lightly cuffed her upside the back of her head. Blake, more out of surprise than anything, grabbed at the back of her head and looked up at him, a mix of annoyance and shock plastered across her face as she looked him in the eyes. "Izuku, what, why did you-"

Blake's words are immediately cut off as Izuku again surprised her; he reached forward and placed his arms around Blake's shoulders, placing them just at the middle of her back, and he 'pulled'. Izuku brought Blake in close to him, her chin resting on his shoulder, as he placed his head against hers. She was slightly taller than Izuku, making it slightly awkward, but a quick tilt kept him from planting his chin right into her clavicle. The girl almost stumbled forward, her hands reaching up as they were placed against his chest as he brought her right in. Izuku couldn't see her face anymore but he could 'feel' the heat radiating off of her cheek and her ear as her entire body stiffened up.

"I-Izuku?!" Izuku felt Blake press her hands more firmly against his chest, trying her best to push Izuku away again, but his hold stayed strong. Izuku kept that breath held in even then, before eventually he found the words to speak.

"You're not something I'm bothering with. You're my friend. I am making this choice, to be here and be your friend, of my own free will, just like you're here in Beacon of your free will."

"Izuku... my 'will'... it isn't here to be a good person. I'm here because... the things I've done, the secrets and lies-"

"So what if you're keeping secrets? Everyone has their secrets, even me! I'm not perfect, and I don't want you to be. You say I'm a hero, but what kind of hero would I be if I didn't help my friends? What kind of person would I be if I let you, my friend, think this about yourself."

At this point, Blake's hands loosened their grip on Izuku as they slide down, though her fingertips were just barely holding onto the front of his shirt as he heard her whisper. "... You'd still be a good person Izuku. Like I said, it's better for you. I'm not worth it, Izuku."

"Blake..." Izuku kept a firm hold on her as he kept his head looking forward, her black hair being about the only thing he saw of her head as he spoke, his words just blowing past her ears.

"You're my friend. No matter what, that makes you worth the effort."

The autumn wind howls as the chill gets sent blowing past them both. Izuku watched as Blake's arms sunk to her sides, the tips of her fingers having given up the ghost of holding onto him. Izuku winced for a moment as he watched one hand ball up into a fist, as Blake pulled back on it ever so slightly. Izuku was worried but, bracing himself, Izuku kept a firm hold on Blake.

What Izuku felt instead of a harsh punch to the gut or a kick to the knees was honestly one of the softest, least heart-filled pounds against his chest he thought he'd ever felt as Blake basically just let her fist drop against his chest. It didn't even hurt for a moment and, before he could even ask, Blake just quietly spoke.

"... You're so stupid Izuku... you're just... you're just so dumb and naive... Gods..." Despite the words, there was almost a laugh in that voice. Izuku took a chance to lean his head back to look at Blake's expression, not letting his hold on the girl go for a second as he did so. What he might've expected to be an expression of frustration and rage he saw, quite plainly, was just a defeated look. Her cheeks were pink, sure, and he'd swear there's even the ghost of a smile on her lips... but her eyes were just staring forward past his shoulder. There were no tears; he honestly didn't think he'd ever seen Blake cry, and that held true now. However, what was there was a defeated, hopeless look. It contrasted so strongly against what should otherwise be a look of quiet joy, but... well, Izuku had to assume there's still some part of Blake that didn't believe him. That even as she wanted to be happy hearing what he said, even if she wanted the moment, she still couldn't bring herself to believe what he was telling her. That it was just not in her.

So when Blake pulled her arm back again, he was almost worried she's going to try to actually strike him this time, especially as her smile dropped, her cheeks went pale and she buried her head into his shoulder so he couldn't even look at her. Instead, he was treated to the sight of Blake's hand going up to the top of her head and, fiddling with her ribbon, the girl untied it. Izuku watched as her hand unceremoniously dropped to the side and his gaze followed her ribbon down to the ground. For a moment, he was just confused, as he brought his gaze back up to look at Blake's...

Cat ears. Two black cat ears just standing right on top of her head, twitching ever so slightly in the cool autumn wind. Blake was just dead silent, her body limp as she keeps her face in his shoulder, not saying a word. The autumn wind again blew by... but it's only after it's passing, long after the chill would've been brought across her skin, that he saw Blake shiver, just for a moment.

As Izuku stared at those two twitching cat ears... he couldn't help but feel like a lot of things click all at once.

'Blake...she's been...fascinated by the White Fang...I suppose that makes sense now considering she's a Faunus. She would obviously be deeply invested. She'd hate Cardin for what he did to Tsuyu. She'd be trying everything in her power to make Faunus equal to humans. This isn't just some kind of good will. It is her life.'

From there... well, it wasn't hard to guess why Blake was hiding. Why she seemed so frustrated, so angry with herself... what mistake she thought she made.

Gods, despite how much it all suddenly snapped together, he still couldn't help but feel like he'd had the air punched right out of him.

"... I see. Well, if nothing else, I definitely feel like an idiot for not figuring it out earlier..." Izuku offered awkwardly, the young man still trying to process all of this as a choked laugh forced its way from Blake's throat.

"Yeah... I'm... I'm honestly kinda surprised myself. Didn't think a ribbon would be enough but, hey..." Her voice cracked slightly as she spoke, the young woman just keeping herself still as a statue as she waited. Izuku nodded slightly as he looked forward past her shoulder, out into the empty grounds around the fountain.

"... Still, I think I understand Blake. Why you kept this secret, why you might not have wanted to reveal your Faunus Heritage. Not because you're worried about being discriminated against, since I know you're stoic enough to not let it get to you... and Heck, Yang would just beat them up anyway. No. No you feel too strongly about this... Blake... were you..."

He couldn't quite force out the words. It was too heavy, too intense, but still Blake nodded. It was clear what he meant, the heavy 'thing' sitting between the both of them at the moment, unspoken.

The White Fang.

"... Yeah. Yeah I was."

Izuku wanted to be sure. he wanted to know for certain. There was a pause in between him speaking and Blake's reaction but, in the end, he felt a slow nod against his shoulder, Blake's hands tightening into fists as the young woman seemed to brace herself.

"You were scared you'd tell the wrong person. That you'd be hounded by those you once called your friends, your face would be publicly known..." A shaken breath released itself against his shoulder as, once again, a solemn nod was all he could feel beside him. There was a pregnant pause that filled the air. A heavy silence that threatened to smother them both. Blake was waiting, her body braced as if awaiting a car crash, while he braced himself as well.

What could even be said here. What could he do? All those things he'd said to Blake, he'd meant every word of it... and in his heart of hearts, he still did. The Blake Belladonna he'd come to know at the school was a good person. Who did what she could to do the right thing. Who was thoughtful and quiet, sure, but who had still helped him out when she didn't have to.

Yet here it was. White Fang. That symbol of hatred... all encompassed in someone who he thought of as his friend.

What could he do? What the Hell was the right thing to do in this situation?

Go back on everything? Turn every utterance into a lie and turn his back on his friend for what she'd done, what crimes she must have committed as a member of the Fang or... well, face that. Accept that part of her pass and... and become effectively complicit in it. If he didn't turn his back on her now, he'd have no choice but to keep her secret. Anything else would destroy her...

Destroy his friend...

...

In the end, Izuku surprised her almost as much as she surprised him; without her fighting or struggling against him, and with her head pressed to his shoulder to hide from him and the world, it was beyond easy to bring Blake in for a closer hug. Despite the warmth, Blake seemed to shiver and he could only imagine the wide eyed expression on her face as he spoke.

"Blake... Your secret is safe with me."

If a rag doll could stand, Izuku thought it would feel a lot like Blake at that moment. While she was not ready to fall over, Izuku felt Blake's body practically go limp. Perhaps relieved, perhaps shocked beyond her own ability to reason, but whatever the case whatever Blake had been 'bracing' herself for had come and gone without striking her and, for all intents and purposes, the black haired young woman seemed utterly bereft of a reaction.

"Izuku..." It's quiet, so quiet. Almost as if she was afraid that if she spoke any louder that the illusion would shatter and that reality would sink in and replace this moment. "... This can't... this has to change something... you... you can't just know this and..." Izuku nod slightly at that as he looked over at Blake.

"This does change things. What this changes is now... because I would like us to focus on the present, and what you are doing and can do now. Because, if I'm honest, I think you did the best thing possible, Blake. Becoming a huntress gives you so many ways to make up for what you did. Because I do think... I do think that's what matters to you, now. You've made that apparent. That 'is' who you are."

"Because... I know you're a good person, Blake."

The silence between the two of them was nearly deafening. On the one hand, Izuku 'really' wanted to crane his head over to look at Blake, to try and figure out what she was feeling right now, to see if he'd managed to get through to her... but on the other, he was worried that doing so might spark... he didn't know, something crazy. Like she might suddenly run away and it might've all been for naught. He wanted his friend to know that it was okay, that he was okay and that, as far as he was concerned, she was going to be okay.

In the end, he found himself inwardly sighing in relief as he felt Blake move; not away or in a move to break his hold but toward him. The limp arms that had hung by her side had, hesitantly, 'very' hesitantly, reached up slowly and reached around him, before Blake desperately grabbed at him in some facsimile of a hug, her fingernails having practically dug into his back, as if she might've been frightened of what he'd been spooked by; that at any minute 'he' was the one who was going to up and run away. Despite this moment, despite the scene... there were still no tears. Blake's body shuddered and shook but nothing came of it; there were no waterworks, except maybe from the corners of his own eyes, but even now, after all that, Blake's stoicism seemed to remain, at least a little bit. Still, Izuku didn't mind; it showed that he'd at least somewhat managed to do what he'd set out to do... right?

...

One of his friends was a former terrorist in the White Fang.

Who was hugging him right now and doing her best to not sob on his shirt...

Well, he made his choice.

This was his life now... and he wouldn't regret it. Because he meant it; he believed in Blake. Believed in his friend.

Leaving that freak out for another time, Izuku just took a deep breath and allow the moment to play out. Soon enough, Izuku felt Blake shift around and pull back. Izuku wasn't scared this time and, feeling like it'd probably be better by now, Izuku let go as Blake did. Well, he did for a moment; there's a second where Blake looked like she's about to stumble backwards and, grabbing lightly onto her shoulders, he steadied her.

"Sorry..." She said, her voice croaking somewhat as she laughed. "This was kind of... well, really exhausting..." She muttered slightly, an honest smile on her lips as she took a moment to steady herself, Izuku finally letting go when it seemed she was good on her feet.

"Well I can't exactly say I blame you..." Izuku chuckled sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head, watching Blake's ears twitch ever so slightly as he spoke. The distance between the two of them, while no longer embarrassingly close, was still close enough for... well, he had to imagine his voice was probably pretty loud to her second ears while being face to face. Especially after she kept them under that ribbon for so long. At least, that's what he thought... admittedly, that might be a little off, considering her ears seem to fold forward ever so slightly toward him. "This has been a bit of a day."

"Yeah..." Blake scratched slightly at her arm. "Maybe we should head back in..." Blake muttered, bending down to pick up her ribbon. "You know, get some rest before anyone sees us..." The cat Faunus spoke softly as she reached her ribbon up for her head, preparing to it back onto her. Izuku nodded ever so slightly as he scratched his cheek.

"Yeah... so..."

"... So..." Blake repeated, slightly apprehensive.

"... What book should we read for next time?" Blake's hands paused before they even get to tying the ribbon, the young woman looking surprised at Izuku. Eventually he watched as she shook her head slightly, the ribbon dropping down to her side with her hands as she sighed.

"You really... you really meant it, huh?" Izuku just gave him a wide smile as he nodded.

"Of course Blake, you know me." Blake chuckled again, her free hand reaching up to cup her face as she shook her head.

"Yeah... yeah I do..." Blake took a deep, exhausted breath as she looked up at him, her eyes utterly exhausted even as her small smile finally reached them. "Maybe we could hold off on deciding... to be frank, I'm just wiped... I don't think I could think of something to read if I tried."

"Yeah, maybe." Izuku agreed nervously as he turned to face the school building. "In that case I'll keep a look out while you tie that back on and we can get back to our dorms. Maybe in a few hours we could message each other..." Izuku sheepishly scratched his cheek as he thought about it, taking a step forward so as to get a better view of the area around the fountain

Blake's ears rolled back forward as she looked back up at him, giving a slight smile and a nod as she let go. She finally went about securing the bow on her head and, for a moment, he had to wonder just how uncomfortable it was for her. Still, that wonder is left in the recesses of his mind; today had been an exhausting affair with getting that all out and Izuku and Blake seemed like they were both talked out. The two of them made their way back through Beacon and, eventually, split off to their dorm rooms. Izuku paused to watch Blake make her way down the hall, the young woman's right arm having held onto her left as she headed toward her dorm, before Izuku departed himself.

Things might change now that you knew all this... but one thing he could be certain of was that he'd kept his word. He'd keep Blake's secret and he'd trust her as his friend, hoping she'd do the same for him.

...

In spite of what he'd learned... Izuku couldn't help but still feel optimistic about that.

* * *

 **a/n: Woof.**

 **Blake's Socials in the original Quest were perhaps where the most technically in-character meta-gaming took place in the entire body of the Quest. The players kept coming up with a lot of the speeches and dialogues you've been reading for the book reviews in not so-subtle attempts at immediately and effortlessly solving Blake's character arc before it could even start.**

 **As you'll see later on as the story develops, there was resistance to this, shortcuts rarely work after all, and while it was in-character for Izuku to act like this, and even reasonably for Blake to be relieved, the 'goal' of a lot of these players ended up backfiring spectacularly as a direct result of this meta-gaming.**

 **What's before you now is a *heavily* edited ending to this Social compared to the original version which involved a lot more Shonen Speech, a lot more certainty on Izuku's part and a lot less introspection. It would've been a bit asinine to just throw it up here so I took some sheers to them. It isn't perfect still but, hey, you work with what you got.**

 **-gorilla_fingers**


	69. Tunneling Terror

'Today is certainly going to be a day.'

Izuku and the rest of his team were arming up, getting ready for a trip into the Emerald Forest. One that wasn't set up either by a class or for the sake of graduation: it would be one they all would be undertaking themselves. For Izuku, it was high time that he expanded his notes on Grimm, adding additional entries into his notes on the creatures and the varieties of them. This... this would be difficult. Because rather than just outright kill a Grimm, their best results would be gotten if they managed to get a Grimm 'alive' and study it. Which meant holding it down for a period of time...

Dangerous stuff but, hey, all worth it if your notes could help them all in the future.

While everyone else was packing up gear and making sure you'd all be ready for the trip out, Izuku plucked out your Grimm Analysis For The Future notebook and looked through the list of creatures he'd gotten a chance to study. Beowolves, Ursa and Nevermore: the more common species and the ones that had readily available information in them for a student like him to get at.

The Emerald Forest, however, had more Grimm in it than that... though not much more, upon looking at Beacon's guides and warnings on The Emerald Forest. Still, it was a start. All they needed to do now was to decide on their prey for this expedition.

"Everybody ready?" Izuku called out, which earned him a quick round of nodded as Nora herself gave a quick hoot and holler.

"Heck yeah! Let's go nab us some Grimm! You guys are gonna let me ride whatever we catch, right?" Nora asked, enthusiastic, as she kept a length of the rope they were bringing along wrapped around her shoulder, Pyrrha just smiling slightly as she kept some chains and locks floating just behind her, looking like it was secured to her even as she kept its weight off her person using her Semblance.

"We'll see what we find first. If it's too dangerous it'd probably be a 'bad' idea to let you ride it." Nora just grinned nice and wide as she shook her head.

"Why!? If it's dangerous then it'd be even MORE fun to ride!" Nora cackled slightly as they made their way down into the Emerald Forest, Weiss having just sighed and as she carefully placed her face in her hands.

"This is my partner... she is legit going to be the death of us one day, I swear it..." Izuku heard Weiss barely mumble from behind her hands as they all walked, a light chuckle escaping Izuku and Pyrrha as they marched along. The path through the forest eventually took them out into a wide open bit of terrain, not dissimilar to the area where the temple containing their relics from the Entrance Exam had been. The ground was relatively flat and even as it stretched out for meters around, the four of them just quickly traversed it as part of their exploration of The Emerald Forest.

As they were walking along the open ground...Izuku couldn't help but frown.

'There is... something wrong. Something that doesn't quite feel right,' It wasn't in the air and, glancing around, his eyes didn't immediately signal that something immediately around him was off, 'No. So... why do I feel so uneasy?' He tapped his foot against the ground in thought, feeling it bump up and down against the dirt... it's only when he stopped to realize that he wasn't 'actually' flexing his muscles in order to do that and that his foot was just bouncing up and down, seemingly of its own accord did he realize where this terrible feeling he got was coming from.

It wasn't from above or around him...

It was from underneath.

Immediately his eyes glanced back as he heard the ever so slight 'crack' of the ground giving way some ways back, Nora's eyes flying back there along with Izuku as they both took note of the events as they unfolded. The very earth began to split and rupture as a huge lump in the ground coasted in their direction with worrying speed, grass and seed and stone being upturned as the dirt mound moved toward their direction with unnatural haste. For a moment, his words caught in his throat before he immediately shouted.

"RUN!"

"EVERYONE! UP INTO THE TREES AND THEN ONTO A GLYPH NOW! WEISS, MAKE A GLYPH IN THE AIR FOR US ALL TO GET ONTO!"

Immediately Weiss flew into action, her Family's Semblance flying into high gear as she quickly created a couple of Glyphs for her team to hopscotch up one of the nearby trees and into the air onto a safe platform. While Weiss immediately took the opportunity to jump up onto the first Glyph and then, with Pyrrha's Semblance grabbed at the bits and bobbles of metal on her, pushing her further up into the tree, Nora immediately hopped, skipped and parkoured her way up the Glyph and tree branches, grabbing onto Weiss as she did so to pull her onto the last Glyph. Izuku and Pyrrha immediately exchanged nods as they both bolted for the tree themselves, taking it in turn to jump their way up onto the Glyph as the trembling of the ground increases in volume. Finally, it happened.

They watched as the ground 'exploded' in a violently shower of dirt, grass and stone as this horrific cry, a combination of a roar and a dervish of multiple, gnashing teeth grinding and clacking together were audible to the air. The four of them watched as a creature, more worm-like that one might've initially thought, bursts forth from the ground. A typical Grimm, bone plate surrounds what you might hesitantly call its head, the typical fleshy black body of a Grimm trailing behind this solid bone plating as thousands of legs that circled its entire body pushed, dug, kicked and wriggled in unison to give the monstrosity before them motion. No red eyes adorned the creature's skull and no ears could be seen on it... though, Izuku would freely admit he might've missed that as he stared at the monstrosity's most horrifying feature.

Teeth. Thousands of them. Rows upon rows upon rows of them stretching out in a mouth that descended 'meters' back into the body of the Grim, tunneling into a singular point as a maw of revolving, twisting, turning, gnashing fangs whirred in the back of the thing's 'throat'. Dirt, debris, roots and small stone were still being ground up by that cacophony, the materials being immediately decimated by the thousands of revolving, whirring, saw-like teeth before being fed back into the throat where anything remaining was instantly destroyed by the pit of fangs there. The clacked and clanged together, bashing and crashing against east other and some even shattering, only to be immediately dropped out of the mouth, replaced by a new tooth and destroyed by the rest in moments. Its mouth easily stretched out the height of the thing, a few yards, and made its way far back into the creature's, Izuku estimated, 30 foot long body.

Said mass of teeth and flesh barreled into the tree as they all just made their escape into the glyph in the air and... Gods, the top half of the tree was just immediately hewn from the rest, tumbling off to the side as the force of the thing's movement sent it crashing off. The rest of the tree which had fallen into the mouth of the beast is immediately torn into bits and splinters, as if fed into a mechanical wood chipper. As that went on, Izuku watched as a mulch of dirt, barely recognizable grass and stone bits and, finally, dust and tree bits that somehow survived the trip were immediately fed out the back of the monstrous Grimm, leaving a trail in its wake. The Grimm didn't stop when it was done with the tree, the thing immediately turning its mouth down towards the ground.

A shower of dirt and debris kicked up from around the thing's mouth, as its thousands of legs pushed and dug with their own force, the thing's face sinking rapidly into the ground before, in a matter of moments, the Grimm was back under the ground. The hole it had come out of was now relatively full of dirt and debris it had left behind, while the hole it was creating was being filled by the dirt that, Izuku suspected, was passing through its maw.

It's maw.

Maw.

"Oh Gods... that's a Terramaw."

"Ah what?!" Weiss practically screamed, the normally light-skinned Heiress having gone sheet white at the sight of the thing having 'eaten' a tree.

"U-uh... i-it's a Grimm, some people usually like to put in the same category as Creeps but Creeps are more lizard like and-"

"Izuku, more to the point, how do we kill it?" Even Pyrrha seemed intent on getting past the little details and onto the more important stuff.

"A-Ah, right, of course..."

Izuku swallowed nervously as he watched as the lump slowly moved across the ground. A plan forming in his head as the Grimm continued to circle them.

"So, what's the plan Fearless Leader? How are we gonna break this thing's legs?! I mean, did you see how many it had?! It had SO MANY LEGS TO BREAK!" Nora, unflinching as always, seemed more excited by the prospect of fighting this Grimm than not.

"Alright, Weiss, I want you to maintain these Glyphs to make sure we all have a safe place to get to if things go South! Nora, I want you to be ready for two things: to chuck grenades in that thing's mouth if necessary and to help me try to subdue it if we can weaken it enough! Pyrrha, get Miló ready to take a shot as soon as you can see this thing!" Izuku's three teammates all nodded in unison, readying their weapons as the Terramaw slowly churned around in the dirt, topping trees above it as it turned its way back toward his last location, the faint sound of it moving underground reaching them all.

"... Wait, what's your part in this plan Izuku?" Pyrrha asked as Izuku turned off the safety on Emerald Gust, revealing his fingers.

"... Izuku Midoriya, you better not-" Before Weiss could even finish reprimanding Izuku, as the Terramaw passed underneath his position, he jumped off, practically throwing himself down toward it, "-YOU IDIOT!"

"WOO, GO FEARLESS LEADER!"

He took a deep breath as he dropped right down toward the position of the Terramaw, bringing one of his fingers up and pulling it back toward his palm, ready to flick it. Izuku felt One For All coursing through his finger as he approached the ground, taking a deep breath as he closed his eyes before impact.

"GLENN... SMAAAAAAASH!"

In one instant, the ground 'erupted' a horrific, pained cry called out into the wild as earth and debris was blasted up all around him. If his initial flick had utterly pulverized the ground underneath it into nothing then the shock wave that had followed immediately afterward kicked up all that dirt and debris and sent it flying dozens, if not hundreds, of feet into the air. He slammed onto some smashed dirt, a somewhat more solid landing after his Smash had compacted it, and groaned as he opened his eyes, seeing bits of dirt and debris falling from his eyelashes as he took a look around. The force of his Glenn Smash had made a powerfully large crater in the ground, one that had only not gone deeper due to the fact that a great deal of the blow had been absorbed into the Terramaw itself, the creature flailing and thrashing around in this pit with him as it cried out in horrific pain.

 **Bang!**

Those cries only got louder as the Terramaw's flesh rippled and tore as a bullet from Miló sunk into it, the red goo inside of the Grimm having splattered about for a moment as it continued to thrash, though far more weakly than before. Izuku sighed, glad that his plan had gone so well so far... though this did mean-

"GET OVER HERE SO I CAN RIDE THE WORM, YOU GIANT THING YOU!" His head immediately snapped up into the air, his eyes boggling slightly as he caught sight of Nora kamikaze diving down toward the Terramaw, a manic look of thrilled excitement on her face before she impacted the creature. The maw roared and thrashed, its manifold, thousands of legs doing its best to kick around and jostle Nora off. However, this only served Nora's purpose, the bubbly bomber having grabbed several of these legs at a time as she 'pulled' powerfully on the beat, causing it to slowly get dragged out of the tunnel it had been digging before he Smashed down into it.

Izuku's heart sunk, just for a moment, as he watched the creature give a 'mighty' bellow as it flailed, sending Nora flying off and into one of the dirt walls of the newly created pit. The monster continued to thrash and flail as it raised its body straight up into the air before it twisted around and slammed down onto Nora... or at least, where Nora had been. Thankfully, the orange haired young woman had 'eep'ed and immediately ducked out of the way of the giant worm, its body having slammed against the side of the pit for nothing.

Eventually they pulled it on top of the pit and the creature still thrashed about, as both Izuku and Nora continued to wrestle it.

"WOO DOGGY, THIS BOY'S GOT HIMSELF A MEAAAAN STREAK THERE FEARLESS LEADER! GOT A LOT OF FIGHT IN HIM!" Nora hooted as she continued to grab and grapple at the massive thing, Izuku just sweating as they both worked to try to keep the thing in their grips. For a few moments Pyrrha and Weiss just watched on as they both struggled with the Terramaw, before Weiss eventually just rolled her eyes and brought up Myrtenaster.

"Oh for Pete's sake!" The Heiress shouted as she swished her rapier around a bit, creating a Glyphs of Gravity Dust just underneath the Terramaw. Within a second, the creature's body 'slammed' onto the ground underneath it, denting it deeply as it seemed to dig itself in ever so slightly. The creature whined and attempted to struggle but, well, Izuku had a good guess as to what just happened; Weiss just greatly increased the thing's weight. Given the fact that it was already so weak from the wounds, it likely couldn't support its own weight anymore...

It was literally trapped under its own body.

"Weiss!" Nora whined as she let go of the no longer struggling Terramaw, puffing her cheeks out as she frowned at her partner. "The heck was that? You can't just do that to my future ride! What if you break it before I get a chance to put these ropes on it?" Nora asked, showing off the ropes she brought as Weiss slapped her face.

"Nora. Izuku did NOT instruct you to bring those ropes so that you could RIDE THE GIANT TREE-DESTROYING, EARTH MOVING MONSTER!" Weiss cried out as Nora continued to whine at the travesty of it all, Izuku just chuckling nervously as he sat back and winced, allowing his Aura to pour into his finger as Pyrrha and Izuku just watched the scene before them. Eventually, they all noticed that the creature stopped moving entirely and, glancing over, they all see that it was just... not moving. Izuku stood up and kick the creature slightly and, yes, it did shuffle a bit but not much...

"Alright, it's out. It's a little big for the chains and the ropes we brought so we'll need to make this quick." Izuku reached into his bag and pulled out some notes, tapping his pencil against Grimm Analysis For The Future as he started preparing a page for the Terramaw. "Alright then... let's see what we can get...

"NORA! STOP TRYING TO RIDE THE GIANT, MAN-EATING WORM!"

Izuku and Pyrrha wince slightly as they both looked over at Nora, the orange haired young woman just having grinned sheepishly as she had her rope hoisted onto her shoulder as she seemed ready to climb up to the top of the unconscious Terramaw.

"Oh come on Weiss! I brought all this rope out here and 'everything'! You can't expect me to 'not' ride this thing after all the trouble we went through to find it!" Weiss rubbed at her temples as she looked up at Nora, shaking her head.

"Nora, we didn't even 'know' we'd find this thing when we started to trudge out. We didn't know 'what' we'd find or if we'd be able to secure it safely! You can't tell me that you actually 'only' brought that much rope out here because you wanted to try and ride the first thing we subdued!" Weiss looked up at her partner, exasperated, as Nora just glanced off to the side.

"... Only if it was big enough?"

"NORA!"

"Come on Weiss, don't sweat it! I would've totally let you ride it with me!" Nora declared, a cheerful smile on her face as she chuckled at her partner's antics, as Weiss' face just went red from frustration.

"THAT IS NOT THE ISSUE HERE NORA!"

"How can it not be Weiss? I mean, look at this thing! It can make 'tunnels'! Imagine where a beautiful beast like this could take us if only we could BREAK IT'S SPIRIT UNTIL NOTHING REMAINED BUT A HOLLOW HUSK FOR US TO MOUNT AND MASTER, RIDING OFF INTO THE SUNSET!" At that moment, Izuku and Pyrrha couldn't help but chuckle and smile as Weiss clapped her hands over her face, the white haired heiress giving a cry of frustration behind her makeshift screen as Nora seemed to lose herself in her fantasy.

"Well Ren's going to get an interesting story about how we beat this thing later." Pyrrha commented idly as you nodded, jotting down your notes.

"Yeah, no kidding. Wonder how big it's going to be in Nora's retelling?" Izuku couldn't help but smile at the sight of his friends enjoying themselves after a long period of securing and studying this particular Terramaw, Izuku himself putting the last touches on the notes he could gather before the beast started to stir.

"Maybe 30 Yards instead of 30 Feet?" Pyrrha suggested with a slight chirp of laughter, which caused Izuku to laugh a little as well.

"Yeah, maybe..." With that he tapped his pencil against the page, satisfied with what he had for now.

"Alright guys, we're wrapping this up! It's getting late and this big guy's looking like he's about to wake back up!" You mention, nervously, as indeed the Terramaw's body begins to shift around, its many, many legs kicking slightly as it seemed to start to stir back to life. "Nora, if you'd be so kind."

"... Do I have to Izuku? I mean-"

"Yes Nora, you have to." He reaffirmed as he smiled apologetically at her, the bubbly bomber just sighing before offering a grin.

"Orders are orders I guess, Fearless Leader!" With that, Nora quickly produced Magnhild and, with all the grace of a wrecking ball, immediately jumped up towards the head of the Terramaw and, with a might swing, cracked into its bone plating and 'shattered' it, driving chunks of it down into the head of the beast. There was a short cry as the creature's body went totally limp, the monstrosity having been slain before his very eyes. Soon enough the beast starts to dissolve and, as Nora slides down, Izuku offered his team a solid nod of approval.

All in all, it was a good day's work.

* * *

"Alright so Izuku, here's what Mitsuki and I have planned so far for the vacation: we've decided that we're mostly going to stick to the coasts of Mistral, see some of the old city states and ports that dot it. We figure that we've seen enough interior culture that's moved here to Mountain Glenn so why not see something new and exciting right? We've got this plan that's stretched out across the entire region and we're going to some of the fancier places. Oooh, it's going to be so nice Izuku."

"Yeah mom, sounds like it." Izuku smiled as he watched his mother point to various towns that have been circled on a map. There's some odd handwriting here and there that made it clear what notes were his mom's and what notes were Miss Bakugo's. It really did seem like a whirlwind of a trip that the two of them had planned out and it did really put a smile on his face to see his mom so excited about something for once, her own green eyes shining slightly.

"So our first stop's actually going to be the city of Laguna here, they've apparently built an entire city on top of a few small islands there and people get around by drifting down canals on little boats! It sounds so exotic."Izuku watched as his mom coughed a bit into her fist to reign in her excitement as she just grinned at him. "Anyway, we'll be leaving here in the next week or two, so we're already packing up a bit and buying some tickets for transport over there. It's supposed to be pretty safe; the Vale-Mistral pathways are some of the more heavily guarded ones so I don't want you to worry that I'm in any sort of danger sweetie." Izuku nodded, though he readily admitted that he would be slightly worried about it even with her assurances. "Now, the trip's gonna take a couple months but I'll definitely be back by the time you'll be on break for the Winter Solstice so we can have the holiday together, okay?"

"Okay mom, that sounds great." Izuku nodded in understanding as Inko just smiled.

"Good, good. Now, there was something I did want to discuss before I left just so I can know what plans to make before I leave." He nodded slightly as he leaned back, supporting himself against a tree. "You see, obviously I'm going to be gone for a while so I'll need to arrange for some people to take care of my apartment while I'm gone. There's plants to water and even if I'm not there it's going to get dusty and dirty and you never know if someone might try to break in and steal something while I'm out, so having someone just check in while I'm gone would be nice just for some peace of mind and to help tidy up the place." Izuku nodded as he tilted his head to the side.

"You want me to take care of all of that, mom?" Izuku watched as his mom immediately paled a bit, shaking her head.

"Oh no Izuku, I wouldn't ask you to take care of 'all' of that! Or even any of it, if you don't want to! After all, I have the money to pay someone for all of it, so it wouldn't be a problem!" Izuku's mom twisted her hair around her finger slightly. "You have your own life now too Izuku, honey, and you don't live in Mountain Glenn anymore so it'd be even more of a hassle for you to go through all this..."

"... But?" You ask, understanding that your mom was still nervous about something.

"... But I would appreciate it if you would just drop by maybe once a week or once every two weeks just to see how the apartment is? Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't hire someone to take care of the apartment if I thought that they'd wreck the place but, well, you never know with people. I'd just feel a lot safer and more secure if I knew you were going to drop by every now and then to make sure that things are going okay while I'm gone. Like I said, you don't have to, but I really would appreciate it Izuku. If not then of course it's fine, I understand, you're a busy little man now, and like I said, I can hire someone I can trust, I'm sure!" Izuku frowned slightly as he leaned back further, tapping his chin as his mother did her best to not pressure him into this.

"Sure mom, I wouldn't have any problem stopping by once every couple weeks to check on the apartment. I promise, you can count on me and you don't have to worry, it really won't take up too much of my time. Everything'll be good on my end." Izuku spoke with a bright smile, one that his mother met as he assuaged her of any worries she might've had.

"Thank you Izuku. I'm still so sorry for this imposition, but I really do appreciate this sweetheart." Izuku chuckled a little as he scratched at the back of his head.

"Mom really, don't worry about it, it isn't an imposition or anything." The conversation died down as the two of them settled that, Izuku making sure to take note to visit two weeks after his mom first left for her vacation. Still though, it did bring up a point of curiosity that he'd been wandering about ever since his mom accepted his suggestion for the vacation: his dad. "One thing I did want to ask mom; when do you think you'll end up seeing dad on this vacation?"

...

"Huh?" His mom, deer in headlights look and all, tilted her head a bit, almost as if she didn't immediately comprehend. Then suddenly it seemed to click and his mom just nervously chuckled to herself, scratching the back of her head ever so slightly. "O-Oh yes, your father! Well... I suppose that'll depend on when your father's free, Izuku. He's working in Mistral after all and he's still managing the projects and relations with the firm's partners there now that the deal's gone through. Mitsuki and I would have to ask and see when we could drop in that wouldn't be inopportune." Izuku nodded, he supposed he understood. His dad was an actual adult so his schedule would be even more full than his, and it'd be a bit of a stretch for him to make time if his mom just randomly dropped in. Still, he thought that it shouldn't be a problem, which lead him to his other curiosity.

"Well when you do see him, do you think you could get his personal contact information so I can have a bit of an easier time getting in touch with him?" Izuku tilted his head to the side, Inko just blinking a bit as she furrowed her brow.

"Huh? I mean, sure Izuku but your father already has... has had, er, opportunities to send it before but he must've forgotten. I swear, if that man's head wasn't attached to his shoulders he'd probably always end up forgetting it." Inko chuckled a little as she smiled genuinely at him. "I promise Izuku, if-when! When I see your father, I'll get that information for you." Izuku nodded appreciatively, grateful for that favor from his mom... but at the same time he really couldn't help but feel like she was not saying something. Before he could ask, however, there was a knock at her door. "Oh! That must be Mitsuki, we're making a few last minute plans and-"

 _"LISTEN TO ME YOU LITTLE BITCH, YOU KNOW HOW YOUR FATHER GETS WHEN HE HAS TO STAY IN THAT HOUSE BY HIMSELF, SO YOU'RE GOING TO TAKE SOME TIME OUT OF YOUR DAMN SCHEDULE TO VISIT HIM EVERY WEEK OR SO WHILE I'M ON VACATION AND I MEAN IT!... DON'T MAKE ME TAKE THE TRAIN OVER THERE AND DRAG YOUR ASS BACK TO MOUNTAIN GLENN JUST TO MAKE A POINT, BECAUSE YOU 'KNOW' I WILL!... DON'T GET FUCKIN' SMART WITH ME! I MADE YOU AND I CAN JUST AS EASILY UNMAKE YOU!... That's what I thought. Now tell that little Ruby girl and the rest of your teammates I said hi, I'm here at Inko's house so I have to go now. I love you, alright?"_

They just sit there for a moment, sweating slightly as Mrs. Bakugo's voice easily pierced through the walls and door of their apartment. His mom just laughed nervously as she looked over at Izuku.

"I think I should probably talk to her before she gets it in her mind to keep up her phone call with Katsuki. We'll talk later Izuku! I love you! Your allowance will be in your account once I'm done with Mitsuki, promise!" Izuku's mother cheerfully waved him goodbye as the Scroll goes dead, leaving him to just blink a bit before he smiled.

Well... if nothing else, his mom would have some interesting company on her trip, right?

* * *

"Salutations my fellow Team Leaders! I hereby call this seventh meeting of the Beacon Leadership Council to order! I'll start with a simple roll call! Izuku Midoriya, Leader of Team MNVW?"

"Hey would you be quiet, you're not the only folks here you know!?"

Tenya flinched as his enthusiasm was quickly cut down. They all blushed slightly as the guy who shouted over at them immediately turned back to whatever he had been doing. While teachers were slowly but surely coming back to Beacon, most facilities remained closed or were limited in what students could do in there. So, for the time being, he and the other members of the Beacon Leadership Council had to find someplace else to hold their meeting.

Unfortunately it seemed like other members of the common area of the Beacon Dorms weren't quite as open to Tenya's excitement as his group was. Coco had a slight scowl on her face as she noticed how timid Tenya now seemed, the young man just readjusting his spectacles.

"Right, of course, my apologies..." Tenya coughed into his fist as he looked at the rest of them, keeping his gaze on Izuku... oh right!

"I'm right here Tenya." Izuku answered back, somewhat more quietly than he might normally do so.

"Very good. Ruby Rose, Leader of Team RSBR?" Tenya asked, far more reserved than usual.

"Uh, yeah, here. Woo~..." Even Ruby's enthusiasm was cut short, his fellow Team Leader having weakly cheered.

"Excellent. Coco Adel, Leader of Team CFVY?" they all look over at Coco, the young woman tapping a hand to her chin as she thought for a moment. "... Leader of Team CFVY, Coco Adel?" Tenya called out again, worried he was being ignored. After a moment, Coco just grinned as she slowly stood up in her chair, the display having caused them all to blanch at her.

"YEAH, I'M HERE SPECS!" With a shout Coco called back to Tenya, his senior having called out into the rest of the crowd. Many of the students glared back over at their table... until many of the second years caught sight of who exactly had stood up to shout at the top of their lungs. One cocksure grin from Coco later and much of the crowd just grumbled and went back to their tasks.

"Wonderful... but Miss Adel I really must protest! You shouldn't yell at the top of your lungs when fellow students are just trying to enjoy the common area!" Tenya, in his fervor to stand up for propriety, raised his voice as he swung his hands around. That, again, caused many students to glance at their table where, again, Coco's look just made them all face back forward.

"Tenya, you weren't even being that loud at first when that ass hat decided he was going to make our business his business. We've got every right to be here as they do, so you shouldn't just take stuff like that." With a quick drop Coco practically slammed back into her chair as she looked at Tenya over the rim of her sunglasses. The young man's face momentarily shifted to a look of gratitude before he adjusted his own spectacles.

"Be that as it may, such a rude countermand wasn't entirely called for. Besides... this is a rather unfortunate turn of events." Tenya remarked as they all just nodded.

"I know. We didn't really think ahead to set up some place we could meet if the classroom was ever closed down. We're kind of in a tricky situation." He remarked somewhat wearily as Ruby nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, plus with so many facilities down we can't really do a lot of everything we usually do at these meetings. Plus the firing range isn't even open..." Ruby feebly kicked her legs in the air at the thought of the gun range not being open, Coco just chuckling as she leaned back in her chair.

"Well hey, that just means we gotta get creative with today or be chill. It is the holiday after all, so we don't have to get too wound up." Coco casually suggested as the rest of Izuku just shrugged.

"Well, be that as it may, I don't think this is really going to work out in the future: if the school closes down for whatever reason, we're effectively stuck without much recourse. The normal school facilities that remain open don't provide the same level of equipment or variety that we normally see in our own club activities and, furthermore, holding club meetings in the Common Room... well, it hasn't gone terribly well so far." Tenya remarked dryly as he readjusted his spectacles. The three of them nodded in short agreement as they took up a thinking position. It was a difficult decision to come down to when it came right down to it, mostly because there were so few options available... or, at least, realistically few options.

"We could try to ask Headmaster Ozpin to see if he could make some other spot on campus as our meeting room? Maybe some place where it wouldn't close down once the school did?" Ruby put forward her own suggestion, her silver eyes scanning about them all as they took a moment to consider her proposal.

"I dunno. We got the room that we did precisely because it was one of the ones available for us and because it'd give us 'some' privacy away from high traffic areas, like with the other clubs. Any other location on campus would likely be closed down normally or would be places like... well, the common room." Ruby nodded at his logic, though the young girl didn't seem intent on giving up that track of thinking.

"Well then maybe we could consider asking him if he could keep our club room open when the school closes? That way it wouldn't be such a hassle for anyone!" Ruby seemed excited by her rebuttal and Tenya did nod.

"It would be the most simple option... however, do consider that there's a reason why Beacon closes much of its campus on holidays; so that students don't end up getting into trouble or causing mischief in the main building while so much of the staff is away. If Ozpin somehow kept the building open for us, or trusted us with keys to it so that we could unlock it, he 'would' be putting the risk out there that troublemakers might take advantage of his generosity toward us." Ruby puffed out her cheeks as she placed her hands on her hips.

"As if we'd ever cause trouble."

"Oh I'm sure we wouldn't short stuff, but I think we can all name a few names who might. Even if Oz did give us the key to the building, well, always the chance that someone could nab it from us if they were particularly determined." Coco finished as Izuku and Tenya nodded in agreement. Ruby gave a short nod herself, though the silver eyed Huntress still seemed set.

"I still think this would be the easiest way to do this." Now that all of them nodded in agreement with; it would be the easiest way to handle it... Izuku'd just have to make sure he could get Ozpin on board, which might prove tricky in and of itself.

"Still, that wouldn't fix the problem of many of the school's facilities being closed to us. The club room being open or not, there'd be no way that Ozpin would keep the training halls, the armory, the gun range or various other places open. That 'would' be asking for trouble." the unanimous nodding continued as Tenya readjusted his spectacles. "Thus, I propose that we seek out some place in the City of Vale where we might be able to rent when the time arises that our club room gets shut down and we need a replacement. Preferably someplace within the city close to a lot of other businesses or enterprises that would suit our usual needs."

"Sounds nice, but there's of course the catch that 'renting' means paying. Don't get me wrong, this club is cool and all, but I'm not sure if we'd be able to keep doling out cash on demand for something like that. Renting a place to hold a meeting, paying businesses for us to use their stuff, etc. It could get expensive fast." Coco remarked somewhat dryly as Ruby shrugged.

"Well we do have the option of getting a stipend from Ozpin. I think that he'd be willing to qualify this as a good use of club money." Coco frowned a bit but nodded, the senior student having rubbed her chin slightly.

"You might be onto something there. Still, he'd probably be more inclined to foot the bill if we found a place to present to him sometime, isn't that right club treasurer?" Izuku nodded, thinking that something along those lines would be required for Ozpin to give consent for it to be paid for.

"Still, by and large, this does sound like something we could consider doing." Izuku remarked as he scratched his cheek, everyone having nodded in agreement.

"I dunno about you guys, but for me, I think it's all just about setting up some turf." they all blinked curiously as Coco leans back in her chair. "Listen, I'm not saying we go around pushing kids out of rooms but... well, hey, these guys are all our fellow students. We might be able to convince some of them to let us use the common room whenever the school closes down or maybe arrange some schedule for some other spot in the school. We don't necessarily have to shell out cash or get Ozpin to fix this for us, we might be able to just talk things out with the other kids in our classes and see if we can't arrange for a chunk of the common areas to be ours when we need them. It's free, it doesn't bug Oz and we get what we want, win, win, win."

"You know, maybe we could've just tried asking in the first place..." Ruby muttered.

"Yeah, I suppose we really didn't think of that..." Izuku sheepishly scratch the back of his head as he admitted that, a slight blush on his cheeks as Coco shrugged.

"Hey, don't sweat it. You guys are first years and are a little... hmmm..."

"Socially awkward?" Ruby interjected as Coco just nodded, a slight smile on her face.

"Yeah, let's go with that!" The three of them sighed slightly as Coco raised her hands. "Now now, there's nothing wrong with that my little juniors. You're in a new place and hey, I know a lot of us older years can seem spooky and like we'll bite your head off, but those are just your first semester jitters. Look, no matter how scary people seem, none of us here are out to get you... I mean, unless they're jerks in which case yeah they're totally out to get you."

"You're really not helping..." Ruby whined as she allowed her head to drop against the table, you and Tenya having nodded in slight agreement as Coco just chuckled.

"Come on you get what I mean. Most people really aren't bad and will hear you out if you just talk to them. It all just takes a little bit of effort to communicate is all; trust me, you'll find that none of us are quite so scary as we seem once you get to know your seniors."

"She's right you know."

Immediately Izuku and Ruby screamed as they practically jumped out of their skins, Mirio Togata having just suddenly appeared behind their table as he phased through a wall. Tenya, while not nearly as vocal in his surprise, immediately flinched back and away from the sudden appearance by their acquaintance in Year Three. Coco, out of all of them, seemed the least surprised in terms of fear or gut reaction to Mirio's sudden appearance, but instead seemed nervous in her own right.

"Ooooowwwww... my head..." Ruby clambered up from the floor, her sudden jolt having sent her tumbling over the back of her chair and onto the floor. "Ouch... that really hurt you know! You shouldn't go around scaring people like that!" Ruby remarked, comical tears having pricked at the corners of her eyes as she looked up at Mirio for a moment, Mirio just having held up his hands defensively as he shook them.

"Ah, sorry, sorry. I just heard Izuku's voice coming from over here and didn't realize you all would be so close to the wall, my apologies." Mirio chuckled a bit as Tenya readjusted his glasses, the young man having attempted to regain the better part of his composure.

"I suppose you're a friend of Izuku's then, Mr...?"

"Oh please, just call me Mirio." The blond cheerfully replied as he smiled at Tenya, which had gone a ways to putting both Tenya and Ruby at ease. "Also yes, I'd like to think so! Izuku and I here met just a couple weeks ago so it's still early, but I think it's going well!" Izuku couldn't help but sheepishly chuckle at that, Ruby and Tenya both having smiled approvingly while Coco... well, Coco just looked floored.

"... Hold the Scroll for a second. Deku, little Deku... you're friends with 'Mirio Togata'? As in Leader of Team MHA (Matthiola) Mirio Togata?" Coco gave a quick, brief glance to Mirio as she offered the guy a quick, nervous smile. "By the way, uh, h-hi there Mirio! Good to see you..." Izuku saw Mirio turned his head over toward Coco, his black eyes blinking a couple times as he tilted his head slightly. Finally, Mirio snapped his fingers as he gave a big smile.

"Oh, Coco, is that you!? Wow, you really changed up your style again huh? I like it!" The three of them blinked as they look between Mirio and Coco, Coco just having chuckled nervously as she glanced over at them all, a slightly embarrassed look on her face.

"D-Don't listen to him, I haven't change up my style or anything, but thank you for the compliment there Mirio, I really-"

"So what did she used to wear?" Coco choked for a moment as she swung her head over to Ruby. Before she could insist that Ruby quiet down, Mirio just laughed a little.

"Oh it was pretty cool too, don't get me wrong, but it just seemed really abrasive and in your face. She had this whole pu-"

"ANYWAY!" Coco clapped her hands together, nervous laughter escaping her as she looked back over at Mirio. "So, uh, Mirio, you said you heard little Deku here and you wanted to see what was up?" Mirio just smiled and nodded as he looked around at the table. "Well we're just having a little meeting of the Leadership Council here is all!"

"Huh, Leadership Council?" Mirio blinked as he tilted his head to the side slightly, his mouth turned into a curious frown.

"Yes, it's a club that Mr. Midoriya, Miss Rose and myself started that Miss Adel here has joined." Tenya adjusted his glasses at the short explanation, Mirio just having nodded.

"I see... well, I mean, I suppose? I still don't have much of an idea as to what you're actually doing as part of this club." Izuku watched as Mirio looked down at Izuku, that curious look still on his face as he realized he was basically asking for a run down.

"Well, we gather once a week, and catch up on what's been going on with everyone. Then we see what can be done to improve our teams, and share skills, ideas and experiences. Particularly on how to help motivate and direct the teams we are leading. We try things, see what works and what doesn't and learn on each other's examples. Ruby here is an expert in mecha-shift weaponry, Tenya knows his family business and has a cool head for protocol and regulations and Coco is the voice of experience and fine taste. We all help each other out, you know?" Izuku gave a quick rundown as he watched Mirio nod along in understanding, the teen having pulled himself up a seat so as to be able to sit while Izuku ran through what the Leadership Council did, exactly. After a few moments, Mirio smiled slightly as he lightly dropped his fist into his open palm.

"Oh! I see, that does sound pretty nifty! I really could've used something like that when I was starting up with my team." Mirio said with a slight laugh, Coco having nodded in understanding as Izuku offered a nervous smile.

"Well... if that's the case then maybe... you'd be interested in joining, Mirio?" At that, the rest of the table besides he and Mirio nearly choked, Coco having immediately turned to him with a very nervous expression.

"Deku, listen, I'm sure Mirio would but he's a third year. Trust me, the guy's super busy and-"

"I'd love to!"

"-Oh Gods..." Coco put her face in her hands as she shook her head lightly. If Mirio noticed he certainly didn't seem to raise a fuss about it as he turned to the rest of the table with that pleasant smile still on his face.

"If you all will have me of course. I have to assume that Izuku's isn't the only opinion that counts here and I'd rather not force myself on-"

"Of course you can join!" Ruby suddenly called out excitedly as she practically threw herself over the table, a wide smile on her face as her eyes twinkled in excitement. "Holy crap! A third year, in the Leadership Council! Coco was already insanely cool enough on her own being our senior but holy crap you're even more experienced and closer to being a Huntsman oh my gosh this is going to be so cool!" Ruby just seemed to practically be bouncing up and down on her seat as Tenya coughed into his fist, readjusting his glasses as he got over his initial surprise.

"Indeed. As President of this Beacon Leadership Council I would be remiss if I were to turn down the request of someone with so much experience to join our ranks. Of course you may join with us Mr. Togata, without question!" All eyes turned to Coco, the young woman looking a wee bit nervous even as she sighed and gave a smile.

"Sure! Absolutely I'd love to have Mirio join us! That sounds great!" Coco offered a friendly thumbs up while the rest of the table nodded, Mirio just chuckling as he clapped his hands.

"That's great! Alright, how about we get right into it! I want to get started as-"

 **Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep**

"-ah, right, I forgot, I was making my way through the dorms because I was going to meet up with my Team, silly me!" Everyone just kind of blinked in disbelief as Mirio spoke, pulling out his Scroll to read a message that had just gotten sent on it, Tenya having recovered the most quickly out of them all as he readjusted his spectacles and went about throwing his hands around.

"That's quite alright Mr. Togata, we were just finishing up with our last bits of business ourselves. If you and your Team will be in next week, then we'll be more than happy to send you the details of when and where we'll be meeting over a Scroll message." At that Mirio nodded as he quickly stood up, pocketing his Scroll again.

"Sounds good to me..."

"Tenya Iida."

"Tenya! Oh jeez we didn't do full introductions did we? Well we can handle that next week during the meeting! Right now I gotta get going so I'll see you all around!" Immediately Mirio started sprinting forward again and they all watched, mouths slightly agape, as he just phased through the table, ran across the common room and phased straight through the opposite wall, sounds of surprise coming from the other side that slowly quieted down.

"... This is gonna be so cool!" Ruby declared, her face scrunched up in excitement as she practically shivered, while Coco just shook her head slightly.

"Man, to think..." Before the conversation could get much further, Tenya coughed into his fist and brought the attention back to him.

"At any rate, with that last bit of business settled I do think this is a good time to call the meeting. Good work today everyone, I look forward to seeing you all in our 'actual' club room next week! This meeting of the Beacon Leadership Club is dismissed!"

* * *

 **E/N: I wanted to have some fun with the worm fight but nooooo. So here's what I had before it got shot down.**

 **-Shovern**

 **From there... well, to call things a circus would've been an understatement. Because from that moment on, he and Nora just kept 'throwing themselves' at the thing. A thing that was nearly four times his own size, if not bigger! However, as he was grappling around with the long, thick worm, he and Nora managed to work together in order to handle it. Still the sheer size of the no eyed beast, and the strength of its twitching was enough to shake her grip off the thing, while Izuku was repeatedly 'slapped' about by it, the creature's mass, even in its spent state, having been enough to get him off. Still, eventually they both, or perhaps more accurately Nora, got to work slowly tugging the thing along the surface of Izuku's hole, pulling it up. The beast thrashed around and tried to burst from their grasp but failed, unable to force itself out of Nora's grip as she worked it along, with Izuku lending a hand.**

 **a/n: I feel like inserting that much innuendo would've probably made the fight go from disquieting, considering the genuinely ugly design I tried to give the Terramaw, to comical, but that's neither here nor there.**

 **Next chapter will come out on the 26th, as normal.**


	70. Son of The First Man

With the library open and students having just gotten back into the swing of classes, it was no surprise to Izuku that the entire library was suddenly awash in activity as students roamed about, trying to get books to help with new assignments or just looking for something to help ease the boredom of renewed classes. Some students were sleeping in chairs, using books to strategically cover their faces, while others were keenly interested in what they were reading. For Izuku, right now was an opportunity to switch out a few books on Aura that he'd finished reading in order to swap them out with some new books, ones that would hopefully advance his own notes all the further once he was finished with them. As he did that, however, Izuku took notice of one student in particular who caught his eye...

Mirio. The third year student seemed to have a book or two out in front of him, the blonde young man squinting slightly as he took in the pages in front of him. It was rare to ever see Mirio without his trademark grin, but the flat line that was his lips seemed to suggest that he was focusing...

'Man…he's really focusing…' Izuku thought, and then, a small little voice suddenly began to prey on him a bit, 'Well...I could just maybe walk up on him quietly, and maybe spook him. He's done it to me so many times, that it wouldn't be so bad would it?'

His path set, Izuku quietly walked over to his senior, doing his best to keep his breathing under control. Izuku finally reached him and, with a smile, he put his small joke into motion-

"Hey Mirio, how are you?" Izuku didn't shout, it was a library after all, but he spoke suddenly and quickly enough that he knew it'd be a bit of a shock to himself if the situation was reversed. Izuku waited for the reaction... only for Mirio to turn his head his way, the flat line of his lips curling into his usual, friendly grin as his eyes shine slightly.

"Ah, Izuku! Good to see you! How are you holding up?"

...

Izuku just 'barely' managed to keep the disappointment off his face as he internally sighed, perhaps it shouldn't have been too surprising that Mirio hadn't been all too stunned by his own trick being pulled against him, as Izuku slid out a chair opposite him and sat in it. Even though he was a tad disappointed that it didn't work like he had thought it would, Izuku still smiled back at his fellow Team Leader shrugged.

"Oh you know how it is; everybody woke up pretty tired earlier today now that school's started back up but otherwise I'm doing fine. Just coming by to exchange out some books I've been reading for some new ones." Mirio nodded in understanding as he, politely, closed his own book, setting it off to the side.

"Sounds about right; I know that coming back from breaks was pretty rough on my team too... it's just hard to 'not' sleep in over a holiday!" Mirio said with a smile and a chuckle while Izuku took notice of the title of the book he was reading. ' _Graucus III: The Fall of The Monochrome Empire'._ Taking notice of his underclassman's wandering eyes, Mirio just chuckled as he scratched the back of his head. "I've been doing a bit of reading myself; after what you told me before break about who exactly was involved with the attack on Mountain Glenn, I wanted to learn a little bit more about what we were potentially up again. I'm actually a little surprised; I asked my own teacher about this Monochrome League when I went to check in with him over break, but he seemed to be as in the dark as you were. Apparently they're just as new as you and the authorities thought they were... though he did suspect that they were a Monochrome Cult." Izuku nodded; in idle conversations, he'd heard similar things whispered too. There had just been one problem for Izuku…

'I don't even know what the Monochrome Cult even is? They probably venerate the Monochrome Empire, but are the religious or something? Do they worship some ancient gods...or the old emperors themselves...actually those both sound creepy to me.'

"Yeah, I've heard that to... though, for all the good it does me. I don't exactly know a lot about Monochrome Cults." Mirio nodded, apparently having been in very much the same boat.

"Yeah; from what I hear they're not supposed to be too common in Vale, mostly they're set up in Mistral or Atlas. According to my teacher, they aren't supposed to be usually too active when it comes to... well, stuff like The Tunnels. They're usually sort of secret-societies and stuff like that, more ceremony and weird hats and less active dissidents... though that apparently doesn't stop the Four Kingdoms from working themselves up over them and looking to crack down when they know they've found a group."

"Well, can't say I'm too surprised." If Izuku was a member of the Governing Councils, he wouldn't take too kindly to groups that looked at one of his predecessors as some kind of guiding example... "So what, the Cults want to restore the old Empire, right?"

"Uh, like I said, I'm kind of as in the dark as you are, so I've been doing some research. Teacher said that the fact that this new group was a Monochrome Cult wasn't as important as the actions that it took. Like he said, most Monochrome Cults don't go through with this kind of stuff which lead him to suspect that it was some kind of extreme outlier, so he thought it'd be a waste of time to focus on that. But I figured maybe if we understood something about them and their purpose then maybe we could try to figure out what they might get up to, right?" Izuku nodded, that sounded reasonable enough to him. "Which got me doing a little bit of reading." Mirio looked down at the book and picked it up, flipping through some pages. "Like... well, let's start with this; what do you know about the Monochrome Empire, Izuku?"

'... Uh…'

'Shoot. I'm really glad that Professor-Doctor! Doctor Oobleck isn't here right now.'

Yeah, Izuku was really just drawing a blank here if he was being perfectly honest. So, with a slight sigh, he sheepishly scratched the back of his head as he looked off to the side. "To be honest? I really only know what everyone else knows about the Monochrome Empire. It predated the Four Kingdoms by quite a bit, the practice of enslaving Faunus started under it and that under Emperor Canus... the something, the population of humans and Faunus reached its peak." Mirio nodded slowly, the young man having given a quick smile as he shrugged himself.

"Yeah that was about the extent of my knowledge as well; outside of Oobleck's History classes and its derivatives, you really don't get much about the Monochrome Empire outside of that. I guess people just don't like bringing it up too often." Mirio motioned for Izuku to scoot over toward him and, in short order, Izuku did so. "Still, I figured maybe if I figured maybe that gap in knowledge was what was keeping me from being able to figure out motives." Izuku tilted his head slightly to the side, a slight bit of confusion passing over your face.

"Well I figured their motives would be pretty obvious; they'd want a restoration of the old Monochrome Empire, right? That's what all these Cults should be about?" Mirio nodded slightly, though he offered a slightly goofy grin to go along with it.

"Like I said, I thought that too, but when I looked back at the history it became pretty clear that such a thing wasn't the reason." Izuku blinked in surprise as Mirio pointed down to the pages. "I mean, it sounds like a good enough motive; the old Empire was... well, I'd hate to call any period that included enslaving Faunus our 'peak' but if you were mostly concerned about keeping the Grimm at bay and prosperity, then the Monochrome empire was that peak. The Empire controlled most of the continents, the Grimm were absolutely decimated and major attacks on settlements were pretty much nonexistent and because there was just the One Empire, aside from some minor states left in its periphery that it couldn't get to, it was just all handled together." A map flipped by and, indeed, verified Mirio's words: sprawling across the expanse of Remnant was a great, grey blob, one that swallowed the borders of much of the Four Kingdoms he knew today: Atlas, and the old Kingdom of Mantle, were entirely subsumed into the Monochrome Empire, as was Vale. The coasts of Mistral were almost entirely under its controls and, in Vacuo, spots of civilization dotted the desert as it seemed like most oasis were under its control. Even the badlands in the continent Northwest of Vale seemed to be mostly under the control of the Monochrome Empire.

It was only the highly mountainous regions of Mistral or, indeed, the vast deserts of Vacuo that seemed outside its reach. "Jeez, how do you even manage to put together something like that?" Izuku asked, a bit unnerved. Mirio, however, seemed utterly nonplussed as usual, Izuku's senior giving a slight frown as, again, he just shrugged as he looked down at the book.

"Well I really don't understand that either. There isn't a lot about what exactly let the Empire hold itself together. Soldiers, armies, sure, but well Mantle had that and it fell apart in a much smaller area." Mirio flipped the pages again until a stunning figure was shown on a page. An outfit of grey and the odd highlights, with jewels dotting the man's fingers, sat underneath a cloak of Nevermore feathers that fell from his shoulders down to the ground. A mane of silver hair was adorned with a crown of black and white, silver having been forged around it to decorate it. The man's skin was lightly tanned and his eyes a shade of grey... though, that wasn't the eye in the picture he was looking at, necessarily. No, the portrait had been painted with a great eye sat above the man, a shimmer of silver, black and white emanating from it as it looked out from above and behind him. "There's the occasional reference to what the book refers to as 'The Eyes of Empire' but it never really goes into detail about it. The way it's titled it kind of sounds like some kind of Semblance... and considering how this all fell apart, maybe that explains a lot."

"Right, so why was it clear that putting the Empire back together wasn't the reason for the Cults?" Izuku shook his head, getting back on track as Mirio rounded back about to the point as well.

"Right. So it'd make sense that some types of people might want to go back to this considering how bad off things have gotten since then, especially with the Grimm having killed so many people, but... well, even if people wanted that, it wouldn't be possible to get." Mirio flipped towards the end of the book and, again, another painting of another figure is presented. This one wasn't nearly as intimidating however. Round, red cheeks rolling into a soft chin as a pair of grey eyes stare plaintively into the distance, presumably towards a painter. While his clothes underneath the regalia were fit for his size, a tiny thing he was, the regalia looked like it was ready to slide off of him within moments; the cloak of Nevermore feathers pooled on the ground behind him and the crown was held in his hands rather than on his head and, even then, his hands seemed barely large enough to hold it.

 _'Graucus III, Emperor and Autocrat of The Monochrome Empire, Son of The First Man, First Among Men,_ ' the title of the portrait had helpfully pointed out who this was.

"You mentioned population peak and Canus; well, that was this kid's father, Canus VII. He died about a month before this portrait was made... and Graucus III was dead two months after at five years old. Killed by advisers and guards in his ranks that sympathized with the growing dissident movements in the various areas that would later unify into the Four Kingdoms. The rest of the Imperial Family was hunted down in the following months and, well, the entire Empire just collapsed into the Pre-Kingdoms warring states. That's why I don't think it's about bringing the Empire back together with these Monochrome Cults in general... why bother? The Imperial Family's dead and this 'Eyes of Empire' probably went with them. After all, if the only window they had available to do this would be while the kid was so young, then it makes sense if it was some kind of Semblance that ran in their genes; even if he had it, he probably had no way of knowing how to use it properly."

"That just seems..." Izuku frowned slightly, having to avert his eyes from the portrait of Graucus III, "... kind of extreme, doesn't it? Killing someone that young?" Izuku saw Mirio dip down into seriousness for perhaps the first time he'd ever met him.

"I really couldn't condone it myself either but, if you think about it, it probably was their only chance. The Empire had faced upheavals before but the Emperors always seemed to have this uncanny ability to crush them underneath their heels. Even the most secretly held conspiracies were ousted, rebellious forces ambushed in kind, and anyone who even spoke treason was arrested and... well, you get the picture." Izuku nodded, grimly, as Mirio folded his arms together. "Plus I can't say that I'd blame Faunus who might've helped with this for being unsympathetic to this kid and his family, considering they were the ones who started using them as slave labor. So... as sick as it is, killing him, doing so was probably their only shot at bringing down the empire." Izuku gave nod, though not very enthusiastically, as he looked over to Mirio.

"But... yeah, I see your point now. No point in trying to take political action if there's nothing to go back to... so what, Monochrome Cults are just..."

"Social groups of people with too much time and money on their hands? Yeah, sounds like it. I suppose in that vein that my teacher was right; it being some kind of Monochrome organization really doesn't matter. After all, the attack on The Tunnels basically breaks entirely with other Monochrome Cults activities... so it has to be something else... but what..." Mirio rubbed his chin slightly and Izuku did so in kind as well.

"Well, maybe the name's just meant to trip people up?" Mirio looked up to Izuku, looking down at the pages. "I mean, if you and your teacher are right, then these guys aren't acting like members of the usual Monochrome Cults at all and... well, their actions are kind of pointless if that's what they are. There's no Emperor to put back on the throne so why bother with the attacks? Maybe they're just using the name as a smokescreen; a way to obfuscate what they're actually up to?" Izuku saw Mirio smile a bit as he spoke, the smile growing wider before he chuckled.

"It's funny, while my teacher didn't say it in so many words, I think he suspects much the same thing; if they aren't a legit Monochrome Cult, then they have to be using the name for a reason, right? Pretty sharp there Izuku."Izuku smiled a bit at that.

"Well thanks Mirio... gosh, being in line with an older, more experienced hunter..." Izuku grinned at Mirio as he tilted his head to the side. "Who is your teacher anyway Mirio? Maybe I could meet him?"

...

Izuku watched as Mirio's expression tightened a bit, his smile drifting into a flat line as he quietly hummed to himself.

"... Mirio?"

"Hahaha, ah, maybe. I'd say give it some time though." Izuku blinked, tilting his head to the side.

"Huh, really? Why?" Mirio hummed again, putting his chin in his hand as he tilted his head down.

"Well... gosh, how do I put it? It was really very strange; when I brought up that you were the one who brought the Monochrome League to my attention, and when my teacher saw the news reports... hmmm... it was very odd. It was definitely subtle, as so many things are with him given how reserved he is, but he was... upset? Upset I think is the word I can best put to it. Which I didn't quite understand." Well now Izuku was confused. Some guy Izuku never even met was upset when he was brought up? The fact that it was an apparently experienced Hunter put him even more off; did someone he look up to not like him... just off of reputation? Why?

"Well... I'm just as confused as you are then, Mirio. I don't think I've ever crossed anyone in a way that they'd be upset with me... except maybe Kacchan but, well, that's a whole kettle of fish in and of itself." Izuku admitted, nervously, though Mirio nodded in understanding.

"I wouldn't have expected so given how you behave Izuku, but it is what it is. When teacher cools down... well, if he does, but Teacher always eventually evens out so I know he will, maybe I'll introduce you then. For now, it might be best if we wait on that." Izuku nodded in understanding while Mirio closed his book. "Anyway, seems like teacher was right, this was a bit of a dead end." With that, Mirio just gave a wide smile as he scratched the back of his head. "Well, I can't say that much; I did learn a lot of interesting new stuff! So it wasn't a total waste of time, hahaha!"

He couldn't help but grin at that; Mirio's enthusiasm seemed to be rather infectious like that.

"Anyway, I'll see you around Izuku, I've probably spent enough time spinning my wheels here, best get back to my team." Izuku nodded in agreement and gave Mirio a quick wave, ready to get back to the business of getting his new books himself.

He was right; it might not have been a big breakthrough, but it was interesting stuff to learn about...

Oh!

"Mirio, wait, before I forget!" Mirio turned his head to look over at Izuku, watching his junior fiddle around with his pockets and then Izuku's bag as he looked for something. With a grin he eventually brought it out; that Toshinori figure he'd carved from wood. While his own work was adequate as before, with its dynamic pose, the paint job was as professional as he had expected; the little details were there and none of the colors ran together or across lines. It all looked really good, in his opinion.

Apparently it looked really good to Mirio too as the young man's eyes practically glimmered as he phased through the table that had separated the pair of them to get over on his side. "Oh wow! You weren't kidding when you said you could do this! This looks amazing Izuku! Did you do the paint job on top of the carving?"

"No I didn't, but I know these really reliable people who do. I did do the carving myself, even picked out the pose!" Mirio nodded his head as he spoke, a wide smile on his face.

"Wow you picked such a cool one! Isn't it amazing how Toshinori can just 'jump' and then he's basically soaring through the air like a superhero out of one of those comic books?"

"I know! It's great! You should've been there on the first day of Live Exercises for First Years, he actually jumped in from somewhere to land in front of everyone."

"Oh no way! Gods, that would've been so cool to see!"

"It really was!"

And so despite the fact that the pair really did have things to do, they devolved into lightly nerding out over their shared hero, Toshinori Yagi, the man who inspired them both on their path to becoming Great Huntsmen and Heroes.

The rest of the library just stared, deciding that they didn't particularly want to get involved with one of the most famous Third Years by telling him to be quiet, especially when he seemed so excited.

* * *

"... Gods, what's happened this time?" Izuku was struck from his thoughts as he heard a familiar voice ring out nearby, a turn of his head turning his attention over to one Velvet Scarlatina. The young woman, was currently anxiously waiting in some spot in the hall, the rabbit Faunus having bit her lips slightly as she tucked a strand of hair behind her head. "Something must've come up again... wish I knew but, well... that's-"

"Hey Velvet."

"Oh!" Izuku watched, somewhat humorously, as Velvet jumped in spot, the suddenness of his entrance spooking her.

'Well at least there was one senior I can do that too, if not Mirio.'

Izuku offered a friendly smile as he walked over to the rabbit Faunus, the young woman heaving a relieved sigh as she saw him on the approach. "Oh, Izuku, it's good to see you. I wasn't expecting you around here; classes ended a little while ago, after all."

"Yeah well I guess I've kind of lost track of time." Izuku admitted to her, the young woman nodding understandingly while he glanced around. "Anyway, I could ask you the same question Velvet; why you hanging around here?" Velvet frowned slightly as she looked around.

"Well... I'm not so much hanging around here as... well, I'm waiting for Coco and the others to show up." Izuku blinked, tilting his head to the side ever so slightly as Velvet chuckled. "Right, you haven't been hanging around us that long yet." Velvet seemed sheepish for not having realized that before she moved into an explanation. "Well, you see, because most of Team CFVY is on the Second Year Schedule, our classes don't quite line up right; they get out earlier than I do. It's supposed to give us time to train or handle official team business like getting ready for a mission..." Velvet sighed as Izuku start to see the picture forming. "Well, that's what it's 'supposed' to do. Because of my situation, we're effectively on two separate schedules that can be off by anywhere up to a an hour or so. Coco being Coco she just rolled with it and decided that we'd arrange for a spot where we could meet up after my own classes were done, that way we wouldn't waste time 'just' looking for each other."

"I mean, think about it; Beacon's such a massive campus and, even knowing where they generally are at the end of their classes, they'd have something like a full hour to move around before I'd even be out of my own classes. They rarely ever head back to the dorm immediately after classes too, especially now that Coco's been doing the Leadership Council with you all and hanging out when she can... Yatsu always ended up going out to try and... hrmmm..." Izuku watched Velvet blushed slightly as she brought up her fingers. "'Court' some fellow students and Fox... well, Fox usually ends up tagging along with one or the other. So we all decided that it'd be easier on everyone if after my classes I'd just head for a pre-arranged meeting spot and we'd group up there." That sounded like a really solid idea to him, honestly.

"Alright, so you're waiting for one of them to show up then, I take it?" Izuku saw Velvet frown slightly at that.

"Well... no. You see, our usual time for meeting up was... well... as soon as I get here..." The shy Faunus slowly shrank as she spoke.

"Oh... something come up?"

"Yeah; Coco usually just messages me real quick if they're going to be late and it's never usually long on specifics. Usually a professor's kept our Team after a class for a while, some trouble got stirred up by someone or another or Coco got called in for something official. It's usually no big deal, someone will pop by eventually... but... well, that usually means I'm on my own for a bit..."

It doesn't take much imagination to figure out what Velvet's getting at; she gets left on her own, able to get picked off by someone like Cardin like on the day Izuku met her.

"Oh jeez, I'm sorry to hear that." Izuku saw Velvet sigh as she reached a strand of hair behind her hair.

"Thanks Izuku but... it's not something to be sorry about... it... it really is my own nest to roost in." Velvet seemed slightly nervous about saying that for some reason. "This wouldn't really be necessary if I didn't end up screwing everything up in our First Year. Everyone besides me managed to get their acts together and pass that Semester... and it was rough on all of us, to be perfectly honest. I was the only one who ended up just dropping the ball entirely, despite..." Velvet frowned, her eyes downcast as she shook her head. "Well, that doesn't matter so much; you've seen me when tutoring. I have a tendency to choke... and it was worse last year. A 'lot' worse." Velvet shrugged her shoulders at that.

"It's my own fault that this situation ended up like this, I really can't be mad at my Team if things pop up before they can get here that they have to deal with. They do try their best, after all. So I... I just have to grit my teeth and bear it. Try to cause as little trouble as possible, you know?"

"That might actually be causing the difficulties." Velvet blinked slightly, the rabbit Faunus turning to him as he spoke. "I know firsthand how nerves can get in the way. What methods have you tried already? My own method is to focus entirely on the task instead of the consequences, which tends to make me a little tunnel visioned at times, but it helps delay the panic until AFTER everything is done."

...

Instead of being met with much of a direct answer, Velvet instead looked at him confused for a moment, the young woman tilting her head slightly to the side. Finally it seemed like Velvet started to follow him, a quick 'Oh!' escaping her lips as she shook her head.

"Ah, no, Izuku, that's not exactly what I meant." Izuku blinked as Velvet brought her hands down in front of her, wringing them together as she looked at him. "I'm not saying that I should just accept my nerves and take my lumps from them, goodness no... that's... that's what got me into this situation in the first place. Obviously I need to move past them. That's why I've been studying with you and getting what help I could; I want to learn to get over that so I can pass these classes and join the rest of my team. I don't mean that I just have to grit my teeth and bare through that; if I do that, then I'm not changing anything and I'll just... fail all over again..." Velvet sighed as she shook her head.

"Oh, I see... yeah, I guess that does make sense..." Izuku murmured slightly as he sheepishly scratch the back of his head. "So... what did you mean then, Velvet?" The rabbit Faunus turned her head back up to look at him, her brown eyes meeting his emerald ones. However, what little resolve that he often found in Velvet in social or anxious situations seems to melt a bit as the young woman just offered a nervous smile and shook her head.

"Oh... don't worry about it. That was just me wandering off mentally, I guess. It's not a big deal, Izuku." She coughed into her fist slightly, slightly nervous and embarrassed, as she looks off down the hall. "Let's... let's just move on. This... this is a bit of a dreary subject to stay on..."

"Wait, Velvet just... look, I'm sorry I didn't understand what you meant there." Velvet paused, her cheeks a little red while he looked down a bit. "You were trying to say something and I kind of missed what you were saying by a mile, went right over my head. It probably didn't look all that great and I am sorry for that... but I do want to know what you meant. You're my friend too Velvet and I would like to be able to help you in what ways I can. So... well, what did you mean?" He saw Velvet pause, a bit of nervous energy built up in her as she looked down to the side. She hesitated, it's clear she didn't want to talk about this too much... but she sighed in the end.

"It's just like I said, it's my nest to roost in... and I don't want to cause more trouble for them, or for you now that you're part of this." Velvet just sadly shook her head, "Izuku... I messed up. The reason you're tutoring me so I can pass, the reason why Coco and the others have to take time out of their day to meet up with me after my classes... it's because I messed up. I have to own that... it isn't pleasant to own but, it is what it is. Everyone in our team had it rougher in the First Year and we all did what we could. The fact that I'm here while they all passed... that's on me." Velvet frowned as she continued to shake her head, an embarrassed look covering her face. "Despite that... everyone else has to be inconvenienced by it. If it were just me that had to go through all this stuff and be bothered by it, then it'd be fine. I earned this, these are the knocks I have to take... but in the end, it's just wasting everyone else's time too."

"My team has to deal with this constant back and forth, of essentially being a leg down in most of their classes. More than that, it's not exactly easy managing two sets of class schedules for your team and having to go through all the busy work with two different years worth of teachers. Before you came in, Coco and the others were doing everything they could to get me up to snuff so that I could pass this year... because Gods, there was an actual threat that I might just end up flunking out this year too because I'm such a nervous wreck and Coco, Fox and Yatsu really have been doing everything they can to help me..." Velvet heaves a sigh as she shakes her head.

"They're good people... and I hate that I've been such an imposition on them. So... I do the best I can to try to ease that. Coco's running a bit late because she got stopped by one of her own teachers to talk about an assignment, apparently we have a mission coming up sometime soon, and that's why she's not here. When this all started, Coco actually suggested just dropping part of her schedule and waiting in a spot for me to come to. It would've been easier on me but it would've stopped her from doing her own business in the meantime... so I just thought I'd do what I could and take that burden myself…"

"It's... why I was a little hesitant about you and Coco coming to help me deal with Cardin." Velvet smiled at Izuku as she nodded, her ears flopping a bit. "I really did appreciate it, Izuku... but at the same time, I felt bad. I'm only there for bullies like them because I messed up. I put myself in that position... and to have to be bailed out by others who put themselves out there to help me..." Velvet practically shrunk, the girl's nerve folding in on itself.

"I can't stop you all from helping me; you all wouldn't let me even if I tried. That's the kind of people you and Coco are. You just want to help people, and you have your own ways of doing it. It was something people didn't realize it during our First Year about Coco because she could be a little rough around the edges." There was a moment where Velvet smiled at that, though that smile quickly turned into a frown. "... Even I didn't realize it during my First Year with Coco..." A look of deep shame crossed Velvet's face as she spoke. While he'd seen Velvet be abashed or shy before, this was the first time she looks very much 'upset'.

"Hey, Vel, you there?!" Izuku and Velvet immediately stiffen up as Coco's voice calls out from around a bend, the stylish Huntress practically skidding on her heels as she made a quick turn. "Oh good, you're here... well I mean, of course you're here, you never wander off no matter how long I keep you waiting. Really sorry about that Vel." Velvet just smiled over at Coco, nodding her head as she turned to face her.

"Don't worry, nothing happened this time and Izuku even came by to keep me company." Izuku saw Coco's head swivel over to him, as the beret wearing Huntress just grinned at him.

"Awww, isn't that sweet. Thank you Deku, I really appreciate it!" He nodded head slowly, a bit flummoxed by the previous moments in his conversation with Velvet while said rabbit Faunus just nodded.

"I appreciate it too Izuku... sorry if I kept you from something else though." Coco scoffed at that, lighting flicking Velvet on the back of one of her ears in a playful manner, which caused the rabbit Faunus to jump a bit.

"Pssh, com on Vel. Even if Deku did, I'm sure he didn't mind spending some time chattin'. Now come on; we're gonna have a mission here in a week or so, so I need to start briefing you all on what details I got." Velvet nodded in firm understanding as Coco turned over to look at Izuku, giving him a slight wink. "Sorry Deku, need to know basis only. Once you get to be a big, tough Second Year, you'll understand. I'll see you around though, okay?"

"Y-Yeah, sure thing Coco." Before Izuku could get much more out, Coco and Velvet quickly moved along, the brown eyed Faunus tossing him an appreciative, if slightly apprehensive, smile over her shoulder as she and Coco waved him goodbye.

'Well...I suppose it makes sense that they also have some history to deal with.'


	71. 33 Flavors of Pain

"Miss Rose, would you pass me the sprocket wrench? I'm going to be disassembling a few bits of the armor here and I'm afraid I need that."

"Sure, no problem Tenya, I really don't need it today anyway all things considered. Could you pass me a few of your screwdrivers? Preferably the longer blade screwdrivers, flat head."

"Flat head hmmm? Interesting, though I'd have to ask why you'd go through with screws when I have to imagine that there's better ways of securing that to Crescent Rose that'd hold stronger under the conditions you're putting the weapon under."

"Well first off it's the scope so it's not like it's going to be taken most of the impact of either Crescent Rose's firing or me swinging it around, for one, and for another point it's easier to use some makeshift tools in order to unscrew something with a flat, linear notch if I need to make a quick repair out in the field. If, by some chance, the screws go out then I'm only losing out on a scope in the middle of the fight until I get time to recover it later... on the other hand, if the scope breaks and I can't easily detach it from Crescent Rose without some fancy tools, then I'm pretty much out any long-distance sniper fire for the entirety of a mission, or at least until I can get the necessary tools. No, simple is better here for potential field repairs."

"Fair enough, I hadn't thought about it from that angle. My armor rarely breaks under extreme circumstances... but then it's made of layers of metal and not glass... well, most of it anyway. So I don't quite have to worry as much about field repairs... although, all things considered, maybe I should start making preparations for that; if I ever go out into a rural or wilderness assignment, I'd essentially become dead weight should anything fail in my armor that'd require more than rudimentary or simplistic tools to fix."

"No harm in staying an Urban Hunter, though. I know Yang would probably really like only moving around big cities and seeing the sights there as part of your team, and Blake seems like that'd be a good fit for her too."

"Mmm, I wouldn't be so sure; Blake's actually got a knack for wilderness survival, tracking and stealth so she's quite capable there... and then there's Tsuyu who feels most at home in the wilderness. As much as I might ask for them to make allowances for us to work together well in an Urban environment, I need to do the same of myself so that we can work in a rural or wilderness environment, otherwise we're wasting Blake and Tsuyu's talents to a certain extent. So I'll need to start considering how I might better structure my armor so that I can more easily make field repairs to it..."

...

"Uuuuh... hi guys?"

Of all the things Izuku might've expected walking into the forge... okay, honestly, he should have expected that. Between Mei, Ruby and Tenya, Izuku knew quite a few people in his own peer group who worked very hard in terms of engineering and fixing things up. Heck, even Yang was a bit of a hand when it came to tools and equipment, though he never really got the chance to see her do stuff like that because she mostly worked on her motorcycle in Beacon's garage, whereas anytime he wanted to polish or repair Emerald Gust he came here. So whenever Izuku walked into the armory, Izuku was quite used to listening to people talk to themselves about what repaired they were making; heck, Mei often muttered to herself about her 'babies' while she was working in here.

Izuku'd just never really had the opportunity to listen to two or more of his friends talk about that stuff with each other before... honestly, his head kind of hurt as he tried to wrap his mind around what Ruby had just explained. The fact that Tenya was practically shoulder deep in his own armor as he slowly took various interior pieces apart while setting them off to the side on the table while Ruby carefully handled various lenses and scope structures didn't help his slight intimidation much. Nonetheless, as He spoke up he watched as two sets of eyes immediately snapped over to him. Tenya offered him a firm, if friendly, wave while Ruby broke out into a small smile as she quickly stood up.

"Deku, hey! Did you just get here?"

"Greetings Izuku, how are you doing today?"

"Uh, yeah, I did and I'm doing alright. Just stopping by to do some maintenance on Emerald Gust. Thought if Mei was here I might ask her about some things but, well." The two of them nodded as they put their tools to the side, the two walking up to Izuku as he set Emerald Gust down on the table, boots and gauntlets both.

"Oh that's neat! I was just working on an upgrade for Crescent Rose's scope; after I made that scope for Pyrrha, I figured it was about time I got around to fine-tuning Crescent Rose's long-distance capabilities too. Right now my girl's doing just fine lopping off heads, but right now the scope's a bit of an issue..."

"Huh? Not giving you the range you're looking for?"

"Yeah, but not in the way you're probably thinking; Crescent Rose is great from a distance and if I just modeled by new Scope after Pyrrha's it'd be even better... buuut that's only going to make the fact that I really can't use my scope from closer distances even worse." Ruby, experimentally, brought up one of the scopes she's been working on and hands it off to Izuku. He blinked for a moment before bringing it up to his eyes and-

"Holy woah, this thing zooms in close! If it weren't so blurry I think I could see inside your pores!" Ruby nodded as she took the scope back.

"Yeah; I really don't need to see every last hair on a Grimm's body when I'm trying to aim at them from not so far away but right now it's either my naked eye or the scope, no middle ground. So I'm working on trying to build a more comprehensive scope, something that'll have multiple lens that start a little bit closer than miles away." Izuku nodded before turning to Tenya.

"What about you Tenya? Working on something for your armor?" Tenya nodded as he turned back to his suit, his hands gesturing as he pointed out various aspects.

"Indeed: my time in the Tunnels helped make me acutely aware of how little my armor does for enhancing my physical capabilities beyond my speed and my ability to take hits. While Nora and I were very much capable of performing our... combination..." Izuku and Ruby choked down chuckled as Tenya seemed to shiver a bit, the young man readjusting his glasses. "It drained me quite a bit; right now most of what my armor is built around concerns the legs; the engines there greatly enhance my speed and give me some unique ability to dodge around or even empower my strikes, especially if I turn the throttle all the way on..." Tenya reached his hands up for his chin as he observed the rest of the armor.

"However, in terms of my strength or what I'm capable of carrying on me, the armor's mostly a net loss. It's probably not hard to imagine that it's heavy and, without the engines and the Wind Dust that powers them, it's probably no surprise that I'd be slowed down by it." Izuku and Ruby nodded as Tenya started rapidly gesturing again. "If I'm to be a proper Hero and Hunter and save people, I can't have the combined strain of the people I might carry on my back and the armor be too much for me to handle long-term. So I've aimed to somehow upgrade the design so that the armor supports my physical capabilities further..." Tenya reached around inside and, Izuku noticed that there was measuring tape inside a bit of the armor, some rough calculations written on a notebook nearby.

"The obvious answer, and the most low-tech one, would be hydraulics; using pistons and pumps in unison with my own muscles to enhance my strength. However, those can be bulky and the redesign I'd have to put my armor under would likely not be worth the final product. So I've been considering extending the lines that pump my Engine's Dust throughout my armor. In the same way that Wind Dust in the engines can give me a kick of speed and help me keep up despite the armor's weight, some negatively charged Gravity Dust here and there would lighten it elsewhere... and if I were to put that on the correct charge again at the right moment, it'd enhance my normal striking capabilities. Of course... well, there's opportunities and dangers that go along with that; my engines produce a great deal of heat as is, after all."Izuku and Ruby nodded, the rest of Tenya's thoughts having gone unsaid as he stood back up from his armor, rolling his neck out slightly.

...

'I kind of understand what he's saying?'

"What about you, Izuku?" Izuku blinked, his confusion and partial haze parting as Tenya looked back at his, the young man's usually frantic hands busy as he wiped them down with a bit of cloth.

"Me?"

"Yeah; you said you were going to try to ask Mei about some things if she was here and, well, knowing her..." The three of them paused for a moment and, in perfect unison, nodded in understanding.

"It's safe to assume that you mean some kind of upgrade. I have to admit, I'm a little surprised; your weapon being so similar to Miss Xiao Long's, I would figure your focus would be in much the same place; martial arts over the hardware." Despite the way it might've come off, Tenya seemed more interested than disapproving as he spoke, his hands having swung about a bit before they settled on his chin.

"Yeah Deku! Come on, don't leave is in the dark; what are you gonna do to your darling... girls, boys, I don't know how you'd classify Emerald Gust." Ruby's energy ran out for a moment as she realized the awkwardness in trying to translate her own affection for Crescent Rose to Emerald Gust.

"Well... I mean, that's kind of hard for me to say, because I really don't do this whole thing like you all do. I'm not much of an engineer... heck, I really don't even make any of the parts for Emerald Gust myself. So I was thinking maybe something simple to change up or to pay someone else to make some other changes." The other two nodded as they listen in as he pointed down to Emerald Gust. "So something I was thinking was replacing the pellet ammo I've been using for slug rounds; don't get me wrong, the pellets have been serving okay when I've been going up against people with weaker Auras or training robots, but against Grimm or things with more powerful Aura they're just not cutting it. I was thinking some Slug Ammunition in the future, possibly even some APDS rounds for thicker skinned Grimm, would be good."

"I do like that idea if what you're looking for is more punch; pellets would be good if you were firing your shotgun from a relatively longer range but, like Yang, you're firing from a pretty close up distance most of the time. Yang mostly just prefers the pellets because they're cheaper and she doesn't have to worry about changing out ammo on the fly if she comes across someone who might not take a shot from a slug too well." Izuku nodded understandingly; he would imagine that, between Yang's natural strength and ability in close combat and a shotgun blast from a slug, that most normal people, or people with small Auras, would probably be close to dying if they tried to go toe-to-toe with Yang. Beyond that, Tenya just shrugged. "Given that you've built safeties into your gauntlets and the nature of your Smashes, I imagine you wouldn't face the same dilemma as Yang though."

"Speaking of Yang, I was actually thinking of integrating that design choice of Ember Celica to Emerald Gust." Ruby is the one who notably perked up at as Izuku pointed to Emerald Gust's firing and loading mechanism. "Something I'm noticing that was a bit of a hassle for me was that, in the Tunnels, anytime I wanted to change out Ammo for different effects or strategic considerations, I'd 'have' to do it before a fight and then, from there, I'd be stuck with my choice for the rest of it, regardless of whether it's what I needed in the rest of the fight. I'm a melee-focused guy and reloading in the middle of a fight just isn't feasible for me... and when I run out of ammo, that becomes a real problem. So I'd want to be able to reload it quickly and on the fly..."

"So like with how Yang reloads, right?" Ruby immediately jumped in as she scooted Izuku over, producing a screwdriver and a wrench as she immediately went to town on Emerald Gust. Within a matter of minutes, much of the metal casing of Emerald Gust basically fell apart as Ruby undid a few last bolts and screws, showing off the internal shotgun mechanisms of their gauntlets. "Yeah, like I thought, Emerald Gust uses a more typical pump shotgun loader; you're individually loading rounds into it and them cocking them into some kind of chamber for them to be funneled in after each shot. That would take time." Ruby brought over a piece of paper and a pencil and, within moments, sketched out a crude but understandable sketch of Ember Celica. "Yang's belt mechanism makes the entire thing a lot easier; she just feeds the belt of rounds into the slot, the natural cocking mechanism brings it into place for it to be fired out here and, once the belt is spent, it ejects from the other side, ready for a new belt to be fed into place."

"Yeah, that sounds great!" Izuku saw in a bit of awe, Tenya nodding his head in understanding as he watched from behind him. Though this wasn't Tenya's specialty, it was clear that the young man was taking his own mental notes as Ruby went on.

"Yeah, but probably not for your wallet." Izuku blinked as Ruby said this, the silver eyed young woman having tapped on Emerald Gust's mechanisms. "This isn't just some minor modification being made to the extremity, this is an entirely different loading mechanism to what you have in Emerald Gust. That means that you're going to have to tear this right here out and then replace it with something more akin to Yang's design. It's all going to have to fit within the space provided too and it's going to need to be able to work with the firing mechanism here... Ember Celica was built from the ground up with this consideration in mind... though not by Yang," Ruby stuck her tongue out at Izuku as she chuckled, "so don't worry about that, Yang didn't design hers either. So you're in the clear as far as that goes. Anyway, it was designed with this mechanism in mind... here, you might have to see a bit more work done on Emerald Gust to help modify it to fit with this new loading mechanism."

"... So I suppose being able to fit and switch between two belts of different ammo types that I can hop between on the fly would be even trickier?"

Both Ruby and Tenya immediately went pale as he spoke up. Tenya just readjusted his glasses as he didn't even bother speaking up while Ruby just hummed to herself for a moment. The young woman did her best to sketch around on the paper besides her, tapping on Emerald Gust as she does so. After a moment she sighed and pushed the paper away while she goes to work on reassembling Emerald Gust.

"I... really don't know Deku. I mean, yeah, it'd be trickier, but I'm not even exactly sure what you'd do in order to accommodate that. Two belts of ammo, being able to switch them while they're inside the gauntlet and doing so with the space allotted by Emerald Gust's current body? That's a lot of tech you'd be shoving in there... I'm not even sure if it'd fit or if the final result would be balanced for throwing punches at all. I dunno, I'd really have to take some time to think on it but... bleh." Izuku smiled slightly as Ruby reassembled Emerald Gust for him.

"Hey it's no problem. I didn't really expect to get any advice at all so this was way more than I thought I'd have when I came down here. So thanks, I appreciate it." Tenya and Ruby smiled, though Tenya did so while readjusting his glasses.

"Apologies for not being of more help myself; I'm afraid that when it comes to weapons tech that I'm not entirely in my roadhouse." Izuku nodded understandingly as Tenya said this, his hands flying about rapidly while Ruby just grinned.

"Hey it's not problem Deku. This if fun for me! I love weapons and I love picking them apart, checking them out and then thinking of ways to fix or improve them. It's why I love Crescent Rose so much! She's got so many parts and bits that I can fiddle with and improve bit by bit until she's the perfect, most wonderful weapon to ever exist!" Izuku saw Ruby tossed a slightly longing look over to Crescent Rose as she spoke and this caused him to just smile and nod. His friends really were... interesting people, he'd certainly say that much.

"Well Tenya, if arms and armaments aren't your specialty... then given what you know, what would you suggest as an upgrade?" Tenya blinked slightly as Izuku addressed him, having not quite expected the turn in the conversation after how everything with Ruby had gone down. Izuku watched as the wheels turned behind Tenya's eyes, the young man reaching up for his glasses, plucking them off his face, and then cleaning them. The action was clearly meant to busy Tenya's usually energetic hands while he thought and, after a moment and with the lenses freshly cleaned, Tenya placed his glasses back on the bridge of his nose and his hands went to work, flailing about.

"Well, while Ruby's suggestions and your questions turned toward a more offensive stance, which I can understand and even applaud as a good offense is a sure way to end a fight before it has a chance to start, I would still caution on keeping your defenses at the ready. Most Grimm in especially dire circumstances will be coming at us in waves upon waves with dozens, if not hundreds, of them in a pack. There's very few quick offenses which would allow you to end such trials quickly, and so you'd have to play the longer game of attrition and, for that, a good defense is necessary." Tenya flailing continues as he pointed over at Emerald Gust. "For right now, as strong as the armor on your gauntlets and boots are, it isn't doing much for you defensively; Grimm are more interested in gutting you and so they're bypassing your gauntlets all-together, and most human foes will be keen to just avoid your armored parts if they're going to go for an attack on your arms."

"Now, don't mistake me for belittling Emerald Gust's work in regards to defense; it's obviously been a big help as far as allowing you to push away or deflect blows from metal weapons that, even with Aura, you might've found tricky to bounce away from you with your bare hands. However, I think there's more to be done there..." Tenya reached over and picked up Emerald Gust's Gauntlet. "Right now Emerald Gust only goes up just past your wrist; it's a gauntlet so that's sensible design for what it's meant for, much like Yang's Ember Celica... however, I think you'd find a few benefits to extending the armor up the rest of your arms." Tenya made a few motions with his hands, going from Emerald Gust to Izuku's own arms for comparison. "Extending the metal up gives you a lot more surface area to block with and allows for more area for the Gauntlet to work with; as Ruby said, right now the thing working against you as far as adding more features to Emerald Gust is space…"

"However, if you gave it more space, there would be more room for components and parts to help things along, allowing for more of the equipment you might be looking for, similar to how I'm able to use my armor to store different equipment or upgrades, such as the engines in the legs and what upgrades I'm looking into for my boots or other bits. Furthermore, if you were to flair out the armor around your forearms, well, you might just be able to deflects blows entirely just by letting them glance off that armor." Izuku nodded, the image in his head clearly forming.

"Yeah but the exchange would be taking direct hits to Emerald Gust, which might damage it eventually especially if you're using them to tank some tough blows." Ruby called out from over her shoulder, the silver eyed young woman having already gotten back to work on Crescent Rose.

"Yes... I have to do repairs to my own armor just for that very reason. Still, you asked for my opinion and I gave it. I hope it was to your satisfaction, Izuku." Izuku smiled at that, nodding his head.

"Of course it was Tenya; you really know your stuff when it comes to this, and I appreciate the advice." Tenya just smiled back, the young man offering a quick snap of his hand as he did so.

"Of course; I'm an Iida, after all. It would be a shame to myself and my family's legacy if I didn't know my stuff when it came to these sorts of questions Izuku. Now, I can't help you in how you might use more space to put in some of what you're imagining... but, well, that would be my general advice as least." Izuku nodded in understanding as Tenya looked back over to his disassembled armor. "Now if you'll excuse me, I should get back to work; I only have so long before Yang decides to... 'bust my chops' as it were over having been gone so long." Izuku chuckled and nodded, letting Tenya get back to work on his armor. Still of the mood to talk to two of his more technically inclined friends, Izuku ended up moving over to Ruby, the silver eyed girl enraptured by Crescent Rose, as he stood back a ways to avoid getting in her way.

"So... you've made Crescent Rose yourself right?" Ruby nodded, a smile on her face as she continued to work on her weapon. "Well... with how much you work on... her, you're bound to have put some really cool stuff into her, right?" Ruby paused her work for a moment, a wide grin on her face as she turned to face him, a proud gleam in her silver eyes.

"'Bound to have put some really cool stuff into her'. Of course Deku, I wouldn't be half the weapon expert I consider myself to be if I didn't." Ruby put her tools to the side as she brought Crescent Rose, admittedly without its scope, up. "Gosh where do I even start... well, I guess first things first, you know what type of weapon Crescent Rose is, an HCSS, but I put my own little twist on that design; you see, most Sniper Scythes usually make the firing mode and the scythe components on very separate ends; you don't want to end up accidentally firing your weapon while your swinging it about, right? You could seriously hurt someone and a Sniper Scythe is already so hard to use that you really shouldn't complicate it too much more..." Ruby gave a quick grin as she nodded her head. "But I did! I ended up making the length of Crescent Rose's shaft her barrel and kept it from getting locked off whenever the Scythe became the main mode used. Ordinarily this would be tricky to do but, well, with my Semblance I can actually make this work pretty well; I can use Crescent Rose to propel myself using its 'massive' recoil and, thanks to the design, I can keep her Scythe head out and use it as a makeshift stand to help keep me grounded whenever I'm firing."

Izuku could imagine why that would be dangerous; after all, if he did something similar with Emerald Gust, how would Izuku keep it from firing at practically all times in a fight. Still, given the way Ruby describes it, he could actually very easily see her point.

"I didn't use it in the spar against Kacchan because... well, it gives a lot of kick and I was kind of being risky enough shooting him directly with the sniper rifle. I didn't want to hurt him by using the recoil to propel one of my swings..." Yeesh, Izuku could imagine. At any rate, Ruby seemed to shake of her own spooky thoughts as she went on. "Let's see, then there's the head!" Izuku watched, with some fascination, as Ruby fiddled around with a few mechanisms on the shaft and, with a pop, Crescent Rose's head somewhat detached from the body of the shaft. To his surprise, Ruby then went on to swivel the head around and rotated it. "Now, usually there's a bit of give in the mechanisms of a Sniper Scythe already; there has to be for the Mechashift to not tear everything apart, right? Furthermore, it's better for complicated equipment like this to have a little give; it isn't solid metal and wood tied together, it'd a series of contraptions working together. If it was just solid and immovable, chances are that with each swing there could be a chance of something giving under the weight…"

"Well, I took that and modified it further, making it possible to swivel Crescent Rose's head around! Originally it was just supposed to be so I could use it while its primarily in sniper mode as that makeshift stand like I said but... well, I've thought of a few other things. Plus, with the additional space I've made in there, I can totally use some other stuff... once I think of it, and I will think of it!" Ruby smiled nice and wide as she practically hugged Crescent Rose to her. "I'll keep working on Crescent Rose until she's the best Sniper Scythe ever made in the history of mankind! That's what my girl deserves!"

...

Ruby blushed a bit as she took note of Izuku and Tenya staring a bit, the young girl laughing nervously as she put Crescent Rose down.

"Hehehe... sorry. Got a little... sorry."

"Worry not Ruby. All of us have our eccentricities. Besides, there are worse things than being impassioned about your craft." Tenya declared with certainty as he turned back to his suit of armor, while Izuku just nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. I mean, Ruby, I've gone off about Hunters and my dream of being one and you all... well, heck, you were downright supportive. Tenya's right; it's not bad that you really care about working on your craft. It's part of your dream and I think it's pretty cool that you know how to make your own weapon and make it better... I certainly didn't make Emerald Gust myself." Izuku scratched the back of his head, Ruby just grinning a bit as she shrugged.

"Well hey, whoever did make it for you, I'm sure they'd be pretty happy you were taking upgrading it and taking care of it so seriously. It might not be your... girl, boy, baby, whatever-" Ruby comically shook her head while Izuku smiled at that, "-but you're doing good by whoever made it, so that's what counts!"

Following that, Izuku stuck around the forge for a bit, talking to Tenya and Ruby idly about their own weapons or armor and about Emerald Gust. It was interesting; as often as he talked or thought about his own dreams and what Izuku needed to do in order to make them a reality, his friends had their own interests and their own means of accomplishing their dreams. Izuku might not have known much about weapons or armor or engineering yourself... but, well, he could certainly say that his life was richer for having two friends who did.

Even if they could be a little intimidating about it from time to time.

* * *

 _During the last moments of the Color Festival..._

'Finally!'

'My way too chatty team leader is off with her screaming bitch of a sister and Deku, and that pink psycho grabbed Ren and Todoroki, so I am finally free to do the crap I want without them hovering over my shoulder or asking dumb questions.'

'And just in time too,' he thought to himself as he signed the application sheet not too long before the chance for entrants ended. There wasn't a big turnout to compete, but a lot of people wanted to at least watch with a kind of sick fascination.

"Feh," Like Bakugo cared what the yammering masses thought. It was his chance to finally let loose and indulge himself in a way he never could at school with his team. It wasn't like he was ashamed, but it'd lead to questions or crap like that. Izuku was the only one that knew, as far as he knew, and Izuku was smart enough to keep quiet about it. He made his way up to the stage, getting the cricks out of his neck as he growled as he was forced alongside a short girl with pink and brown hair.

'Jeez, and I thought Todoroki had some fucking weird hair,' he then looked over at the rest of the candidates, 'but it is at least better then next to that flop sweating fat fuck of a guy at the furthest end of the line.'

For some reason, Bakugo found it a challenge to take his eyes off the midget. Maybe it was the hair, or maybe the way something about her pricked at the back of his neck. Whatever it was, he'd respond to it the way he knew best.

"Shouldn't they get you a booster seat, short stack?"

By being an asshole...

Her brown and pink eyes lazily rolled over to him, looked him up and down, then let out a snort before focusing on the announcer in front of them.

'Oh great, so this bitch thinks she is better than me. Oh well,' He picked up his weapon, sat down, and waited as the target was lined up in front of him and every other contestant.

'I'll show her. I'll show everyone why I'm the best at everything!'

"Ready? Seeet...GO!"

'And that includes eating ice cream!'

His roaring battle cry was cut off by the spoonfuls of vanilla ice cream he was shoveling into his mouth, not even needing to waste his semblance as he just chomped like a wild man. Ice cream headaches were for chumps! Attendants were ferrying ice cream as quickly as they could to the contestants, though the fat fuck barely got past few bowls before toppling over like gravity finally decided it had to deal with him. Unlike that waste of everything, the midget was just destroying her own bowls, tiny quick spoonfuls without even stopping for water like some of those poor saps were.

'Don't they know it'd just fill your stomach even more?' Bakugo chuckled. Just meant he was more likely to win compared to these scrubs.

'Except the fucking midget won't stop!'

There were moments even as they ate that her eyes would meet his, almost daring him to keep pace.

'Ha!; He would have laughed out loud at that, but his mouth was full and the best he could manage was a garbled "pbhubhubhu!". It was almost invigorating to have someone keep pushing. 'Considering more and more of our pissant competition was dropping out, she is the only one that was a real challenge.'

It all eventually dissolved into a blur of white, pink, and brown that left his head spinning even as a hand grabbed him and dragged him to his feet. "This years' winner, ladies and gentlemen! Everyone give him a big round of applause!" The cheers were long and loud, helping bring him back to certain immediate facts about reality.

'I'm standing.'

'I'm getting gaudy plastic championship belt handed to me.'

'The crowd is cheering.'

'The midget is pouting.'

'I'm Fucking Awesome.'

It wasn't long before they were all being ushered off the stage and around to the back where he, pinky, and some other schmuck were handed gift cards for an ice cream parlor in Vale. When the attendant handing out the prizes asked if there was any way to improve the contest, there was only one he could logically think of. "Get a flavor better then fuckin' vanilla." From the way the midget was nodding, she seemed to agree with him. Then she looked over to him and quirked an eyebrow.

'What can she not talk or something? Nothing about her I've seen makes her look shy, so she must be a mute midget.'

'Fantastic.'

'Ah well. She is...probably asking a question about my favorite flavor. If not, she can't really say she wasn't, can she?'

"Neapolitan's obviously the best." She actually looked surprised, and some other expression he couldn't get. Probably a single-flavor puritan, or a mint chocolate-chip weirdo like Deku. "When it's done right, you get the best of everything. Could eat that all fuckin' day." Now she was blushing and making actual gestures.

'Sign language? Crap!' He just blinked and tilted his head to the side, about to say he had no clue what she was saying when they were overcast by a massive shadow. Oh great. It's fat bastard and a few guys behind him. Maybe they were helping to carry his lardy ass, but Katsuki couldn't bring himself to care. "There something you want, wide load?"

"You cheated." the man warbled out, beady eyes trying to glare at them in an intimidating way, leaning forward and trying to further intimidate since he was almost as tall as he was wide. Made him more bored than anything, and the yawning girl next him just made the lardy prick glare even more. "You two used your semblances or something. I deserved to win!" With that he saw his three little flunkies flank him. "So you're gonna hand over that belt and those prizes."

Bakugo barked out a laugh, "You're gonna need more than one belt, fatty. And definitely need more friends." He started to roll his right arm, trying to figure out where to start when he noticed something about pinky out of the corner of his eye.

She was coiled like a spring, despite how she tried to look casual. Everything about her screamed 'I'm some kind of Huntress and you are so beneath me it's sad'. Maybe she was a student from another continent, or maybe just older then she looked.

Bakugo could never tell with woman, so he decided to ask something else. "Oi, midget." She frowned at him. Thankfully for her he was feeling generous. "Want the appetizers or the main course?"

Now that seemed to surprise her, and everyone else from the sound of their sputtering, before she pointed to lard ass and shook her head. Since she couldn't talk she decided instead to make a gesture imitating a big belly, letting him guess her meaning.

'The main course is too fatty for her tastes.'

Bakugo could respect that, cracking his knuckles and chuckling as he just walked right up to the wannabe adipose Faunus while she swooped around behind him towards two of the three pissants. For a moment he thought about actually using his semblance, but that'd probably cause more problems than anything. So with only a small flex of aura into his legs, he effortlessly leapt up to get rolly poly in a forward headlock, his normal person strength not even enough to get Bakugo's attention as he gave the head a slow jerk and forced the entire body to turn to face a new direction. Part of it was so he could throw his opponent without hitting anyone else, but it was also to see if the little pink punk needed any help.

One guy was already on the ground, and the other was already in mid mid-air spin with the girls ankles around his neck, all of it a blue of pink, brown, and crying as the guy flipped like a pancake and hit the ground with a thud. The third one had already run off, but damn if that wasn't really impressive.

Not one to be outdone, he leaned back and began to topple his own opponent forward, Katsuki rolling as he hit the ground and giving his prey a shove. The poor rotund man could only cry out in alarm as he rolled like a bowling back and into a wall, which shook from the hit.

'Poor wall. Anyway,' Bakugo casually got to his feet and dusted himself off, looking over at his makeshift partner who was standing smugly on top of the two groaning men. He snorted loudly. "Yeah...well mine's bigger." She rolled her eyes at that, but focused on him when he held his fist out. "But you were still kinda badass."

There was a long moment where she stared at him before she finally smirked and bumped her tiny fist against his.

'Alright. Maybe she is kinda cool.'

When they emerged from the back of the stage, it was some brand new dork in a bowler hat that was waiting for them. "Ahh. Was wondering where you'd run off to Neo." The redhead looked over at Bakugo. "You make a friend?" This time the apparently named Neo nodded and began making some, to Katsuki, incomprehensible gestures he was only just getting the jist of before she finished and the guy nodded. "No kiddin'? Well, I suppose I can introduce the both of us." With that he took off his hat and nodded cordially. It took Bakugo a moment to realize that yes, the guy wore eyeliner, but something about him pricked at his neck like Neo did. Probably some kind of Hunter too. "The name's Roman Torchwick, and my associate here is Miss Neapolitan."

'What?'

" _Neopolitan's obviously the best,"_ the statement just rang in his ears for a moment, as Roman and Neapolitan stared and each other, and then shrugged.

He found his jaw working open slightly as he looked to said Neapolitan, who was grinning and made a biting motion at the air. And there went most of his ability to think, managing to at least introduce himself before the weird duo started to walk away. As Neo brushed by, she paused long enough to blow in his ear, causing him to jump and sputter as she simply sauntered away, though not without a certain swing to her hips he couldn't get himself to ignore. When he finally came back to his senses, there were two things he quickly realized:

One, 'That midget bitch stole his belt!'

Two, 'When he saw her again he'd punch her smug fucking face in!'

* * *

 **E/N: Ending us off (and starting something amazing) we have 33 Flavors of Pain by Preventer Squall. Also meet the stories true OTP.**

 **-Shovern.**

 **Hey, we are finally bringing back Bakugou to the story. He kind of fell behind for a bit, but it's good to see him actually start moving forward again.**

 **-Wind-Waker**

 **a/n: Next update'll be on the 5th, as normal**


	72. The Pancake On The Stove

"GET OVER HERE IZUKU, MAGNHILD WANTS TO BOOP YOU!"

"I REALLY DON'T THINK THAT'S A GOOD IDEA NORA!"

Once again Izuku found himself in the fray with Nora Valkyrie, sparring with her in a friendly little match so that Izuku might have the chance to improve himself. Or, well, 'friendly' in that case was with Nora. Which was to say, Nora would absolutely clobber him with Magnhild and then feel bad about the beat down later if he let her get on top of him.

Which, well, he really wasn't going to allow if he could help it.

The pair started the fight pretty close together; in the end, it really wasn't either of their styles to start off separated and go from range, even if Izuku had to from time to time in some fights, so it was better if they both just got in swinging. Apparently his training over the last few weeks since his last spar with Nora had been helping a lot because, well, he was able to just get in her face first and start throwing his fists around. Emerald Gust was ready to go and he even started to push 5% of One For All into his right hook as it flew out, ready to try and get a solid hit on Nora before she could get in one on him. He was so close too, he knew it. He 'just' had her with that punch... but he watched as Nora's skin and body flared with the energy of her Aura and the bubbly bomber quickly ducked out of the way of his hit, causing it to go wild along with the power of his Smash.

Izuku quickly grit his teeth and started getting ready to avoid Nora's own flurry of blows, the young woman 'still' able to swing her hammer around like a madwoman, and perhaps even faster now than she had been able to previously! Izuku quickly used Emerald Gust to bounce one of the potential blows away and, for a moment, he swore he heard the metal groan under the pressure of Nora's assault. Izuku dodged out of the way of her third swing, the young woman's enthusiasm having sent her second swing going off wild in an entirely different direction. However, in doing so Izuku found that he had to take a moment to push 5% of One For All throughout his body to help duck himself out of the way of the swing. Taking a deep breath to recover from that, he went in for another couple swings and, again, he thought that he was going to hit Nora, he just felt it... but again, her body shined bright and Nora used the power of her Aura to help push herself away from his hit.

'Man, that's impressive...and frustrating.'

But putting that aside, it was time to avoid Nora who, this time, seemed intent on making sure she hit him as all three swings threatened to hit home. Fortunately for Izuku, he bounced the first blow off of the guard of Emerald Gust, quickly jumped over the second and then brought both gauntlets up into a bit of a guard as he absorbed as much of the energy of the blow as he could before pushing it away.

'I didn't even need One For All this time!' a slightly giddy smile covering his face, 'How about that?'

With renewed vigor Izuku went in for another couple swings and, although they weren't as close, Izuku could tell by the fact that Nora's Aura flared to life that one of them might have. It still astounded him; he knew he was technically capable of it on a certain level but everyone seemed to be able to bring out their Aura and power with a speed and reliability that he still sometimes had difficulty with.

That thought would be rubbed in as, after successfully parrying a blow from Magnhild away... Izuku found himself in a bad spot. The parry had worked but the momentum of the swing had knocked him off his feet slightly, putting him out of his stance. Nora had prepared to take full advantage as she reared back with Magnhild, an almost manic excitement in her eyes. Izuku's breathing hastened as he closed his eyes, doing his best to draw upon One For All, to draw upon his Aura. He reached in, trying to activate it, trying to turn on the power, to turn on the microwave so that it could heat the egg...

 **SMACK!**

But he was sent flying head over heels as he tumbled across the ground, practically rolling before he slammed into a nearby wall, slightly dizzied as he crumpled onto the ground.

'That... that really hurt,' he felt dazed, 'even if my Aura took the entirety of the hit.'

"Oh jeez, you okay Izuku? I didn't hurt you too bad did I? That one looked like it really stung!" Nora winced as, for a moment, she let Magnhild droop to her side. Izuku winced slightly as he reached up to rub where his head, having hit it against the wall as part of the impact, but Izuku did his best to smile at his teammate.

"I'm okay Nora. That one was just a pretty rough hit. Give me a second before we start back up?" Nora smiled as she nodded.

"Sure thing Fearless Leader! Besides, I could use a bit of a break; with how close a lot of those hits have been getting, you've been close to creaming me!" Izuku felt his smile grow at Nora's words. As much as he doubted he could really 'cream' Nora, her enthusiasm in saying so did help put the pain aside for a moment. Still he just heaved a sigh as he let his arms relax for a moment.

"Thanks Nora but I'm not so sure about that. With how fast you are at summoning your Aura out, I don't think a lot of those hits really would've stood a chance." At that... Nora blinked slightly, tilting her head to the side. Confused by her apparent confusion, Izuku pointed at her. "I mean, Nora, you were glowing with Aura. You're pulling it out from your Soul to push into your body to help dodge. That's what I mean." Nora nodded, though with a slightly goofy smile on her face as she grins at him.

"I mean, I got that Izuku, but I'm just confused by how you're referring to it. Summoning my Aura, pulling it out... you make it sounds like I'm turning it on and off."

'... Wait, now I'm confused,' Izuku tilted his head to the side, very abundantly curious, as Nora offers a friendly grin.

"Well, it's probably not that obvious to someone who didn't get his Aura till so late because... well, it's just something you learn by doing. It gets ingrained in you. I don't pull my Aura out Izuku, that'd take waaay too much time in the middle of a fight. I just constantly keep it on!"

...

"Huh?" Izuku blinked again as Nora stroked her chin.

"Well... think of it like a pancake on a stove!" Nora set Magnhild down to the side, her grin wide as she waved her hands about. "So like, a pancake. You can't just keep turning the stove top on and off in order to heat it up right? It's not gonna work like there! There won't be enough heat being evenly distributed for one so the pancake will never actually cook all the way through! Even if you got the stove to burn hot enough on each individual turn on, you'd probably just burn some bits of the pancake while keeping the rest of it all goopy! You got to keep the stove on the entire time at a good level to keep the heat running through the entire thing, that's how you get it to cook. Same with Aura; I don't just keep deactivating and reactivating my Aura in the middle of a fight, that costs way more energy than it saves! So I just keep it running at a constant level and only occasionally let it burn hotter whenever I need it. You get it Izuku?"

'...Yeah, I do on some level,' he guessed. Keeping it running at all times meant that he wouldn't constantly have to reach back in and grab for it whenever he needed it, expending all that effort to do so in the middle of a fight. If he just kept his Aura on at a consistent pace, it'd be easy to jack it up every now and then to act as a boost to his speed when he'd need it or to help tank a blow. Funny that he didn't think about it despite his Aura being his... 'but I guess it is like Nora said. A while ago, I didn't have Aura and thought I never would. Same thing with…'

"Aaaah..." His breath left him all at once as he felt like a shot suddenly hit him, his eyes wide as his mind started going a mile a minute. "AAAAH! Nora!" Immediately Izuku flew to his feet, his sudden movements enough to surprise Nora as his breathing and speaking picks up. "THAT'S IT, NORA, THAT'S IT!"

"The pancake on the stove... IS ME!"

As he made that loud proclamation, it echoed throughout the training arena, giving it a slight reverb. The pair of them stand there silently for a moment, Nora just staring at him with a slightly surprised look on her face while he just point at himself.

"Izuku... like, don't get me wrong, I'm 'totally' thrilled that you're really embracing the pancake here!" Nora said with a genuine grin, though one that simultaneously seemed a bit nervous. "... But are you okay? You didn't hit your head too hard, did you?" Izuku flinched slightly at that, a sheepish expression crossing his face.

"Ah, no, I didn't mean it literally Nora, I'm not really a pancake." he loosened up a bit, shaking himself off before a smile came to his face. "But I get it; up until now I've just been summoning- my Semblance only when I really need it, in the places I need it. Like turning the dial on a stove on and off, but if I do that my reaction time gets slower and slower with every move. Which means..." Izuku braced himself, clenching his entire body, flexing every muscle as he tried to get ready for the rush of power as he started to summon forth 5% of One For All. Not in any one place for any specific burst of power... but generally, all throughout his body, starting at the tips of his toes and rising up. "I just need to keep the heat on the entire time! Imagining the energy that used to be in one place..."

'Spreading throughout my entire body!' As his jaw clenched and his teeth slightly grind, he finished the thought in his mind as his skin started to glow in its entirety with that gold and red hue that he'd taken to know as One For All being concentrated in his physical form. It felt like a wildfire rushing through him; 5% of One For All was the absolute limit of what he could reasonably control, after all, so even as he pushed it throughout he could feel the strain of it on his entire being. His skin stretched as his muscles bulged, enlarging as they strained to contain the raw energy being pushed through them. Izuku's bones creaked under the force that they were being put under and his nerves, while not screaming in his ears as they had when he'd pushed his body beyond its limits, made their displeasure known as a light, thrumming pain spread throughout him.

He didn't know if he could hold that power; after all, it was just a random chance, one little sentence spoken by a friend, that had given him the idea. Had he properly trained enough to wield One For All in such a way? Could his body even handle it, or would the strain of trying to push it everywhere at once just break him in a new and terrifying way. There was a slight panic that filled him at that thought and, for a moment, he feared that it might just come to pass. However, before his fear could take over, before that doubt in his ability, his worthiness, of One For All, could consume him... he felt it. Deep within his Soul.

 **A Power that One Person improves**

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 **Before it is handed off to another**

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 **That continues to grow as its passed along**

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 **A cultivated power**

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 **That allows you, a Broken Soul**

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 **To Save those in need of a Hero**

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 **The Truth behind your Strength**

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 **The Gift granted by Your Hero**

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 **One For All**

'I need One For All's power surging through me, continuously! The 5% that I can use!' Just then, it all clicked. In one instant, the red scars that formed across his skin faded and only the golden glow remained, the brightness of which only seemed to increase as it overtook his entire being. Unknown to Izuku, even his eyes are shining bright with this energy as his entire body seemed to cast a light just from the power pushing through him. Sparks flew across his skin as he struggled to contain all this power... but he did it. His hold onto One For All's power despite himself. He could feel it in him.

'I've done it.'

"Gotta say Fearless Leader, I'm really proud of you; using pancakes as a metaphor to control your Semblance, you've been learning!" Nora said with a wide smile, her grip on Magnhild tightening in anticipation as that battle lust seemed to grow within her.

"Thanks... I guess if there was one person who'd appreciate a metaphor like that, it'd be you Nora..." He said through clenched teeth, his bulging muscles straining to contain 5% of One For All as it coursed through him.

"... Hey, can you even move right now, Izuku?" Nora asked, for a moment her excitement for battle overtaken by a slight concern.

"I... I really don't know, Nora." He grunted as he tried to manage this power coursing through him.

...

"Want to find out?" He didn't even need a second to think on it.

"Yes." Judging by the grin on Nora's face, she didn't need much time to think on it either.

Especially while she was rushing him, Magnhild seeming ready for a harsh swing.

He took a deep breath as he tried to flex his muscles, in preparation for making his body move. Getting used to One For All, feeling it course throughout him, was an entirely new experience and one that he had to take a second to get used to. Well, that second was all Nora needed in order to close the distance between the pair of them and started swinging. All three looked to be right on top of him too, as Nora's wild swing was aimed for his torso and he was pretty sure, one for his legs. With a wince he willed his body to move, suspecting that it was all going to hurt a bit. He brought his arms up to parry Magnhild away, expecting the-

 **CLANG!**

T-The... The hammer to just be bashed away from him, bouncing right off of Emerald Gust?

'Holy woah! I moved so fast!'

Well, he was used to moving fast when he was using One For All like this, but only for the short bursts necessary to get him into place. Now though, now he was powering it through his muscles at the same time, letting it soak into his bones... he wasn't just as fast as he was under the influence of One For All, he was stronger now. Heartier. More powerful. Nora seemed to be equally as taken aback by his quick movement and the apparent ease with which he pushed Magnhild off in tandem with Emerald Gust. Still, that just seemed to get her even more excited as the bubbly bomber took a moment to spin and go for her next swing. Again, in a burst of speed that he vaguely knew but were in no way used to he jumped out of the way, easily dodging out of the way of her hit. Nora came in for another swing and, once more, he bashed Magnhild away in a parry that just pushed the giant hammer out of the way.

It left Nora wide open!

With a shout as he felt a slight bit of pain from pushing his body using One For All, he charged in toward Nora, fists reared back as he felt himself speeding up, felt that power rushing through him! With a flurry of blows hw swung; once, twice, three times! He was faster! He'd never used One For All like that on the offense, it just had an entirely different feel to it! The first attack was spot on; Nora tried her best to duck out of the way but his fist just 'drilled' into her shoulder, the woman groaning as her Aura sparked as it absorbed as much of the blow as possible. Still, it seemed like he pressured her in just the wrong way as her hands just slipped open, allowing Magnhild to drop to the ground. his next two swings were equally on point and it seemed like Nora was off her footing from the first hit. She watched both of his fists approach and she took 'special' care to notice his second right hook, the one he was building his Smash up in. Nora took the other punch to the ribs, groaning a bit under the force of it, before the light of her Aura shined to help push her body of the way of his Smash, leaving it flying uselessly off in a random direction.

He probably should've expected that Nora, one of his teammates, would've caught on to how he used his Smash in a fight... should probably keep that in mind for the future so he didn't become too predictable in a long, drawn out fight.

Still, if the hits he got in were made Nora second guess herself, she certainly didn't show it. That bright, cheerful, excited grin stayed plainly on her face as she quickly cart wheeled around him and, in the middle of it, picked up Magnhild and took a mighty swing with that hammer. He pushed it away again with his gauntlets and, one more, he went in for the assault. His swings were true but, for the first, Nora was actually able to dodge out of the way... but only once. HIs assault and the speed of it seemed to take Nora too far off guard as she seemed unable to even use her Aura to get away from his next two attacks. With a swing of his left he landed it right in her stomach and, once more, Emerald Gust sung as it gave a mighty 'bang' into Nora's gut, causing the girl to double over. Glancing up at her Aura, Izuku saw how close she was to being down and, despite himself, he stopped concentrating a Smash into his right arm. He was trying to just have a friendly spar with Nora, not hurt her, after all.

Still, even without the Smash, the punch that rocks into Nora's ribs caused her to gasp as her Aura immediately dropped into the red, a small ringing sound signaling the end of the fight as the two of them broke off, Nora holding onto her ribs as she took some deep breaths to try and recover from it.

"... Oh my gosh, Nora? Are you okay?" Izuku asked, genuinely concerned, as One For All slowly seeped out of his body, the glow going right along with it. He didn't think he'd ever seen Nora so beaten down before, the young woman holding onto her ribs as she rubbed them lightly. Izuku watched nervously as Nora slowly stands back up to her full height and looked at him.

"That... was... AWESOME!" As Nora turned her head to look Izuku right in the eye he saw just a torrent of excitement overcoming her features as she ran up to him, wincing as she did from the sudden movements. Still, she seemed to ignore that as she just looked him over. "That was cr-aaaazy Izuku! I mean, I knew your Semblance was amazing because of the Nevermore and the Tunnels and whenever you used it in your fight with Yang but, jeez, I could've only guessed that you'd be able to pull something off like this when you actually got your hands around it! Like, you were moving so fast like, zip, zoom, zop and there was like, lightning following you around, sparking and zapping around your body as your threw your punches and you were glowing too! I mean, like glowing glowing, like how Yang glows when she activates her Semblance, except without all the crazy fire stuff but with more lightning which 'instantly' makes it a lot cooler if you ask me!" For a moment he was overwhelmed by Nora's enthusiasm but, in the end, it ended up rubbing off on him as he just smiled, sheepishly scratching the back of his head.

"Hah... thanks Nora, I appreciate it... yeah, it was pretty amazing. I didn't even know if I could use O-my Semblance like that. I thought maybe for a moment that I'd burst at the seems... but jeez, I felt really strong." Izuku said with a grin, as Nora just nodded.

"You looked really strong too! I bet that 6 pack we all saw on our first night here turned into an eight pack! 9.0 out of Ren material right there, Izuku." ... Izuku still had absolutely no idea what that meant, but he still took it as a compliment. "So, whatcha gonna call it?"

...

"Huh?"

"Well duh, Izuku!" Nora rapped him on the head for a moment, causing him to wince at how inadvertently strong she made the hit, before she grinned at him like a madwoman possessed. "It 'obviously' has to have some kind of a name! I mean, it's not your Semblance so you don't have to make it something like 'Glyph' or 'Polarity'... though if you made it something cool like mine-"

"Nora you just call your Semblance 'I Eat Lightning'-"

"-Which is 'very' cool Izuku, that'd be nice. But this is, like, some kind of technique or something right? So you get to call it something really neato like your other Smash thingies! So come on Fearless Leader, don't leave me hanging, what are you thinking of for a name for this baby?"

'... A name huh? I suppose that it is up to me to come up with a name for this; this wasn't something Toshinori handed down or passed to me,' though he suspected that whatever this new power was, it had more to do with him mastering One For All than it had to do with any kind of 'technique' or something special. 'Still... it is unique to me. I found this out, I managed to do it. All with Nora's help, of course, her words being the burst of inspiration I needed in order to cross the threshold that has kept me from figuring this out for so long. It was my expression of control over One For All, how I use my Semblance going forward, at least for the foreseeable future…'

'It is mine. So it is my responsibility to name it…'

'Still, what should I call it?'

"Well... I mean... I guess if I had to pick a name right on the spot I'd call it something like "Full Cowl?" The energy covered the entirety of his body, cloaking him like some kind of cowl. It was a pretty simple name but he thought-

"Alright, that sounds really cool!" -and apparently Nora thought that it was a pretty cool so hey, he'd take it! Nora just grinned and jumped up, seeming ready to keep going...right up until she nearly folded in on the side he'd last struck her ribs. "Woah..." He quickly reached out and grabbed Nora, the orange haired bomber chuckling a little as she gave a quick sigh. "Alright, that was a fight. You kind of beat the crap out of me there Fearless Leader. Good work!" He was conflicted as Nora gave him a thumbs up, but he quickly shot one back at her. Honestly he really hadn't seen her like that too often which, given it was Nora, was no surprise; she didn't exactly lose fights often.

"You look like you could use some pancakes."

"Gods that sounds great right about now. Can we?" Izuku chuckled a little as he waited for Nora to get firmly back on her feet.

"Of course, I really don't say no that often do I?" Nora laughed and quickly tousled the top of his hair.

"Nope, and that's why you're the best leader out of everyone we know... don't tell Tenya though, I don't think he'll ever let me ride on his shoulders again if he heard that." Izuku laughed a little as the two of them headed out of the arena, Nora keeping a hand to her ribs as he just nodded.

"I doubt he'd be that petty but sure Nora, I promise." Izuku wouldn't have said no in any case, even though he knew for a fact that Tenya wouldn't be that petty. He was just in too good of a mood and, in part, it really was all thanks to Nora. As he gazed forward, his heart couldn't help but swell right along with his thoughts as they imagined the future.

One For All: Full Cowl. His next step in mastering his Semblance.

* * *

 **E/N: A little bit short for my tastes, but the rest of this phase just doesn't have enough gravitas? weight? to go with getting Full Cowl. Though I might be giving it too much emotional weight. "The pancake on the stove... IS ME!", and all...**

 **-Shovern.**


	73. Learning Experiences

"Salutations my fellow Team Leaders! I would like to start by saying that I, for one, am glad to be back in our proper club room." A quick series of nods from Izuku, Coco and Ruby were all exchanged before Tenya swung his hands about again. "Thus I hereby call this eighth meeting of the Beacon Leadership Council to order! I'll start with a simple roll call! Izuku Midoriya, Leader of Team MNVW?"

"I'm present Tenya."

"Very good! Ruby Rose, Leader of Team RSBR?"

"I'm here and ready to go Tenya!"

"Excellent! Coco Adel, Leader of Team CFVY?"

"Yo!"

"Magnificent. Finally, our newest member, Mirio Togata of Team MHA?"

"I am here!" Mirio chuckled as he scratched the back of his head. "Wow, been a while since I've been a part of any club. This has me feeling pretty merry!"

"Wonderful to hear Mr. Togata! Finally, and obviously, I, Tenya Iida, Leader of Team TABY, am present and accounted for! This meeting may therefore come to order!"

They all nodded in agreement as the small group of leaders really began to pick over the various snacks and food brought in for the meeting. It was actually a little surreal sitting there at the moment; when the whole Leadership Council thing had started, the round table that had served as the place where they all sat their snacks, foods, drinks and little papers here and there had been quite spacious and large, with more than enough room for everyone and whatever they brought with them. Now, two members later, the round table was getting a little bit more cramped. Everyone still had a good deal of space, but things were a bit bunched up and open space in the middle of the table was less prevalent.

'It's a little surreal,' Izuku thought, 'but in its own way it is pretty darn cool.'

"So it's been a while since you've been in a club, Mirio?" Izuku asked between bites of the snack food he'd brought to the table, Mirio nodding as he popped the top on a can of soda to drink.

"Yeah, it has been. Don't get me wrong, my team and I tried a couple times but things never seemed to work out. Part of it's personality; I guess my friends and I are little... hmmm..." Mirio thought for a moment before chuckling. "Well, I guess we're a bit of a weird bunch. Either that or the clubs just end up collapsing on their own because people really don't end up sticking to the schedule for one reason or another. Either people lost interest or people started going on missions." Mirio took a drink of his soda before smiling. "But wow, you guys have been keeping this up for eight meetings straight huh? It's been that many weeks since school started to, so that means you guys have been doing this every week huh? That's pretty cool!" The rest of them nodded, though Coco did so with a grin.

"Well don't count me in on that; I haven't been here every week since joining and I didn't start that club, so I've kinda been a rough spot on this club's record." Tenya frowned at that, readjusting his glasses as he did so.

"Miss Adel, I do believe we'd all agree that you being away on a mission is hardly something to count against you. We all do what we must." Tenya just shrugged as he looked around the table. "I'm just wondering as to how we'll handle the club meetings once the Solstice Break begins. I know I'll definitely be back in Atlas for the entirety of the holiday, so I won't really be able to be part of any team meetings... although perhaps I could attend over a Scroll... hmmm." Tenya tapped his chin slightly at that, as if considering the idea, while Ruby nodded.

"Yeah, more than likely Yang and I would be spending some time here and there around Patch but with how quickly they've been finishing up the Rail's extension to Patch we might just be able to speed to and fro on the train." Ruby shrugged while she took a bite of a cookie, Izuku's own gaze moving toward Mirio and Coco.

"What about you two?" Mirio frowned slightly as he folded his arms.

"Well I live over in Mistral so I'd be in a similar boat to Tenya. I do like the idea of doing a Scroll call over the break though." Coco nodded in agreement while she leaned back.

"Yeah, I live here in Vale so that wouldn't be much of a problem for me... though, I mean, isn't it a little early to be talking all this? Break is still... hmmm... four, five, six... seven? Six or seven weeks away. Seven or eight if you're picky and you include finals week." Coco lowered her shades slightly as she looked at everyone else. "I mean, it'll probably go by in a blur once we actually get to it, but it just seems a little early to worry about."

"Better to at least have it in our thoughts early, especially given how this past break caught us off our footing." At that Coco conceded to Tenya's point before raising her shades. Afterward, Tenya's hands started to flail about as the young man got to speaking. "Now then, while this idle chatter is good, I do believe we have club business to decide upon! So let's have at it, fellow Team Leaders!"

And so they did; while Izuku would no doubt say that the more mundane exercises they pulled off in this time were important, he couldn't deny that there was something more fundamentally important to him and his other, fellow junior Team leaders. Namely, the more expert experience that Coco and Mirio had under their belts… namely, coming from the eldest of the Team Leaders. Izuku, Ruby and Tenya were more interested in hearing out what Mirio had to say about working in the Kingdoms: while Coco had experience, even she admitted that it wasn't the sort of vast knowledge that Mirio would be able to bring to the table when it came to this kind of stuff, so they were pretty eager to learn just what it was like working as a Hunter.

"So, Vale huh?" Izuku nodded as Mirio tilted his head to the side Izuku nodded to confirm Mirio's question; he figured he'd start with his home Kingdom, just so he'd know what to expect going forward.

"Yeah... it is our backyard after all and probably where most of us will be taking most of our missions in the future, so I figure it'd probably be good to have a good idea of what the environment is around Vale." Izuku explained, Ruby and Tenya nodding along with the logic while Mirio smiled.

"Well I suppose that makes sense to me!" With that, Mirio started to rubbed his chin. "Well first off, let's start with the obvious: if you're working in Vale expect most of your missions available to be rural or wilderness type missions." They all nodded as Mirio wagged his finger. "The Governing Council might put out that map that shows Vale's borders going so far around the continent but, truth be told, the actual amount of that territory controlled, or even lived in by humans, is pretty small and urban centers are pretty much down to Mountain Glenn and Vale... and honestly, with how walled up both cities are and considering that Mountain Glenn keeps Hunters working there around the clock, you're pretty much guaranteed to not get work in either city unless dire circumstances align or the authorities specifically want your help with something... or unless you come across something yourself." Mirio shrugged as he laid things out, rubbing his neck a bit.

"Other than that though, expect mostly to be called out to outlying villages and being sent out to complete wilderness if you take up work in Vale. With how Mountain Glenn's turned out, Vale's looking at other potential areas of expansion here and there and, now a days, search and exterminate missions to help cull Grimm populations before they become a problem are becoming more popular. The suburbs of Vale outside the walls these days usually cycle through those kinds of missions once a month to help make sure that the Grimm living in places like Forever Fall or the Emerald Forest don't ever feel bold enough to start heading toward the city. Rural villages usually just end up having some Grimm problem or another, either a Grimm that's gotten too big and become a major problem or a Grimm horde that's been moving around on their periphery and looks about ready to hit them."

"Now, because of all of this... you definitely want jobs in the rural parts of Vale. Mostly just because urban folks... well, it's not that they dislike us, but they usually associate Hunters with trouble. We usually show up if we think some crime is going to be in progress or if there's some trouble lurking. It's kind of like those people who never go to the Doctor's Office because otherwise they'll be told they're dying; people associate us with trouble than the solution in more urban areas because their lives are generally peaceful. Rural areas though? They'll be happy to see you. Most of these places really seem to be interested in seeing what city folks are getting up to because, thanks to the Grimm a lot of areas are downright medieval compared to what we've got here in Vale, though I think that's been getting better recently as more and more Hunters having been clearing out more and more land. Plus, well, they associate Hunters with people who come to solve a problem; after all, for them, they're regularly exposed to Grimm, they know what kind of danger they are, and so when a Hunter comes along they see it as someone who's coming to help them rather than someone who's coming to stir up issues."

"All of this, of course, doesn't apply to Mountain Glenn. If Rural areas are happy to see you, Mountain Glenn folks will practically throw their doors open for you if they know you're a Hunter coming to work in their area... which I'm guessing you're well aware of, Izuku." Izuku chuckled somewhat sheepishly as he nodded, having pretty much gotten the same treatment at the Ni Hao Nyan for what he did down in The Tunnels. "Now... if there's one thing I would suggest you do; do your best to try to not rub the Governing Council the wrong way." The three of them blinked at that, Mirio frowning slightly as he leaned forward conspiratorially. "This is just some personal experience my teacher passed along... but the Vale Governing Council, for all the pomp and circumstance it surrounds Toshinori with now a days, is still pretty sore about being shown up by him over the Mountain Glenn incident. In the days after it, they were pretty much ready to strip him of his 'approved' Hunter Status in the Kingdom and kick him out of the City of Vale entirely... but then the groundswell of popularity behind him made it pretty much impossible for them to do anything about it. Because they can't touch him, though, that usually means they end up just being harder on Hunters who end up crossing them. I know for a fact that Ozpin's been chewed out more than once just because they feel like they have 'some' authority over him."

"Well that's dumb; I understand that they screwed up big time and that Toshinori made that apparent, but shouldn't they be happy that he saved people and that more people want to be Hunters because of it?" Mirio shrugged as he scratched the side of his head.

"I really don't understand it myself... the way my teacher explained it to me was that the Governing Council of Vale really doesn't feel like it can afford to lose face at any cost. That it's the ultimate authority keeping Vale together and from descending into panic... that out of them and Toshinori, that they're the real 'Symbol of Peace'. I guess having it rubbed in their face that no one actually looks to them like that and that they instead look to Toshinori and Hunters... well, it doesn't sit well with them. So yeah, just try your best not to get on their bad side." They all nodded at that as Coco sighed.

"Bunch of old farts who can't get behind the fact that the world changed while they weren't looking." Mirio laughed a bit at that, causing Coco to sheepishly cough into her fist while she looked at the rest. "Well you guys, thanks for the report, glad to hear Vel's still doing well in her classes. Really do appreciate all this Deku." Coco gave Izuku a smile, one that he returned, before Coco yawned slightly. "But I'm bushed... we just got done organizing our mission and I think we'll be leaving in the next couple days. I think that was everything on the dossier for today, right?"

"I do believe so Miss Adel." Tenya added, adjusting his glasses as he looked around. "If no one else objects, I think Miss Adel is quite right. It's getting late and now seems as good a time as any to call this meeting to an end." Looking around and seeing no objections, he nodded. "Very well then. I hereby adjourn this meeting of the Beacon Leadership Council. Everyone have a good evening, see you all next week." With that they all exchanged their goodbyes as they broke off, heading back to their dorms.

* * *

"Now then Izuku, repeat after me and do it 'exactly' as I say it. Pronunciation is often key when dealing with members of high society. You don't want to sound like someone from the boonies when you're talking to these people as often it isn't just about what you say to them but 'how' you say it to them. Learning to speak like one of them as direly important as speaking 'as' one of them. So, here is your phrase; 'It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Izuku Midoriya, and I hail from the Kingdom of Vale. It is my deepest honor to meet you.'"

"Alright, sounds pretty easy. It is a please to meet you. My name's-"

 **THWIP!**

"Ack!" Izuku flinched as Weiss' flicked him across his ear, the sensation having surprised and stung him a bit as the young woman shook her head.

"I said 'exactly' like me Izuku. Don't abbreviate a thing even if that's what you'd normally do. Also, stop mumbling so much and enunciate more. You're speaking to these men like you're an equal, even if you aren't, so that they know to respect you! It isn't just about status it's also about faking it, but you have to fake it well! Murmuring while you're speaking isn't going to sell that you're confident that your place is standing in front of these men. Now then, start from the top!"

"Uh, uh, uh, uh, okay! It's-"

 **THWIP!**

"Ack!"

"Again!"

'Why was it that this is the most stressful training that I go through at any given time?'

* * *

"So, Nora told you that about Aura, did she?" Despite both of their eyes being closed, he could practically feel the slightly sheepish smile on Pyrrha's face while they both sat meditating, their Auras coursing through their bodies as they went through their exercises.

"Yeah, it really made a lot of sense when I had a chance to really think about it. I guess I really do still have a long way to go before I know as much as I need to about my Aura." Izuku admitted somewhat nervously as he reeled his Aura in, doing his best to not allow his mood to affect their current training.

"Be fair Izuku, I'm the one who's supposed to be telling you these sorts of things as your tutor. That's why you asked me to help you train, after all; you admitted you didn't know much and I should've expected that even such basic concepts... well, you wouldn't know them like we do. It was my responsibility to share this sort of information with you and I didn't, so I do apologize." At that Izuku couldn't help but chuckle a bit, cracking open one eye to look over at his partner.

"Pyrrha, after everything you've done to help me with my Aura, I honestly think you're the last person who owes me an apology for anything. It's just something that happened to slip by; heck, even in all the books I've been reading it really doesn't talk about that aspect of Aura so given the fact that you're not even officially writing or teaching... well, I'd say you're doing a pretty good job so far for all that." With that he watched as Pyrrha's smile spread a bit as she slowly nodded her head.

"I appreciate it Izuku and I suppose you're right... but if I'm going to tutor you half as well as you're going to tutor me, then I need to step up my game in that regard. I can't just let things slide... I have to learn from my own mistakes as well." Izuku supposed he saw her point as he closed his eyes again, taking a deep breath as he regulated his Aura.

'I suppose, in a way,' he thought to himself, 'that this is why training with Weiss was so stressful. It isn't that Weiss isn't trying to help, goodness knows she is and she is making progress with a student like me, but that she doesn't know how to teach quite like Pyrrha who does have some experience in tutoring and the like. Weiss is like me, trying to just improvise with something she doesn't fully understand while doing her best, but Pyrrha,' he felt his smile widen, 'Pyrrha has experience as a teacher.'

'Still, she is right; it didn't mean that she can't learn something too. Like I said, it also wasn't like I'm not learning from Weiss despite her own inexperience teaching... heck, even Nora who hasn't meant to teach me anything helped me piece together One For All: Full Cowl'

'... I... I really am becoming better, and learning so much, from my team.'

'My friends…'

As Izuku felt a slight surge in his Aura from this slight swell in emotions, he realized that he was pretty lucky to have them.


	74. Fame and Fashion

As a gust of wind slowly crossed both Izuku's and Pyrrha's faces, he watched with some amusement as his partner's teeth chattered slightly and she tucked herself even deeper into the larger, red coat that she was wearing, closed up nice and tight. It almost looked like Pyrrha was trying to physically bury herself into Tenya's birthday gift to her, the tournament fighter doing her best to shelter herself from the chill of the cold autumn winds that were increasingly prevalent here in Vale. The fact that the two of them were at the air dock, waiting for one of the buses to arrive that would fly him over to the city proper, where the wind was able to lash at the both of them freely without buildings to hide behind, well, it made it all the worse for Pyrrha and her skirted attire. Izuku'd bundled up into his fall uniform for this occasion with one of his lighter jackets worn over it in order to keep the cold out. He'd have to remember to thank his mom for reminding him to pack his fall and winter clothes when coming to Beacon.

"I take it that it doesn't really get that cold in Mistral, does it?" Izuku asked, sympathetically, as Pyrrha shook off the chill.

"Well, I wouldn't go that far. There are some places in Mistral that usually get hit with the cold weather... just not the coasts where I come from or Mistral proper." Pyrrha seemed to resist the urge to bend over and rub at her legs to get some heat back in them. Izuku honestly felt kind of bad for Pyrrha; as tall as she was, she really couldn't borrow any of his friend's outfits for the sake of going out. Maybe Coco might've had something that'd fit but Team CFVY was out on a mission. So she had to make do with just sitting in her usual attire, coat notwithstanding, while going out on a little shopping trip. After spending weeks in the Vale weather, Pyrrha had finally decided that it was a good time to go out to get some warmer clothing. Weiss and Nora had other plans at the time and, given the fact that Izuku himself was thinking of getting some new clothes, though more for Hunter outfits and something to help protect him than anything like what Pyrrha might be looking for, it was decided that Weiss and Nora would keep their plans and that he'd just go ahead and help Pyrrha out.

'Hey, why not? Kill two birds with one stone and get some time to hang out with my partner, hardly a bad deal.'

"So I'm guessing Mistral usually stays pretty lush year round, then?" Izuku asked idly as an airbus arrived to pick up the group of students, himself included, looking to go out to Vale for the day.

"It does; the harbors on the coasts are almost always busy year round because they're almost always open and the weather never takes such a horrendous turn that people outside of the mountains or the far north really need to think of it. It does snow occasionally in Mistral but that's more a fun, rare treat that happens every now and then than a guaranteed occurrence like here in Vale." Pyrrha and he bundled on up into the airbus, still chatting away as it slowly flew off toward Vale. "Not that it's hard to get to the more snowy areas... you just have to go around or up the mountains and eventually you'll hit parts of the country where snow is guaranteed." Izuku nodded in understanding, readjusting his jacket. It was often easy to forget that Mistral really was such a huge Kingdom when he just looked at the maps, but something like that really put it into perspective. The only part of Vale with a significantly different climate to the rest of the country were the parts that were either closest to Vacuo or closest to the sea separating Vale from Atlas. Aside from that, the land Vale occupied was generally very similar. To live in a Kingdom where there were so many different climates...

"It sounds pretty convenient. I guess especially for someone with your resources that means that you can pretty much go anywhere you want to experience the kind of weather you want." There was a slight dip in Pyrrha's smile for a moment, though one that didn't entirely reach her eyes which contained a slight bit of nostalgia.

"It's true; ever since I started my career in tournament fighting, my family has had the resources to live that kind of life. I remember one year where my family just decided, apropos of nothing, to just take a holiday up to the North because it'd been so many years since we'd last seen any snow." Pyrrha chuckled slightly as she nodded her head. "It... it was a good trip. I managed to make enough time for it in my schedule so I could really enjoy it with my family before I needed to get back to Mistral." Izuku nodded, a slight frown on his lips as he looked up at her.

"Yeah, I guess with your career you really need to stay around Mistral a lot, right?" Izuku saw Pyrrha nod slowly.

"Yeah... before I graduated the Combat School and officially retired as a Tournament Fighter, I think I spent the vast majority of my year in Mistral, signing deals, making appearances, going to parties and fighting in tournaments. Mistral's the heart of the Kingdom, after all, in a cultural sense... it's where everybody who's 'in' needs to be." Pyrrha shrugged her shoulders slightly as she looked out the window. "Honestly, before coming to Vale, I think the last time I left for anywhere outside of Mistral was... gosh, I think it was four months."

"... Well-" Izuku offered up a smile as the airbus approached Vale, slowly but surely, "-I guess that makes trips like these pretty fun right? Seeing an entirely new city with no obligations... except to make it back to school before the buses close down..." Izuku sheepishly scratched at his cheek, Pyrrha chuckling slightly as she nodded.

"Indeed. It has been an interesting experience... mostly." As the airbus stopped, he and Pyrrha were quick to rush out before the rest of the students bulldoze them over, many of them looking quite eager to hit the town while the weekend was still young. A sharp breeze hit the both of them and, while his outfit let him get through the brunt of the hit without much worry, Pyrrha visibly shivered, her knees slightly knocked into one and other as her exposed legs got the worst of it...he couldn't imagine the metal bits of her outfit felt comfortable to have skin contact with in cold weather. "A-Anyway, let's get to business. I'd like to get into something warmer before my legs fall off." Pyrrha joked as he nodded, tapping his hand against his chin as he took a moment to think.

"Alright, so I know this little place that Yang and I went to on a trip through the city. It's pretty homey and it should have what you'd need in order to get yourself warm clothes for the weather and I have some business to attend to myself. Two birds with one stone, right?" Pyrrha smiled slightly as she nodded her head.

"Well I haven't been around town all that much except to just go out whenever Nora or Weiss would want to go somewhere... so I'll take your word for it Izuku. If you swear by it, then it sounds like a fine place to go to." Izuku nodded as he and Pyrrha immediately started walking away from the air dock. Izuku 'really' started missing Bumblebee as they were walking through the streets of Vale. Anytime he rode on that motorcycle it seemed like the city passed him by in the blink of an eye, taking him to where he needed, or wanted, to go without a worry in the world... well, except for falling off of Bumblebee but Yang was a good driver so he didn't have to worry about that too much. Back when he and his class had to go to the train station, there had been a bus waiting to transfer them all once they got off the air bus as well making the trip quick.

Now, however, he and Pyrrha were just walking along, occasionally getting recognized by passersby who'd wave at Pyrrha or, far far more rarely, Izuku himself before moving on, thankfully no one stopping Pyrrha for her autograph. The girl seemed uncomfortable with that in the best of times and now, legs shaking slightly in the cold breeze, it really did just seem like she was in as much of a hurry as he was to just get done. So moving as fast as they could, and to the best of his memory, he quickly traversed The City of Vale and, in due time, find himself at the little clothing store that he and Yang had frequented those weeks back. Opening up the door, he smiled slightly as he saw the familiar, quaint little shop spread out before them. Nothing had changed all that much, as many of the items that had been on display were still hanging up on their various racks. However, something he was keen to notice was the fact that several of the summer wear goods that had previously been hanging were now replaced with more season-appropriate clothes. Sweat pants, boots, thick coats, gloves, short and long, thick stockings, long pants, long skirts, etc.

As the little bell over the door rang the woman who had been running the shop last he was here looked over and smiled a bit. "Well, welcome back there young man. Been a little while. Those workout clothes been treating you well?" Izuku smiled slightly as he nodded. In truth, Izuku really hadn't worked out too much sense having gotten them like he had been with Yang before hand, so Izuku really hadn't explicitly 'broken them in', he supposed. Still, they made for comfortable wear during One For All training sessions and other just walk about sort of work, so he didn't want to insult her by putting down her craftsmanship.

"Oh yeah, they're great. Really comfortable." The older woman smiles and nods as she looks over at Pyrrha. "Well now, Yang not escorting you this time? A surprise..." Izuku chuckled a bit as he looked over at Pyrrha.

"No, this is actually my partner, Pyrrha. She originally was from Mistral so... well, she doesn't exactly have winter weather clothes. Figured we should probably fix that before the really bad weather checks in." He felt a bit nervous, an emotion clearly shared by Pyrrha, as they both awaited the shopkeeper's response from hearing her name.

"Pleased to meet you..." Pyrrha said as politely and sweetly as possible, though her own nervousness over the possibility of being recognized was all too apparent. However, it seemed both of them were going on about that for naught as the woman just nodded as she walked around the counter and put on a pair of glasses.

"My she is a tall one now isn't she? Well... let's see what we have here that might be able to suit your needs Miss Pyrrha. Come along now I'm sure we've got something that'll keep you warm once the chill really sets in." To both their surprise, it really didn't seem like she recognized Pyrrha at all as she quickly grabbed her wrist and tugged Pyrrha along deeper into the store. Izuku blinked at the sudden departure of his partner but, in the end, he shrugged as well, deciding that now was as good a time as any to get his stuff taken care of. He started with the stuff already on the shelves and clothes rack and then peered through them, looking for anything that might catch his eye. Eventually though, he approached the counter and flipped open a leaflet on the front counter which seemed to dictate the store's policy on custom-made outfits.

"Ah, Izuku, we're back..." As Izuku got done looking through a particular rack of clothing he smiled slightly as he heard Pyrrha's voice. His turn around and look at his partner and found that she'd actually changed into a different outfit, one more appropriate for the winter weather...

And Izuku couldn't help but force himself not to frown. It's... well, it was a combination of clothes from the shop's various racks and shelves that had been brought together into an outfit to combine with what Pyrrha had been wearing that would've been appropriate for the weather. Pyrrha's jewelry, her necklace and her circlet around her head as well as the earrings that Weiss had gotten her, were still there and Tenya's coat, the red winter coat that had the frills and had, despite being obviously utilitarian, had actually still looked rather nice and fancy, were there and still looked as good as ever. However, now they were combined into an outfit that... well, just didn't scream Pyrrha. It was hard to put into words but... well, it was kind of plain. If there was one thing Izuku could say about Pyrrha's outfit normally, plain wasn't one of the adjectives that would come up. Anything but, if he was being honest and the entire thing worked well together, the little bits of jewelry complimenting the various flairs and quirks of the outfit.

However, with just what the store had to offer on the shelves... well, now the parts that stood out, her jewelry, the coat, it all seemed to clash against the rest. She'd taken up a pair of winter boots that, without the normal metal she wore, yeah, wouldn't be uncomfortable but were very strictly utilitarian. A pair of gloves with just the slightest bit of trim sticking out from the inside had replaced her long opera gloves and, while she had tied her sash around her waist as per usual, it really didn't fit with the thick sweatpants she wore to go along with the rest of her outfit. It was beyond a question that she'd be warmer in something like this but... well... it really didn't scream Pyrrha.

"So... er... how do I look?"

Izuku frowned slightly as he crossed his arms and look at Pyrrha's attire, tilting his head to the side as he did so. "Well... it looks like it'd be comfortable..." Pyrrha grimaced a bit at that, before he spoke up. "But... well, I think it's missing something." It's weird. He might've expected Pyrrha to take it a slightly wrong way or to be dismayed at that. Instead... she looked slightly relieved, in a weird way. She seemed thankful for his words, as if glad that he'd backed her up. The shopkeeper nodded her head slightly as she looked Pyrrha over.

"Yes... compared to our young lady's normal tastes, it doesn't quite seem to fit the bill. I do apologize, most of our readymade product is rather plain. I can see why you'd pick that out compared to her usual attire, young man. It doesn't suit her." The relief still stuck with Pyrrha as she turned to face the shopkeeper, an apologetic look on her face.

"I'm sorry. Your clothes really do feel quite comfortable and I'm sure it'd keep me warm-"

"Please dear, don't apologize. I understand how it is these days. Even Hunters like to look nice in their attired. Goodness knows that one little troublemaker from Beacon spent so much of her time down here last year picking over every possible look or pestering me for tailor jobs. At least you're being polite, young lady. Manners seem to be an increasingly rare thing to find in people these days." Izuku tilted his head to the side as the woman went to the register, looking over at him. "Tell me young man, will you be purchasing anything today, or were you just browsing?" Izuku tapped his chin slightly as he considered it... but in the end he shook his head.

"Just browsing this time. I wanted to see what kind of options I had on the table compared to my budget. Sorry for wasting your time, miss." The old woman crowed a bit as she waved her hand.

"Think nothing of it." The both of them quickly bowed their heads as he waited for Pyrrha to change back into her other attire before the pair of them left the shop. Pyrrha exhaled slightly as she scratched at the back of her head, looking quite sheepish as she did so.

"I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for Pyrrha? It's alright if you didn't like the stuff that was in there. I probably should've thought of how limited the selection in there was before dragging us all the way out here."

"No no, you had your own business you wanted to do too Izuku, it really should've been the best way for us both to get what we wanted if I just bought those clothes and was done with it... but... well..." Pyrrha sighed as she scratched the back of her head. "It's... just kind of shameless is all, don't you think? I mean... like Blake said back in Mountain Glenn, it's clear how little I care for my fame... but... well..." It seemed as though Pyrrha's sheepish scratching got faster as she spoke, almost to the point of her hand being a blur, while her face goes slightly red well.

"Pyrrha... who doesn't like having nice things?" Izuku asked as Pyrrha stopped scratching the back of her head. "I mean, I like new clothes as much as the next guy... well okay maybe not as much because fashion isn't my thing, but I like looking nice and feeling nice too. Everybody does, it's half the reason why anyone bothers to dress up in the first place." The other half being that utterly terrifying, to Izuku, world of 'dating' and 'attracting potential dates' that still made him feel incredibly nervous, but none of that for right now. "There isn't anything to be ashamed about in just wanting something nice for yourself or to look nice. You really don't have to feel bad about that, Pyrrha."

"... Izuku, thank you... but I just disagree. At least, in part." Pyrrha responded slightly as she looked over at him, a smile on her face. "I do... feel rather bad about wanting nice things despite everything. I get what you're saying about that being natural but... well, it seems two-faced. That on the one hand... well, I feel awkward about my fame, that I don't necessarily enjoy being around my fans every moment of the day, that I feel so nervous about it all that it becomes blatantly obvious to you all as my friends... but that at the same time I enjoy... well, 'the perks'." Pyrrha reached a hand up for her circlet, her fingers daintily dragging across it. "I don't have to dress this nicely, especially now that I'm retired. I'm a status symbol, sure, and my managers would probably balk if I just started wearing thick grey coats or something like that, but it's my choice. I could choose to toss it away as part of remaking my image, getting rid of the red and bronze and gold that signifies to so many people that I'm Pyrrha Nikos, The Invincible Girl. I could very much be exactly like Professor Aizawa and I'd probably fade into the ether, soon enough forgotten for all but my reputation as a fighter, so long as I kept my head down and didn't draw attention to myself…"

"But, obviously, I haven't. There were things about my outfit that were decided from the get go, of course, as part of my contract with my managers. It had to emphasize my best features, like my height, to help give the impression of my strength and superiority in the midst of a duel and it had to scream of a fighter, of a warrior, someone who belonged there fighting alongside far more seasoned fighters in those tournaments... but so much about this outfit was my decision. My choice in the matter. The necklace, the circlet and this sash, things that bring so much attention to me and are instantly recognizable... but, well, I enjoy wearing them. I thought they looked nice and I thought..." Pyrrha sighed as she ran a hand through her hair.

"Well, it doesn't matter what I thought. The point was that these were the sorts of things I never could've afforded for myself before becoming a Tournament Champion and I wanted them... and to some degree, I still want it. It isn't quite like Weiss, where she feels that her appearance is so much about maintaining her image and presenting herself in a certain way... I just... like it because I like the way I feel and look. I mean, not right now obviously because-" A blast of chill, Autumn air buffeted the two of them as the conversation went on, causing Pyrrha to shiver slightly, "-because of that, obviously. However, when presented with the chance to just by some normal, functional clothes that, sure, didn't exactly make me feel like me but would've kept me warm... I wanted to pass on it..."

Pyrrha smiled at Izuku at that. "It's why I'm a little grateful you spoke up about that when you did... I really didn't want to... you know, come off like that to a woman who really has just been working hard and who either spent good money to get those clothes for her shop or made them herself to stock the shelves. I... would've felt really bad about it..." Pyrrha stroked her arm slightly as Izuku frowned. Izuku understood what she was saying and all but... well, without the prospect of being famous himself, he didn't understand it all the way.

"Well I mean... is it that bad? Not enjoying your fame but still enjoying what you can get out of it, I mean?" Pyrrha frowned as she nodded her head.

"I think it is... look at people like Toshinori or Professor Yamada. They're incredibly well known and famous Hunters and... well, they give themselves over to that. They're always willing to autograph a fan's work, always willing to share some words and, even just a week after he probably exhausted himself fighting that bird brained thing down in The Tunnels, Toshinori still appeared at Mountain Glenn's festival because people wanted him there. Then... well, again, people like Headmaster Ozpin or Professor Aizawa. They're well known but... well, they don't try to stand out and be famous. Whether they do it on purpose or not, they reinforce that by just not being out in public too much or not putting themselves out there. Both of those things... that seems fair. Toshinori and Professor Yamada earn the right to enjoy the positive aspects of their fame by throwing themselves into it while Headmaster Ozpin and Professor Aizawa are able to be more private people because they don't put themselves out there at the expense of what fame they could easily have if they were more active...

"And here I am. Concerned about not looking or feeling right in an outfit meant to keep me warm when I'm... I'm all too hesitant to even sign a fan's autograph in a hallway. My family and I are in a position we couldn't have even dreamed of being in before I got famous because of my career as a Tournament Fighter. Jewelry, living in Mistral, nice clothes... all of it afforded by my fame. Yet... well, I'm always trying to run away from it these days... but never to the degree of someone like Professor Aizawa, when doing so would be just as easy as... well..." Pyrrha reached up after a moment to remove her circlet from her head, her hair looking very oddly barren as she brought that piece of jewelry down to look at it.

"I'm not afraid to call it what it is, Izuku. Weiss' and Yang's gifts, those earrings of Weiss' and Yang's bracelets, from my birthday were up my alley because... well, I'm a little vain." Pyrrha smiled over at him, though it was a little strained. "So you'll have to forgive me if I can't entirely agree with you that it's an okay thing, Izuku. If... if I were really serious about what I wanted, I'd dedicate myself one way or the other, instead of just hovering here in the middle."

'...'

'That's wrong-'

"Pyrrha, why do you think those are the only paths you have to take? You're absolutely right about both Toshinori's and the Headmaster's ways, that they both chose how they wanted themselves to be seen. But do you think they started out at the top, perfect and already exactly in the positions they wanted to be?" Pyrrha turned a bit red at that, the tournament fighter looking off to the side as she pursued her lips a bit.

"Well... no, of course not, even they had to start from somewhere..." Izuku nodded, trying his best to keep his grip reassuring as he spoke.

"Right? They spent their careers finding out where they wanted to be, and part of that path started here, learning just like we are right now. They made their paths, and I know if you talked to any of them they'd tell you to work on finding your own." After that he shook his head as he did his best to look up at his taller partner, "So what if you're a little vain? Good! You worked hard to be as good as you are, and you're allowed to take pride in yourself and what you've done. There's a difference in being proud and being arrogant, and you're not that. If you're really worried about going too far, then our team and I will help keep an eye out."

Izuku looked up at his partner, and fell back a bit as Pyrrha smiled sadly as she looked down at Izuku. She shook her head, and placed a hand on his shoulder, and looked directly into his eyes.

"I appreciate that Izuku and I agree... but my point was that, well, those benefits, those things I like and take pride in, they go hand in hand with my fame. I should be able to handle them hand-in-hand rather than try to have my cake and eat it too."

Izuku felt his mouth drop, but quickly regained control of himself, and frowned slightly as he shook head.

"So you don't like your fame. That's fine too. Fame isn't something easy for anyone to handle, even people who really 'want' it! I mean, come on Pyrrha, you've seen how I am in crowds, or people I don't know, or some people I do know...or girls..." Izuku coughed into his fist as he spoke before moving on, and he lost eye contact for a moment, but quickly tried to reestablish it, "-look, the point is you need to find the amount you can handle that's good for you. The whole thing about all of this is finding a balance where you're happy. One day that's going to be something that I'm going to need to work on too as the Symbol of Peace. Pyrrha, you've worked hard and if you don't like your fame, that's okay, you don't have to and I know I'll do whatever I can to help support you whatever you're feeling about all this!"

"As for clothes, I think there's something to be said about being allowed to dress as you want to. Being a Hunter is, let's face it, an insanely dangerous job and not even the professors wear armor. I think we should be allowed to wear things we like or are comfortable in, because they're as much our choice as our profession is. So wear that circlet and sash if you want, because even if you don't think you've earned it yet, I know without a doubt you'll show yourself and everyone else you will!" Pyrrha turned her head off to the side slightly, the girl having raised he left arm to cradle her right. She had completely abandoned eye contact, and was staring at the ground, trying to keep from looking at him. She seemed a bit overwhelmed by his defense but he couldn't stop now, and pushed forward.

"Pyrrha, you're amazing. You're honest, and humble, and try to be the best you can be. You're also really hard on yourself for having fun, or enjoying things when you think you should be serious. That's just not fair, to yourself and others around you, who want you to be happy and accept yourself." Izuku took a deep breath as he considered something.

'Pyrrha…' he stopped, looked up at the far taller woman standing in front of him, and felt himself gulp slightly, especially considering how he would…'wait, her arm is to down!'

Izuku went ahead and moved in for a hug, wrapping an arm around Pyrrha's shoulder and giving it a squeeze as he did so from the side, attempting to avoid a situation like the one he had faced with Yang in the tunnels. Pyrrha's head shot up, and she looked at him straight in the eye.

"Don't worry about being The Invincible Girl or not. I like Pyrrha Nikos much better anyway."

Pyrrha nearly stumbled, a quick choking sound coming out of her throat from the sudden contact. Pyrrha took a moment to regain her composure. After some time, having recovered from nearly choking on the air, Pyrrha finally offered Izuku her own smile. It was soft, almost barely there really...but genuine, as she let her arm slip around him as well.

'OHGOODNESSAGIRLISHUGGINGMEWHATAMIGOINGTOD-'

"Thank you...Izuku... I couldn't have asked for a better partner." Izuku nearly choked on the air himself, as he regained his internal composure. For a second, he refocused his eyes on her, and she gave him a small smirk, "Honestly, I mean it."

He let out a light chuckle as he looked up at Pyrrha, the embarrassment of hugging 'another' girl causing his face to turn red, but doing his best smile warmly at the same time.

"I think that's supposed to be my line... but thanks Pyrrha." After an awkward moment or two the two eventually broke off, Pyrrha sighing as she took her circlet and placed it back on her head as the two continued to walk. She gave him a look that he didn't quite understand, before returning her view forward. Izuku looked back at the shop one last time, and added, "I think I'll go ahead and go to the other store on my own time, figure out something I'd like to put together then. We should probably head back so we can get our homework done."

"Yeah, I think so too." They both walked together as they headed back to the airbus and Izuku was glad his partner did not seem upset anymore. They just continued to talk about little idle things, though he just enjoyed the good mood that was around the moment.

* * *

 **a/n: A bit of a delay on this one; I received a message from one of the two editors that he'd need some extra time to make their pass on it due to some exams they were taking for Summer Classes and so I decided I'd go ahead and give a bit of an impromptu delay between updates in order to help give more of a cushion. Updates will resume their usual once every five day from here, barring future small mistakes or lateness.**


	75. Back and Forth

"You know... I kind of almost wasn't expecting to hear from you after last week..."

"Huh, why?"

Izuku blinked slightly as, in a bit of a change of pace, He and Blake were sitting around in an off corner of the library. As it was the weekend, the library was pretty much entirely empty with only a few overachieving students having gathered in and around the section of the school to help finish up their class work or to quickly study for some upcoming test. Thus it made it incredibly easy to find a few seats and a table in the library far away from anyone and everyone in there for them to just hang out like she suggested last week. Izuku wanted to take some time to let the whole situation with Blake really sink in before he did so but, a week later, he felt ready to get back into it. Blake was his friend, after all, and he meant every word said. So to hear Blake's suggestion had surprised him. Blake seemed to realize that as she gave a soft smile and shook her head.

"It's... it's nothing about you Izuku. It's my own worse nature... I guess I figured that... well, after finding out, you'd have second thoughts." She shook her head before he could open his mouth to rebut her. "I know, I know. You, Izuku Midoriya, turning your back after everything you said, that's ridiculous. It's just... well, that's just the kind of thing I've gotten used to." He nodded, but with a firm, tense expression on his face as he looked Blake in the eye.

"Look Blake, you don't have to worry about that with me. I'm your friend and I said I'd keep your secret and do what I can to help you and I meant it. You can trust me." Blake's smile grew for a moment.

"Yeah... I've been kind of wrestling with that throughout this past week. It's... it's been something to get used to." Blake leaned forward in her chair, resting her forehead in her hands as she took a bit of a breath. "Back in The Fang, everyone already knew I was a Faunus and... that was just the thing to be. I didn't have to worry about keeping any secrets because everyone already knew everything and backed me to the hilt on it... well, I suppose that's not true. No one knew I was going to leave the Fang till literally the last second. That was probably a bit of a surprise." Blake snorted derisively as she took a breath. "But... it's been different here in Beacon. No one but you knows that about me... it's... it's weird."

"How so?" He asked, tilting his head to the side as he did so.

"... It's like... it's like I have a sword hanging preciously over my head while also knowing I have an out anytime I need it." A visible look of confusion caused Blake some mirth, though it was expressed in the usual way for the stoic Cat girl. "Like I said, it's weird. On the one hand... you know my secret. At any moment, you could accidentally let it slip or someone could force it from you or you could tell someone else if you thought it was the right thing to do and there's not much I can do about it. It's out of my control... and unlike in The Fang, it's not just something that 'is'. People don't know about it... and they probably shouldn't..." He nodded, understanding Blake's general worries, even as he thought that she didn't need to worry about it.

"But... at the same time... I..." Blake took a breath as she looked at him. "I've been so stressed. There's been so many times where I thought 'this is it, this is the moment where I get caught'. There was this time where I was in the shower, my bow off on my pile of clothes, and Yang just walked in-" Izuku did his best to not let that mental image sink into his head, "-and she thought my ears were my bow. If she had turned her head just the right way, she would've seen my bow on my clothes and then..." Blake heaved a heavy sigh as she shook her head. "I've been having to keep this to myself. Just... just constantly worrying over it. All by myself...

"... Now though... now I have an out... now someone knows. Someone that knows my secret and... and just doesn't care. Someone I can just..." Blake motioned a finger between the two of them, "just... talk to. I don't have to constantly worry about it like I do with everyone else... there's a place where I'm just... safe. Safe to be a Faunus rather than a human girl with a penchant for constantly wearing her bow twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week... which, let me tell you, not comfortable." He nodded his head understandingly... as understandingly as he could given he had no Faunus features himself and so didn't know exactly how it would feel to have something constantly pinned down.

"Well Blake I'm glad that I can help in that small way... but really, you don't have to worry about me telling. I swore I wouldn't and I'll keep to that." Blake smiled slightly.

"I know... I just... I just need to get used to this again. It's... it's been a long time since I've been in the company of someone that I'm just supposed to trust implicitly. The last time... well, it was a couple months before I left the Fang. Back when I still thought that we were an absolute good. That our mission was entirely just..." Blake sighed as she shook her head. "After that... well, you can't exactly spend nearly a year living constantly looking over your shoulder and then go back to just trusting people again. I... I need to get used to that again. I need to work on it..." At that, he watched Blake frown slightly.

"What's wrong Blake?" The Cat Faunus glanced back at him for a moment, her eyes darting down to the side again before she sighed.

"Like I said, I need to work on it... that means... I really do just need to trust you. To... open up a bit..." Blake scratched the back of her head as she faced him fully. "Izuku... you've shown me around your home town. You've told me your dream and everything that's gone into it. You've exposed how vulnerable you used to feel back when you thought you were Br... a Moon Child."

"It's okay if you're more used to saying Broken... I know none of you guys mean it in a bad way."

"I'd prefer to refer to it as having been a Moon Child... call it a consideration." Blake's bow twitched slightly. "Anyway... I know all this stuff about you and... and you only know about my biggest secret. Yeah, that's a big thing to know but... well, you don't even know where I come from. Something as a simple as my home that I know about you..." Blake took a huge breath, trying to ease her nerves as she very slowly exhaled it. "So... I need to fix that. I need to trust you with that kind of information..." Blake rested her chin on her hands.

"So... I want you to feel free to ask me about... well... me, I guess. Whatever you feel like you need to know, just ask me and I'll... I'll do my best to answer..." He nodded slightly as he brought his hand up to his chin and rubbed it slightly.

"Alright... well, I better start with this then. I mean, I have to... it's only fair that I do after having asked people like Weiss and Pyrrha about this." Blake nodded, understandingly, as she took a deep breath, as if bracing herself for the incoming question. He looked straight at her for a second, feeling the tension in her, before his face folded into a confused, questioning look. "Why do you fight in high heels anyway?"

Blake immediately let out that gust of air all at once, practically coughing as she looked at him incredulously.

"Really?" He chuckled a little as he raised his hands.

"Sorry, sorry. It is something I'm curious about but... well, you just seem so dire about this Blake. I'm here as your friend... I wanted to remind you of that. You know, ease the tension a little. You don't have to be so worried about all this. I'm not going to ask anything that would be too bad... and if I accidentally do, you can tell me no. I just wanted to lighten the mood to meet that..." He said with an earnest smile as, slowly, Blake's own look softened, the smallest, 'smallest' sign of a smile on her lips before that too evened out.

"... Alright. Thanks, I guess. That was a little bit of a surprise." Blake took another breath as she shakes her head. "Anyway, alright. Why do I fight in high heels. Well... at this point, it's more habit than anything. I've been fighting in them for so long that it's just more comfortable for me to do so than not... I've got the balance down and whenever I fight outside of them... well, my feet never quite end up where I want them too. Rather than have to relearn how to adjust my footing, I've stuck with what works... but I'm guessing you want to know why I started fighting with them in the first place, right?" He nodded and Blake gave a slightly coy grin. "Well, that's easy enough to answer." For a moment Blake looked around the library, her bow twitching as she likely tried to ensure that no one was around the immediate area, before she turned her head behind her.

Izuku blinked in surprise as, in a show of flexibility, Blake quickly kicked her right leg back behind her, letting it bend till it's just about level with her chair. Having already turned her head, Blake reached back with her right hand to fiddle around with the heel of her shoe. At first he was confused as to what she was up to... but then, after a click, his eyes went slightly wide as Blake detached her heel from her shoe. With a flick of her thumb, the end of her heel suddenly produced... a bit of metal? No, not just a bit of metal...

"Is that a lock pick?" Blake nodded as she twisted the heel and lock pick around in her hand.

"Yep. You'd be surprised how many places get really thorough with their checks up in Atlas these days. It's not just your pockets up there... if they think you're suspicious, they'll pry open your mouth and check your teeth before letting you into an event. 'Extra security' they say. Which, fair enough, I know a few members of the Fang who did hide things behind their teeth... or, say, under a filling, a while back. I really didn't want to have a hole drilled in my mouth just for the pleasure of hiding something though, so I decided to go with a hiding place that wasn't even checked out at all. You'd be surprised how much security this bad boy got through just because of this hiding place." Blake quickly bent back, flicking the lock pick back into her heel before reattaching it. "Of course, this meant that I was pretty much always going to be walking around in my heels, don't want to ever be without your little tool after all, so it just seemed like the logical step. If I was always going to be in heels, I'd better learn how to fight in them. Enough Huntresses do it that it's a common sight so it's not like I'd every draw any attention that way."

"... Do you have anything in your other heel?" he asked, curiously, as Blake just smiles.

"Nah... that one's just hollowed out in case I ever needed to clandestinely transfer messages someplace secure." He nodded slowly, eyes wide as he looked up at her.

"That... makes a lot of sense actually. That would be useful all things considered." Blake nodded slightly as she looked down at the tables.

"Yeah. Pick up all kinds of neat little tricks when you're... well, when you're a terrorist..." Izuku nodded in some solemn agreement, though he offered her a smile.

"Well you never know; those kinds of skills might be useful in the urban parts of being a Hunter. I'm sure Aizawa has all kinds of tricks and stuff like that up his sleeves." Blake offered a small smile at that, even as she shook her head.

"As shady as Aizawa can be sometimes, I doubt he has tricks like those... but I appreciate the attempt there Izuku." With that the conversation died down slightly while he rubbed his chin.

"Well alright, how about where you're from? Like you said, you know where I live, so I thought it'd be pretty cool to know where you come from." Blake nodded, likely having expected a question more along those lines.

"Fair enough. Well... let's start with the basics. I'm... kind of complicated, I guess. I guess you could say that I'm from Menagerie, if we're going to give me a birthplace and home." His eyes went slightly wide at that, leaning forward as he tilted his head to the side.

"Woah, really? You're a Menagerie Faunus?" Blake chuckled a bit at the term but nodded.

"Yep. Born there way back when. My family's actually lived in Menagerie dating back to my grandfather after the Great War... and my dad fought in the Faunus Rights Revolution to preserve our freedoms and to keep us from living there exclusively. I know, it's a bit of a surprise to see one of us not living there but... well, it's the truth."

"What's it like there. I mean, I hear most of the island is desert, so..." Blake nodded, though there remained that smile on her face.

"Yeah, it is. Kind of crappy that we got stuck with an island that was mostly desert but... well, given what Vacuo's stuck with, I guess it could've been worse." Blake offers a slight chuckle. "Still, don't let that description fool you... most of Menagerie might be a dangerous desert full of terrible Grimm and wildlife... but the parts of the island where stuff does grow? Gods, it's a beautiful place. Lush and vibrant with trees unlike anywhere else I've seen traveling the world. The sky and the water are so blue and stretch for so long that it just seems like they end up meeting each other in the horizon perfectly. Because so little of it is habitable, a lot of people on Menagerie live in very close proximity on the coasts of the island... but that just makes the community so energetic. You can go out into the waters and see fish or other aquatic Faunus just swimming to jumping in the water or working their jobs as fishermen. The markets are always active because the island might be dangerous but we still got some good stuff there. There's Dust out in the desert if you're willing to brave it and... well, the farmland isn't 'great' but it's enough to grow some really nice fruit thanks to the climate. You never have to worry about racism there either... after all, everyone's a Faunus. There's only ever been 'one' human on the island itself since it was given to us after the Great War and... boy, was he a heck of an exception."

"That sounds pretty nice." He said with a smile as Blake just nodded.

"Yeah... yeah it was... but when I was young, I didn't get a lot of chances to really sit down and enjoy that. My parents... were part of the early White Fang. The Fang led by Ghira Khan. Because the White Fang back then was an organization meant to travel around and help strike or protest for Faunus Rights, that meant my family and I moved around Remnant a lot. I've actually been to all Four Kingdoms. Seen them all and, for various amounts of times, lived in them all. It's... why it's kind of weird to call Menagerie my home. I've lived outside of Menagerie for longer than I've lived in it... honestly, I'd consider one of the Four Kingdoms my home more than Menagerie at this point. Still, what time I did spend there was just... just amazing. No fears or worries except for the occasional Grimm. A real, honest to goodness home... but a home that I was willing to leave along with my parents. I wanted to fight for our rights. so that Faunus who chose to live outside Menagerie could do so without fear from humans. So they could live as freely in the Four Kingdoms as they could in Menagerie... I really believed that. I really thought my parents... and Ghira Khan believed in that idea too."

Despite the earlier, happier tone, the conversation dipped here as Blake rubbed her hands together slightly. Izuku nodded slowly at that, a slightly tight expression on his face as he looked over at Blake.

It took a few moments of waiting as Blake took a slight breath. He didn't want to push Blake too hard. She was opening up to him at her own pace and he didn't want to push too far too fast and go beyond what she was comfortable with. Eventually Blake just closed her eyes and shook her head, looking back at him.

"Anyway... that was home while I was there. Eventually my parents wanted to leave The Fang around the time Ghira retired and Sienna stepped up to become the next Khan. I... was stubborn. I wanted to stick around. Sienna Khan's message of defending ourselves proactively rather than just taking the abuse... well, it appealed after I saw how the peaceful approach wasn't just earning progress fast enough. I thought... I thought it was all just in defense of Faunus. That's how it started anyway... but it obviously didn't stay that way. That's another story though..." Blake brushed a strand of hair behind her ear as she did so, Izuku moving on to his next question.

"Well alright, here's something I'm curious about then; how did you learn to do all the stuff you do? I mean, the fighting and stuff. Did you have a mentor or was it all self-taught or..." His voice died slightly as Blake visibly paled a bit. There was a clear look of discomfort on her face as he asked the question, the cat Faunus having again messed with her hair.

"... A lot of it was self-learned, especially when it came to my day to day activities but... yeah... I-I guess I had a mentor when it came to learning how to fight..." Blake glanced down to the side, before looking back at him. "Listen... Izuku, I know what I said but... could you... maybe ask something else? I'm... well... this is kind of personal for me. It's not something I'd really want to talk about..."

Izuku immediately shook his head as he smiled apologetically at Blake. "No, no, I get it. This is pretty personal." Blake nodded, sending a grateful look his way while he leaned forward a bit. "So, you mentioned wanting to make up for what you did, right? You got any plans for that, beyond becoming a Huntress?"

"... Gosh, that's just the question of the year right now..." Blake sighed as she leaned forward on the table as well. "If I'm being completely honest Izuku? I have no idea. Everything's just kind of come and gone so quickly when it's come to my life at this point. I started questioning the motives of the organization I practically dedicated my entire life to, then I quit and ran away leaving behind everyone I had ever known... I snuck around for a while and then, by some miracle, I managed to get my way into Beacon off of some friends. Now... I just don't know. Everything these past several months has pretty much me moving from one spot in my life to another, just trying to make sense of things. Right now... I don't really have a plan. I haven't really had time to just sit and think about it with everything constantly changing... or, who knows, maybe that's just another excuse for me to run away from that question..." Izuku frowned slightly hearing Blake put herself down like that. Eventually, however, he just smiled as he nodded understandingly.

"No, I think I get what you mean. Don't forget, I had my own pretty big changes not too long ago, so I get what you mean. But it's like I said at the fountain; I want to help you moving forward, to focus on the future... and from here on out, that means I want to help you figure out what you want and support you every step of the way." He smiled warmly, genuinely at Blake who just smiled back. "So let's figure out what you want together, one step at a time. That sound good, Blake?"

"... Yeah, yeah that sounds good Izuku... thanks."

"It's no problem Blake. That's what friends are for." Blake gave a small chuckle as she nodded her head understandingly.

"Yeah... guess that's something I just have to relearn." He smiled at that. Sure, the thought was sad, but... to a degree, that means Blake was learning it again. From him, of all people.

After that the two exchanged just a little bit of extra history. He was really interested in learning about Menagerie, and hearing all these stories from Blake was certainly an enlightening experience. After a while, the day grew late and it seemed like it was a good time for them both to go ahead and get back to their dorms.

* * *

"Finally feeling gutsy again eh Slugger? Gotta admit, after our last fight I figured it'd be a while before you'd take me on for a spar." Izuku smiled slightly as Yang spoke, the blonde brawler stretching herself out as she prepared for their spar, the two of them in their training attire as they looked ready to pair off into another fight. Yang had been right; he had been putting off challenging her to another spar since their last bit punch up in Combat Class. That fight had been intense... because he'd been using his Smash so liberally. By Glenn Smashing at her, he'd managed to level the playing field against Yang, pushing her to her own limits and getting her to activate her own Semblance. It'd only been at the end, both of them thoroughly beaten down and exhausted, that the fight had been called in her favor. While he was proud of how close he got it, even he was full well ready to admit that he'd only gotten as close as he had thanks to the Glenn Smash. In a straight fist fight between himself and Yang, like she said in Peach's office, she would've clobbered him.

Now though? Now he'd trained a bit more. He was more than he used to be, though he'd admit he probably had a bit of a way to go. So he wanted to get back into sparring with Yang. It was really fun to do and Yang usually had some good tips or suggestions for improving his form, something he was always looking for when it came to your training. Plus, well...

"Well I've gotten stronger than I was during that spar Yang. I thought I'd see how far I'd come since then to see how I'd stack up against you." Izuku saw Yang grin slightly, the slight glint of that battle lust that he'd seen during his fight with her and the lead up to it shining through.

"That right Slugger? Well, if you say that then I know you must got something special up that sleeve of yours." Yang against went into some stretches, shifting from side to side as she stretched out her legs. "Though, don't get my expectations too high there Slugger; you don't want to disappoint a girl by over-promising and then not delivering... it'd be a real departure coming from you too." Izuku watched as Yang offered him a slightly coy wink. "After all, you've been such a gentlemen so far, it'd be just terrible if you broke that streak here." Izuku went a bit red at that, reminded of their last couple outings with Yang but, to a different degree, their fights. They really have been pretty exciting and fun times and, each time, he could tell Yang was in some way looking forward to it. The temptation to really surprise Yang and knock her off her feet was pretty strong, as he knew that Yang would take it as a treat.

"Well, I don't intend to Yang..." Izuku muttered slightly, cracking his knuckles as he did so. "Because... well, you just made it look so cool that I had to get one of my own." At that, Yang curiously arched an eyebrow, the blonde brawler crossing her arms as she tilted her head to the side, watching as he slowly bent his knees and strained his muscles.

"Oh, what would that be, Slugger?" Yang asked, a grin forming on her lips as she watched him scrunch his face up in focus. Izuku took a deep breath as he pulled upon that chunk of One For All he could control, that 5%, and then push it throughout his entire body. Izuku managed the feat well enough and, within seconds, his body was slowly but surely beginning to spark with that green electricity that had marked his initial activation of Full Cowl. HIs skin glowed more and more as the energy built up in him, going slightly golden while even his eyes started to shine, emerald irises giving a shine as his muscles swelled under the influence of the power of 5% of One For All. Yang just watched, her grin having disappeared while her jaw hung open slightly when he, finally, finished pulling out all the power he needed.

"A super form, of course... I call it Full Cowl." Izuku said with a slight smile, feeling slightly sheepish at the very slight amount of showmanship he was putting on, though he figured Yang of all people would've appreciated it. For a moment, it seemed like that Yang was just stunned at the sight, a slight tilt to her head as she took him in...

He wasn't surprised when, all of a sudden, that look of shock turned into one excitement. Of anticipation.

"Well, well Slugger. First my weapons and now my Semblance? You really must like what you see on a day to day basis if you're so intent on flattering me with imitation." Izuku couldn't help but blush slightly as those lilac eyes slowly turn red and offer him a bit of a wink. "If you start wearing a tube top though, I think you'll have gone a little too far... though that would show off your abs more..." Then... Yang did something that confused him a bit. Izuku watched as Yang reached up for Ember Celica, which had still been deactivated on her wrists while she'd been stretching out to prepare for the fight... and just slipped them off of her. The young woman cracked her neck slightly as she reached up and cracked her knuckles, her gloves still on her hands despite having tossed her weapons off to the side.

"Yang, what are you-"

Before he could ask a question, he watched in stunned silence as Yang drove her fist into her ribs, a glow of her Aura shining for the briefest of moments before it immediately dulled, allowing her fist to just 'sink' into her side. Izuku watched as Yang hacked out a sharp breath, a little spittle having splatted onto the ground in front of her as she coughed ever so slightly. That cough turned into a chuckle as Yang swiped at her mouth, giving him a wide smile as she did so.

"Well, I'm just going to have to show you why you can't beat the original." With that Yang reared both her fists back to the side and... well...

'I probably should've seen this coming.'

Yang slammed her fists into each other and immediately her body went alight with her Semblance. Her hair rocketed above her, as if held aloft by some invisible gust of wind behind her, as it glowed and burned with the varying colors of a roaring inferno. Her eyes were fully red as they stared at Izuku while her entire body just glowed with her power.

"Now Izuku... this is a spar and all and you're supposed to learn... so, let's make it even footing. Your 'super form' versus mine. I'll learn you a thing or two about how it's just not all about raw power." Despite her words, there was a wide smile on her face as Yang cracked her knuckles once again, the movement met with an appropriate flexing of the brawler's powerful Aura. The overwhelmingly excited but playful tone, plus Yang's pep talk from before, told him she hadn't been sore about how the last fight turned out... but it was above clear that she wanted to really put Full Cowl through its paces. He'd gotten her 'excited'.

Well, as Izuku slipped Emerald Gust off of his arms, keeping his gloves on his hands to help protect his fingers and hands, he couldn't help but oblige her. It was just a spar after all.

"Alright Yang, let's do this." Izuku quickly got into his stance, which just caused Yang to bark out a laugh.

"Exactly what I wanted to hear, Izuku!" With that, he and Yang immediately charged in for each other, both their speeds immediately boosted by their Semblances.

It was with a bit of deception that Izuku tried to start this fight. He knew that, having struck herself so directly, that Yang would likely be a little bit off her game, more so than usual. That presented an opportunity, he though. A way to perhaps break through that barrier of defenses Yang had from her intense training in the martial arts. A feint, properly executed and taking advantage of Yang's self-inflicted injury, could give him an opening into striking her if the opportunity allowed for it. So he quickly moved in, giving a quick shout as he tried to fake Yang out, pumping in One For All ever so slightly into his right hand as if he was preparing for a Smash. However, Yang's red eyes narrowed at the sight and, rather than obviously dodging in a way that would upset her footing, the blonde brawler just adjusts herself ever so slightly, just in case. The feint, having not knocked her off her usual game, failed as he gritted his teeth, preparing for Yang's counter attack.

Izuku knew what Yang was capable of when powered up. She hadn't taken nearly as much damage from her own fist as she had from your Glenn Smash, but he knew that Yang was an 'incredibly' capable fighter. So he was surprised when he saw that, rather than the full barrage of blows he knew that Yang would be capable of sending his way, the girl went for more obvious, slower strikes than the rapid ones he knew she could unleash... that's not to say he wasn't overwhelmed when five swings headed for him but he knew she was capable of more...

Then again, it wouldn't be much of a spar meant to help teach him forms if Yang just beat him into the dirt without even trying, right? So he did his best; some of the strikes were too far off to be even a slight concern about dodging, but three of them were on point. He did manage to easily beat off one of the attacks with his own fists while a quick dodge got him to avoid another attack but... well, his Aura couldn't save him from that last punch. By the Gods, did it hurt too. It doesn't punch through his Aura, especially not with One For All coursing through his body, but he still felt the pressure of the hit and it made his ribs scream slightly. He 'definitely' didn't want to know what it was like to be hit head on by one of those punches without his Aura protecting him.

Figuring that with Yang's expertise that the feint wasn't going to work from here on out he went in for a rush of attacks. Three fists went flying and they're all on point, the last of them, as usual, being a Smash. Yang easily slapped the first one way... but then he watched as she noticed the second one coming right for her. It was close, but he knew that Yang could conceivably push her Aura into her to help avoid the strike. Instead, Yang took it head on, his fist driving itself into her stomach as the young woman bent over slightly. It' was with a wide grin that Yang looked at him, her eyes shining with that excited energy, as she laughed while going in for her next assault, her energy practically infectious. What wasn't great was the fact that another hit managed to get through to him after the assault, the rain of blows having overwhelmed his defenses to the point where he'd had to burn some Aura early to dodge one of the hits.

The one that landed only grazed him but, even in doing so, still hurt ever so slightly. His own hit was stronger, he imagined, but that was a pretty direct shot at Yang's core. Hers only grazed his side and it still stung like Hell. With his Aura dwindling from Yang's assault he took a deep breath and went in for another flurry of blows... there was no hesitation that time, Yang just parried and dodged out of the way as one of his potential hits just flew far off to the side, missing her entirely. Yang, with a quick battle cry, got in past one of his parries and then drove a fist into his stomach, causing the air to be driven from his lungs as the signal for him entered the red rang. All at once, both Full Cowl and Yang's Semblance died out, which had caused Izuku to feel even 'more' exhausted while Yang just took a step back. He would've fallen on his butt, his footing having been supported by Yang's fist at that moment... had it not been for Yang quickly reaching out and grabbing him, supporting his weight on her.

"Woah there, easy fella. You've taken enough hits without collapsing onto the floor, right? Let's get you onto a bench. Sound good, Slugger?"

"Yeah, sounds good Yang..." Izuku winced as he talked, his core still feeling sore from the hits it took from Yang. The two of them walked, well Izuku stumbled next to Yang while she supported his weight, over to a bench. He was grateful that Yang didn't take the opportunity to tease him about his proximity as she sat him down onto the bench, the young woman heaving a slight breath as she rubbed at her own stomach, right where Izuku'd struck her.

"Gotta hand it to you Izuku, in terms of sheer speed, your... Full Cowl?" Izuku nodded as Yang sought confirmation. "Yeah, Full Cowl pretty much has me beat. You could probably dance circles around me in the time it'd take me to catch up to you." The lilac eyed young girl winced ever so slightly as she hit a particularly sore spot on her exposed abdomen. Her short jacket and tube top made it easy to see her stomach and while it wasn't bruised in the aftermath of the fight, it was still pretty red. "Let's you hit pretty hard too. Gotta say, I approve..." She offered him a wry grin. "Did you really come up with it to copy my Semblance though? If you did, really, I'm flattered... but it sounded like just some cool pre-fight banter." You grin ever so slightly as you look up at her.

"Actually, if I'm being really honest, I didn't really 'come up with it' per say. I wasn't working toward it... well, I kind of was but I didn't know it." Yang tilted her head to the side as he leaned back, a slight smile on his face. "You see... while talking with Nora after she knocked me into a wall during a spar, she let me in on a little detail about how most people used their Aura. That you all keep it on all the time, just under the surface, rather than just digging down into it whenever you felt like you needed it." Yang nodded her head at that, putting her hands on her shoulders.

"Yeah, you figure that out pretty quickly. It's just kind of a part of getting used to... ah Hell... that had to suck to learn..." Yang rubbed at the back of her head as Izuku nodded.

"I'll admit, I felt pretty thick at the time. Something so simple about how Aura worked and I didn't pick up on it until I had it explained to me. I'm thankful still but, yeah, it wasn't a proud moment." Yang offered a sympathetic smile as she continued. "Anyway, Nora didn't just flat out explain it. She actually used a metaphor to help paint a picture. She used a metaphor about-"

"Let me guess, pancakes?"

"Got it in one."

"Well you can't say the girl doesn't know what she likes." Yang offered with a smile as he chuckled.

"Yeah... but it was really helpful in this case." Izuku looked up at Yang who was just looking down at him expectantly. "You see, the way Nora put it, she wasn't just 'turning the heat on' at a high blast whenever she needed her Aura. That she had to keep the heat on consistently so that it'd heat up the entire pancake and help it cook." A smile slowly but surely grew on Yang's face as if she was seeing where the entire thing was going. "So when I tried applying that metaphor to my own Aura, it made me think over to my Semblance too; I was only pulling that bit of my Semblance that I could control whenever I needed it, using it rather than making it a part of me. So-"

"So you used Nora's pancake metaphor in order to figure out Full Cowl?" Izuku nodded, sheepishly, as Yang barked out a laugh. "Oh my Gods, Slugger! You sure you want 'that' to be the story about how you figured out Full Cowl? A metaphor using pancakes is pretty..." Yang snorted through her nose as she tried to hold back some laughter, still smiling at him as she did so. "Is pretty funny, don'tcha think?" Izuku nodded slightly at that, remembering back to Toshinori's hesitance about his egg metaphor for his first step in understanding One For All. Still...

"Well, two people have been okay with it, and Nora was really enthused about it and hey, so long as it works for me it should be fine, right?" At that Yang just gave him a wink and a smile.

"Of course. Wouldn't suggest anything less than that. I'm just saying, you could stand for a slightly cooler story there Slugger." Yang gave a widened smile as some thought crossed her eyes, the blonde stroking her chin slightly as she looked off to the side. "Then again, maybe this metaphor works out just fine for you, Slugger. After all, what better way to describe Full Cowl than with a pancake metaphor? From here on out, you're gonna be pretty busy-" Izuku prematurely groaned as he put a hand on his face, smiling nonetheless as he knew what was coming, "-laying the bad guys 'flat'! Eh, eh?" It was a horrible pun, but still, he couldn't help but chuckle a little as Yang grinned.

"You know if Tsuyu ever finds out you made that joke, she'll probably tongue lash you really hard?" Yang shivered a bit at that, before grinning down at Izuku.

"Well Slugger, is she ever gonna find out that I made an awesome pun?" Izuku just smiled and shook his head, Yang lightly putting her hand on his shoulder to show appreciation 'without' hurting him. "That's why you're a good person there, Slugger."

"Oh yeah, not because I want to be a hero or anything." Yang barked out a big old laugh as she reached a hand down to help his out of your seat.

"Right! That's just all secondary to the fact that you like my puns and you're not gonna report me to my partner. Because you're such a gentleman, Slugger, I'll be happy to help you to your dorm room." Izuku rolled his eyes slightly as he took Yang's hand, letting her lift him up.

"You know, considering you did a number on me with your Semblance, it might've just been nice if you did that no matter what."

"Pssh. As if tough guy. You're getting the pleasure of being around Yang Xiao Long. That alone requires an extra fee." Izuku just blushed a bit but smile as Yang helps you walk back to his dorm room, the two of them talking along the way... most of the discussion being Yang making more pancake puns to go along with Full Cowl.

* * *

 **E/N: Two chapters three Waifu candidates, But only one will win...**

 **-Shovern**


	76. Chilling

"Hmm..."

"What's up Shoto?"

Izuku was surprised by the rare vocalization from Shoto. Rather by chance he and Shoto had ended up running into each other while they both were out for a walk, Izuku trying to clear up his thoughts on his training and how he could better improve with Full Cowl under his belt, and just what that improvement would look like, and Shoto... well, it was sometimes hard to tell with Shoto what he was looking to get out of a walk. Still, Izuku'd been friendly enough in greeting his new friend, or well 'new', he'd considered Shoto a friend even before the two made it 'official' and Shoto certainly didn't seem to mind running into him. To that end, the two of them ended up just walking with each other for a moment, mostly silent but with some small talk, mostly started by Izuku, while the two passed through the various sights of Beacon's campus. It had been going along pretty normally for a light conversation with Shoto, with Izuku doing most of the talking, but a period of silence had fallen on the two as Izuku'd both gone back to ruminating on his thoughts.

Which, when Shoto interrupted that silence, had ended up drawing his attention.

"I've been thinking about something, Izuku." Shoto intoned calmly, the half and half young man rubbing at his chin as Izuku chuckled slightly. Izuku figured as much, but he allowed for Shoto to go at his own pace. "Having observed our mutual friends, I've taken note of some of the things they enjoy doing as part of their relationship as friends. Ren and Nora, for all the... oddities of their relationship, seem to enjoy spending time together, mostly with Ren cooking, while Ruby and Bakugo, both on their own time and in the time they do work together, usually end up doing some kind of training."

"I'm not surprised by either count, really." Izuku'd spent most of his time with Nora either training or cooking and only so often going out and doing something fun or just chatting, so he wasn't surprised Shoto observed a similar dynamic with Ren, given that the magenta eyed young man seemed to possess the social skills, if not the actual temperament, similar to Izuku and Shoto. Kacchan was another obvious point and Ruby... "Wait, wouldn't you see Ruby mostly working on Crescent Rose in her spare time as something fun? That doesn't really count as training, Shoto."

"... It doesn't? How does weapon maintenance not count as some kind of training?" Shoto seemed genuinely puzzled and, as Izuku opened his mouth... well, he closed it again as he realized he didn't really have a satisfactory answer. Or at least, not an immediate one. Izuku tapped his chin a bit as he took some time to consider an answer that Shoto would find acceptable.

"Well... I guess the big difference is that Ruby enjoys it, so it isn't really work for her. I mean, it is, but she doesn't view it as something monotonous or just for the sake of working." Shoto nodded slowly as he looked forward.

"I'd noticed that, but that behavior didn't seem too dissimilar to Yang's enjoyment of sparring or Weiss' intense focus on her studies, so I didn't figure that it was any different. Sparring is still training and studying is still studying..." Izuku tilted his head to the side at that as he blinked at Shoto.

"Don't you enjoy your training Shoto?"

...

There was an odd silence that sat between the pair of Them, Shoto's eyes glanced off to the side for a moment, a flicker of a memory going past it before the young man sighed.

"I can't particularly say that I do, no. It is necessary for me to become the best that I can be... but it isn't something I say I find a great deal of joy in." Izuku got the feeling that, between the hesitation and his tone, that the matter was a bit personal so he just nodded as he raised his hands.

"Well... that's not the same for a lot of people. Even in stuff other people might think of as work, they find some enjoyment in it. It's... kind of hard to explain I guess." The fire and ice Huntsman just nodded, seemingly doing his best to understand Izuku's point as well.

"Would you be in a similar camp then, Izuku?" Izuku blanched a bit at that, a little surprised by the direction the conversation was going in.

"Well, as hard as working out for the past... gosh, it has been nearly a year at this point... anyway, as hard as it's been, I've actually been kind of enjoying it. Making progress on the one hand is already pretty rewarding in and of itself but... well, exercising on its own just feels good as well." Admittedly, it didn't start off feeling good and, as Toshinori worked Izuku's body as hard as it could go in order to make sure it was ready for One For All, there were times where Izuku was sure he'd never be happy again. Okay, slight exaggeration of course, but that's just how it felt like at times. Still, now that he was exercising at his own pace, getting stronger and faster and working with his friends... well, it had become an overall more enjoyable experience, or at least, he thought it was now.

But Izuku still understood as it seemed that Shoto just nodded slowly, his expression still even. "If you say so. I can't say much the same myself... there are times where my training with my Aura and Semblance brings me peace but... well..." Shoto looked off to the side again before shaking his head. "Well, I'm not sure I could ever truly say that I 'enjoy' the physical training I've done or continue to do from time to time." Izuku shrugged his shoulders at that.

"That's fine, I think. I think it's pretty safe to say that enjoying exercise really isn't for everyone." Izuku looked over to Shoto "What's this all about anyway Shoto? Seems like a weird thing to bring up." Shoto nodded at that as he looked back over at Izuku.

"My point is that... well, I am doing my best, having become friends with both you and Weiss, to try and figure out just what friends are supposed to do and what they're not supposed to do, to prevent any misunderstandings in the future." Izuku nodded, understandable if anyone asked him. It seemed like the situation with Weiss really was just an honest mistake and one that, in his own way, Shoto regretted making and didn't want to stumble into again. "So I've been observing the members of our group that I spend the most time around to try and learn just what friends might be able to do in their spare time... all I've come up with so far looking at Ren and Nora, Ruby and Bakugo is food and some kind of training... and I'll admit, those activities don't entirely appeal, as I'm rarely as hungry as Nora and my own training can be time consuming. So I'm unsure of what I might be able to branch out into with you and Weiss."

'...'

'Okay, I definitely can feel where he is coming from,' Izuku... well, he really was new to the whole 'having friends' thing himself, so Izuku was really playing it all by ear too. Either that or Izuku was depending on his friends to come up with ideas or show him the ropes, like the book reading with Blake, going out on the town with Yang or hanging out with Coco and the others. Izuku really wasn't completely in on this whole having a social life either and it sounded like Shoto was just as lost as he was.

Still, he could try and think of something in order to help Shoto out with all of this.

"Well... alright Shoto, let's start from the top. What are your hobbies? If we start from there maybe we can try and think of some stuff to do."

"..."

Shoto just stared at him for a long moment, his expression flat as he just blinked in Izuku's direction. Izuku blanched a little at the sight, tilting his head to the side.

"You know, a hobby. Like, something you've done for fun just for the sake of having fun? Maybe you or your siblings did some stuff when you were younger or you and your..." Shoto frowned slightly at that, his eyes glancing off to the side as they seemed unable to entirely meet Izuku's own in that second. "You... you do have hobbies, right Shoto?" The young man seemed to get even more awkward in that second as he raised a fist up to cough into it.

...

"Shoto... what-"

"I... didn't have a lot of free time as a child. As you can imagine, being the son of the Number Two Huntsman... well, it came with a lot of expectations." The fact that Shoto seemed to be glaring while saying that... well, it was weird. Because it didn't feel like he was necessarily glaring 'at him', but that he was just glaring in general. Even without that anger or frustration being aimed specifically at Izuku, it more than told Izuku that 'this was not a subject he was to touch', especially remembering when the last time Shoto looked remotely like this.

"Right, okay, I getcha... well, if I'm being honest, I didn't exactly have a lot of friends when I was a kid..."

"... How many is not a lot? Because I 'didn't have a lot' either."

...

"None, I really didn't have any friends growing up, especially after Kacchan and I... well, our thing developed."

"Same... except for the Bakugou part."

...

'Gosh the two of us are pretty much completely out of our depth on this, weren't we?'

"Well then, so neither of us really have any idea of what to do?" Shoto asked, putting his hands into his pockets as he did so. Izuku chuckled nervously as he scratched at the back of his head. That certainly seemed to be the short and long of it at any rate, though that hadn't necessarily made him feel any better about the situation. Izuku scratched his chin as he tried to think of a way around this...

"Well... we could just try something random and see how we feel about it, maybe?"

"... You mean just throw something against the wall and see what sticks?"

"Y-Yeah, essentially. Look, I know it doesn't sound like a great idea, but-"

"It sounds fine, Izuku." Izuku blinked in surprise as Shoto seemed all too ready to go along with it, though he kept his normally even expression up as he responded. "I don't have any better ideas and this seems like the best approach given the situation. Let's just try something and see what sticks."

...

'Okay, well, now all I really have left to do is to try something. How hard can it be?'

'Right?'

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"So... we just sit in front of the television and talk while watching shows? Is that what we're doing?"

"That's... kind of the short and long of it, yeah."

When Izuku'd first put the idea forward, Shoto had seemed a bit confused. Cooking treats, surely that fell under the prospect of cooking in general, right? Well he'd explained that the main focus of the idea wasn't necessarily cooking the treats and then eating them but rather having them there to compliment the activity of lounging about and watching television. Shoto seemed like he'd be a hard sell on it but was nonetheless willing to go along with the idea and try it out, having no better idea for something to do in his own head. So Izuku managed to cook up a nice variety of snacks, a few cookies here, some actual hot food there, and then got it all together onto a platter or some bowls to enjoy while the two had the luxury of having the main television in the dorm's main living space all to themselves. The good thing about staying on Beacon's Campus early on the weekend was that most people were either out enjoying themselves, still staying in bed nursing hangovers or were just hanging around their dorm rooms doing homework in a rush.

If any of their friends swung by they'd be more than open to sharing with them and inviting them on, but Izuku was hoping that he wouldn't have to deal with total strangers while hanging out with Shoto.

"I still can't say that I understand the appeal of this... then again, perhaps I'm speaking more from experience. I never watched television much as a child." Izuku blinked at that as he sat the snacks in front of them on the table, looking over at Shoto.

"I'm guessing that your parents weren't exactly into the idea of letting you lounge around, huh?" Shoto nodded slightly as he leaned back on the sofa, a slight frown on his face.

"Indeed. My father was insistent that if I had time to just sit around for something like television that it was likely better I put it to studying or training... he allowed me time to rest of course, it was necessary to do, but he hardly found the idea of me sitting in front of a television to do so appealing." Izuku nodded; even from interviews it seemed like Enji was kind of an uptight guy. A 'television rots your brain' sort of fellow, or at least not viewing it highly.

"What about your mom?" Shoto tensed slightly at that, though he just shrugged as he continued to stare forward, impassively.

"My mother... she and I didn't do much together..." There was a bit of hesitation there but Izuku chose to just leave it be. Instead he just passed Shoto a plate of snacks which the red and white haired young man took with a quick 'thanks' before Izuku smiled.

"Well... it isn't necessarily something that you actively do and it doesn't really keep your mind busy but if you're just relaxing or sitting around and want something to watch while you do something else, it's usually a pretty fun thing to have in the background. I used to have the television on a lot while I'd do things like curls or crunches at my house, or if I was just sitting and doing some hand grip exercises with this little thing... I never figured out what it's actual name was." Shoto nodded slightly as he popped one of the snacks into his mouth, Izuku making a quick grab for the remote control.

"I see, so it's something you do to act as background noise for something else." He nodded at that simple explanation as he turned the television on. "What will we be doing in that case?"

"I dunno, talk about whatever comes to mind? Maybe even about the stuff that comes on?" Shoto paused as he takes a moment to think, but he nodded again.

"I suppose we can try it. Go ahead, Izuku." With that Izuku quickly started flipping through the channels as he and Shoto looked for something to watch. Izuku realized that he actually didn't know what kind of package that Beacon used for its televisions... but judging from the sheer number of channels available when he pressed a guide, it's 'waaaay' more expansive than anything he had back at home.

'Well, hey, how hard could it be to find something interesting, right?'

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"... So it's just sports?"

"Yeah, seems like it..."

They both just sat there as a small round table of analysts spoke to each other, some calmly others with some obvious tension or passion, as they discussed this professional sports team or that professional sports team. Apparently there was some big championship or game or... something coming up? Izuku really didn't know much about sports, as deeply invested into Hunter Stuff as he was, so he really didn't understand much of anything that was going on. They had brought up the Vytal Festival Tournament a little earlier in the show but only to talk about the new stadium and then they just blew on past it.

"... Like... all the time?"

"I guess? It is a sports channel, or something?"

Apparently Shoto was just as lost as Izuku was, the hot and cold young man just popping another snack into his mouth as they both just tilted their heads to the side. Izuku heard some girls passing by, listening to you two and then giggling and... he didn't know why, but he felt like that was emasculating.

"... Should we change the channel?"

"I think so."

Izuku nodded in agreement with Shoto's blunt assessment as he raised the remote and clicked it.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

 _"Alright right now the score is 1-1 for Team Future and Team Past. This next round of the game will decide the winner and who ends up staying in which side of the House! Will Team Past end up staying another two weeks in the Past side of the house, or will they take the win? It all comes down to whoever can use their cattle prod to knock the other contender off the platform!"_

"... This entire shows seems like it was in desperate need of someone to play test it..."

"Yeah, you're not kidding..."

Izuku and Shoto just blinked in a mix of confusion, awe and just sheer curiosity as they both practically leaned forward in their seats, as if trying their very best to get closer to the screen. Maybe that would in some way key them into just what the heck was going on with the show? It had been a game show of some kind with the theme centering around 'Time'. Two Teams, a 'Future' and 'Past' Team were supposed to live in two sides of a house meant to reflect these idea. Team Future got washing machines, air conditioning or, more important for this show taking place in Atlas, heating and running water as well as a refrigerator stocked with normal food, while the others lived in a part of the house that was basically a shack with raw vegetables and fish heads.

As Shoto remarked, people who lived in the past would've had a whole fish... but that was just the tip of the iceberg for the show. It seemed like the conceit was to test which era of Remnant humans were more fit; people living in the future or ancient humans from the past. Ignoring the fact that no one in the game show had actually lived like that for any amount of time, it also seemed incredibly unfair; Team Future were coming into games on this show well rested, clean and well fed while Team Past were forced to live in a shack with no proper heating, freezing cold, not sleeping and with poor nutrition.

So it was actually kind of a surprise when Team Past actually won a round of the current game. A game that was incredibly dangerous to boot; a circular arena raised several feet off the ground where they were basically trying to push each other off with electrified cattle prods. Their only safety were cushions placed just underneath the ledge of the platform.

Like Izuku said, Shoto wasn't kidding about the show having needed someone to play test it...

"Who knows, maybe they'll pull it off?" Izuku suggested, almost hopefully, as Shoto shrugged his shoulders.

"Maybe. That one guy does look exceptionally fit..." They both watched as the last two competitors ran up to the platform... at which point the player from Team Future immediately just tackled the other guy off the side of the platform.

'It was a... clever move, I guess, but it sent them flying way off the platform... several feet away from the actual padding.'

"Ouch... okay, well, maybe he's okay?"

 _"Oh Gods, look at his leg!"_

 _"Someone call an ambulance, we have a pretty serious injury."_

"... Izuku-"

"Right, changing it." Shoto nodded gratefully out of the corner of his eye as he quickly change the channel.

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"So, was this what your family was like, Izuku?"

"Not really, no. You, Shoto?"

"No. Not at all."

They both each popped another snack in their mouths as they both continued to watch, having kind of finally settled on a bit of programming in specific. It was a pretty odd little show; the main actress could be a bit much on the screen at times, a very in their face kind of personality that wasn't directly unpleasant but could certainly feel imposing at times which, on its own, would've made for a pretty strong showing. The fact that every other character in the case had a similarly strong personality came together and... well, it made for a pretty interesting dynamic at least. A woman, her husband, her kids and their friends or, as it would turn out for her older daughters, boyfriends just all kind of bouncing off of each other in what you could assume was just kind of a facsimile of a normal family in Remnant?

'I can't think of families as being quite this loud and argumentative though…'

'Actually, wait, no, that is a lie! I can actually think of a family like this!'

'Sure Kacchan doesn't have any sisters but his mom is almost 'exactly' like the main mom of this show and his dad had certain similarities, though Mr. Bakugo is more soft spoken and patient than this guy.'

'Huh, maybe this strikes a little closer to some people's homes than I thought? Plus it could be pretty funny; I'd swear that even Shoto cracked a smile here and there.'

"... You really never had an opportunity for stuff like this, huh? Not even with any friends, or siblings?" Izuku asked, popping another snack into his mouth while Shoto just stared at the television.

"... No. Like I said, I never had much time for myself thanks to the regimen my father had me on, what time I had to myself was mostly meant to just let me rest and recover. I... wasn't close with a lot of people. To my father... well, I guess you could say I was his favorite. He thought he was going to be able to make me into an amazing Hunter and so he poured as much attention into me as he could."

"Oh, well, that doesn't sound too..." Izuku closed his mouth as Shoto looked over at him, seemingly slightly irked at the positive tone of his voice as he spoke up. "... It wasn't great, huh?"

"... No, can't say it was." Again, that's all he got out of Shoto as he turned his gaze back forward toward the television. Izuku just nodded, a bit spooked, before he looked back forward again.

"... What about your parents?" Izuku chanced a glance over to Shoto, who cast a look at him from the corner of his eye. "Ruby's spoken at length about her own father and mother, while from what impression I could get from Bakugo, his mother is 'an old hag' and his father is 'sackless', but I take this to be another of Bakugo's quirks as his parents were quite nice when I met them." Izuku nodded at that... though the fact that Shoto didn't bring up Mitsuki Bakugo did make Izuku wonder how that meeting ended up going. "Meanwhile, Ren's family is one of the few things he doesn't speak about too openly with me."

"You and Ren... 'talk' about a lot of stuff huh?"

"We do." Was all Shoto said before he continued. "So... I was wondering what yours was like, Izuku. Was your mother or father... strict, I guess would be the word. Were they like Bakugo's family or perhaps they were kinder, as Ruby suggests her parents were."

"Well I can't really say that they were strict." Izuku tapped his chin as he thought of how best to explain it to Shoto, eventually deciding to just be as straight forward as he could. "My Dad... I guess it's a little complicated. He's working overseas in mostly undeveloped areas and we honestly barely get to talk due to that, I mostly just get messages from him instead. But he's been supportive by providing for my mother and me, so I still believe he thinks about us a lot - and mom talks fondly about him. I've been meaning to get into more direct contact lately, but it seems things still are... well, complicated?" Shoto nodded slowly at that, both of them continuing to watch the program running while he spoke. After a moment Izuku sighed as he leaned back into the sofa.

"Honestly, with how unfit I seemed to be to achieve my dream of becoming a Huntsman, I guess I was actually the one being strict on myself, pushing myself harder than was reasonable or healthy... and my parents allowed me to indulge myself. My father paid the combat school fees, despite my terrible prospects. My mother supported me through all of it, every training, every injury downtime. Even when it seemed impossible to achieve, when I ran against my limits and faced set-backs, she was always there for me, despite it being pretty hard on her to watch me doing that to myself."

"Doesn't exactly sound pleasant. For either you or your mother." Shoto remarked as he looked over at Izuku while he just nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. I don't really think I did good by her during that time, frankly I may have been a little obsessed about my dream of being a great Huntsman longer than just being childish could serve as an excuse for... but we recently talked about it and she told me that it was her own decision to let me try to achieve my dream regardless of all obstacles. That it was her job as my parent to trust in me and that, in the end, I managed to do it. I still think she went above and beyond what any child could expect from their parent and I owe her a lot for it and everything else she did for me. I plan to keep doing my best to reach my dream, for her sake too, because I simply wouldn't be the person I am today without her. I really love her dearly." Izuku looked over at Shoto, the young man still just staring intently forward at the screen in front of them. Izuku blushed, wondering if adding that last part was necessary and, considering Shoto's rough sounding parental relationships, maybe a little hurtful.

"Hmmm... I'm glad that you had such a parent in your life, Izuku." Izuku blinked in surprise when that turned out to be Shoto's answer, the young man digging out another snack. "It sounds like you have someone who really cares about you back home. Perhaps it would've been smarter for her to hold you back and keep you from injuring yourself in pursuit of a seemingly impossible dream." Izuku grimaced a bit at Shoto's bluntness but wait for him to continue. "However, she wanted you to be happy and, in the end, you have been able to come here, which lead to you eventually becoming my friend and showing me what watching television was like." the green haired boy smiled a bit at that, getting what Shoto meant in a roundabout way. "It sounds like she wanted what was best for you, even if that was tricky to parse out then. I think... that's good."

"Well... thanks Shoto. My mom would be glad you think so... I think?" Shoto shrugged as they both went back to watching the television.

"I'd hope so, I meant it as a compliment." After that the two of them just continued to watch the family sitcom playing out in front of you.

 _"You two ARE having sex!"_

 _"We are? David, why didn't you tell me? I would've put my book down."_

"... So she's nothing like this?"

"Yeah, yeah Shoto, she's nothing like this..."

All told, it was actually a bit of a fun time.

* * *

 **E/N: I Lied, Shoto is the real Waifu.**

 **-Shovern**


	77. Tales of Beacon IX

_Pyrrha stood triumphant. The crowd was roaring for her. The three who had stood before her lay beaten. None of them had come close to even touching her. They had been an up and coming team in the Mistrali fighting league for several years, and the exhibition match between they and the mighty champion had been sold as a chance to truly see the "Invincible Girl" go down._

 _It ended as all of those matches were destined to go down, with her opponent prone before her, completely and utterly beaten. And not a scratch on her._

 _Pyrrha was a genius. Pyrrha was incredible._

 _Pyrrha was bored out of her skull._

* * *

"Pyrrha, wake up!"

Pyrrha's head rose, and she felt her lips edge upward as the image of her partner in his jogging attire filled her vision. She had almost forgotten that today was one of their jogs out to the edge of the forest. They had slowed down slightly since Izuku had begun his almost daily training with his semblance and aura, but they still tried to do it three times a week to keep their ability to do so together. Izuku fidgeted, almost like a startled rabbit for a second.

"If you want a sleep i-"

He always said that.

"No, Izuku. I want to jog with you."

And she in turn, would always say that.

The usual ritual continued as Pyrrha walked over to her closet, and pulled out her change of clothes. She had taken to changing in the room, which she knew caused Izuku to look away, a blush patched on his face. Poor boy, he tried so hard to be a gentleman. She almost thought he would be over that sort of thing by now.

As she pulled her sleeping shirt off, she thought of the dream she'd had. That fight had been the first time she had truly recognized that the life of a tournament celebrity had bored her. That everything she had been devoted to for the past decade could no longer satisfy her. That her skill with her aura and semblance made even bright stars and good teams nothing more than small bumps in the road. It would be a year before she would leave for Beacon, but that moment had been one of the defining moments of her life, as small as it may have seemed at the time.

A few seconds later, she had switched to her own sweats and her new sneakers, and then they were out the door. Whatever chance they might have been noticed had long ago been dealt with by Weiss's special earmuffs.

Not that Weiss had gotten them for that reason. She'd gotten them to keep out the noise that came from Nora's snoring.

* * *

"Man," Izuku laughed through his panting, "It's pretty darn cold this morning."

The leaves were turning. Oh, they'd been for a while, but the emerald forest had become, ironically enough, a collage of red, orange and yellow. The great quilt of the forest stretched out for miles, far into the wilderness. They could not go out too far, not into Grimm country, but they could still appreciate the sights while running.

"No kidding," Pyrrha replied, her breath forming a small mist in front of her face. She was winning today. Not by much, never really by much. Izuku would never allow that. But she was winning, and the best part of all was that she was happy about it.

Izuku could beat her at something. He could beat her, and thus when she won, she felt like she earned it. Like there was some excitement in it, like there was something to overcome. That she had gained this feeling on her first real day of Beacon had immediately endeared her partner deeply to her, and she had enjoyed the friendly rivalry that the two had in their exercise.

They continued to jog for a while, along the path to the right, before they finally returned to their starting point before the dorm, and stopped. The run was over, and while they both panted, smiles were very clear on their faces.

"Beat me again," the green haired boy placed his hands behind his head, back straight in an effort to keep his airways open, "I need to run some more if I'm going to be able to beat you."

At first, Pyrrha wanted to tell him to stop training so much, but she just shook her head. She knew Weiss had had the conversation with Izuku at least a dozen times before, but there would never be a chance he would hold back on his training. He was too determined to catch Toshinori Yagi. He had to become the greatest Hunter the world had ever seen, and there was no way he could stop giving it his all. No matter how many times his bones would break, no matter how many times his muscles and tendons tore, no matter how many times he vomited up his stomach from the pain and nausea, he would never stop.

And she just could not say no to that. For so long she had felt no drive, and yet here she could see someone with it, up close and personal. She couldn't stop him from doing his best, not when he still had that passion. Izuku wanted to be there, to be something. She could barely tell what she wanted on her sandwich in the morning.

"Well," Pyrrha tried to meet him halfway, "Perhaps you could try some more stretching."

"No," Izuku stared at his legs, "I know I can do better. If only..."

If only his body didn't give out so quickly. Izuku's semblance could still tear him up fairly badly. Not terribly, nothing like what happened before, but Izuku was still constantly using the Izuku's Done Som-no she would not use that name, it was stupid to attack Izuku for caring so much about improving himself-and she could tell he wasn't quite where he wanted to be.

"Maybe," Izuku looked at her, "Maybe we could try and double the kit."

"It does cost a lo-"

"Izuku, the mon-"

"But what about upgrades to our weapons, or dust," Izuku threw out, "And we need to be able to pull money together for things like going out, or transportation. I can't just waste more of our money because I keep making us use the kit on me more than once."

Pyrrha sighed. They'd had the conversation before. Even Weiss had been open to getting a second, or possibly better, kit. But Izuku had been firm on not using too much of the money on himself.

'Certainly has the selflessness of the Symbol of Peace down,' she thought.

"Okay then," Pyrrha, leaning against the wall of the building, offered, "What if I got us mor-"

"Pyrrha," Izuku began to wave his arms back and forth, "Remember what happened last time."

Pyrrha stood there for a second. She remembered...she remembered. The stupid tight pants and the clinging shirt and the drunken jeering and the bad smelling patrons and the dank rooms and the bad tasting beer andthedroningmusicandthearroganttwinsandthetouchycustomersandthestupidfu-

SNAP

"Pyrrha," Izuku was before her, a clear look of trepidation on his face, "You were doing a me."

"Right," Pyrrha stopped, nodded, "but still, I think I could increase our income somewhat. I'll be more discerning about this next job," she brought up a smile, "less revealing outfit this time."

"Pyrrha," Izuku groaned, rubbing his eyes, "You really don't have to do-"

"Izuku," she placed her hand on his shoulder. She felt him seize up for a second, but then relax, and they looked each other in the eye. Green met green, and they nodded, "I will help us out."

"Okay."

* * *

"Why can't I find myself a job?"

It had been two weeks since then, and she had found nothing right. As she stood on a corner one of the Industrial District's main roads, she groaned to herself. In truth, it would actually be easy for her to get a job. And that job would be as "Pyrrha Nikos" sponsoring "her favorite store in Vale".

For all of her martial prowess, her quick mind, and her great athleticism, she just didn't have much in the way of white collar jobs. And due to an influx of recent workers arriving from the other kingdoms, there was almost no one hiring for manual labor. She had thought about allowing Nora to bring her on to her job, but there remembered who her teammate is.

 _"Hi! This is my teammate PYRRHA NIKOS. She's a super strong fighter, and world famous! We can totally have her sponsor us!"_

Yeah, no.

She didn't want to be known as a celebrity. She just wanted to be seen as another worker. And unfortunately, after Junior was arrested, she was persona non grata in the food service industry due to a desire for restaurant patrons and store managers to not be shot.

"Hey," she stopped, and looked back toward the alley way, a low whisper coming out, "Did ya hear, they found a new venue for the Pit Fights."

It was two Faunus. One with whiskers and buck teeth, and the other with small goat horns. Neither were particularly big, and they were nowhere as stealthy as they thought they were, but she didn't feel like letting them know she could hear them.

"Yup," the goat continued, "I heard that they found it at that small bar on 39th and Taylor. Basement two floors down. New fighters are coming in from Atlas."

She had heard of these Pit Fights. They were more "natural" no semblances or aura, nothing more than the goddess granted strength you were born with. To some, it was a noble connection to the past. To others it was a great populist revolt against the empowered huntsman and Mistrali Tournament scene.

To most, it was nothing but a bunch of drunken idiots betting on whether Billy Bob would bet Jimmy John. The rules were there, and while technically not illegal, they were highly suspect, because they often involved illegal gambling, black market trading, and were a frequent source of criminal muscle. Pyrrha, as both a former champion of the arena and a huntsman in training, felt a deep personal disgust. She would go inform the police of said upcoming event right away, an-

"Did ya hear, as a prize for the new grand opening," The Rat Faunus continued, "They have over a thousand lien on the table. Apparently the benefactor wanted these things moved out of his bar, and he thought a big prize might be enough to make the new location more...permanent."

'…'

'So 39th and Taylor, huh?'

* * *

'I really shouldn't be doing this. I really shouldn't.'

She had went and acquired a bargain bin costume from one of the discount racks at and after holiday clearance sale. Nothing more than a standard grey cloak and a wig of deep black hair. If anyone knew she was participating, well the whole crowd would scatter. Either from her time as a tournament fighter, or from the time she set Junior place on fire.

"So, signing up to take on the champ, huh?"

Pyrrha nodded at the twenty something woman in front of her. She had piercing along her nose, and purple dyed hair. Her eyes were tired, though Pyrrha guessed it wasn't just a lack of sleep. The Woman just shrugged, and took the small entrance fee.

"You got a big match today. Porker King is here."

"Who?"

"Boar Faunus," the woman just nodded, "Strong as one too. Wild guy. Can tear cinder block apart with his bare hands," she stopped, and looked over Pyrrha, "You don't think you're going to use aura here, today, do you?"

"No."

"Good," she shrugged, "We have two aura checkers They can sense whenever anyone uses aura. Try anything, and the match will be immediately called. And believe me hun," she pointed behind her two three tall men in suits, sunglasses, and with what looked like massive stun batons on their backs, "It won't be pretty.

"Fine," she hadn't been expecting on using it either, she knew the rules of this place, and was more than sure that she had enough strength to deal with anything the ring could throw at her. She walked over to the edge of the ring, a hastily constructed box of cheap wood and some old foam mats rolled over the top. It was clearly a slap dash attempt at rebuilding the whole thing after Junior's establishment had been taken down. A half dozen other fighters were on her side of the ring, and she could tell up another floor were dozens of patrons, many of them hollering and shouting and drinking.

"Alright Folks!" and then, standing in the middle of the ring, was a small little white haired man with a hunched back and a deep orange jacket, "The first round of the Pit Fights is about to begin," his voice was like sandpaper, though he was animated in his movement, his hands moving wildly, "Now I want this clean. Now weapons, no Aura, nothing but your hands and wits. Five of you will enter, and the one left standing will face their opponent in the next round for the prize money."

Pyrrha nodded. She looked over at her entry, the "Gray Cloak" and then saw that she was not in the same match as the Porker King. So apparently she would be able to avoid any match up with him. The rest of her group began to get on the stage, and she soon pushed herself up there as well.

"Oh, looks like we have a lady in here," the announcer added to his mic as he jumped off the stage, "Let's all give her a round of applause gents."

They made several drunken jeers at her, but Pyrrha had long ago learned to ignore crowds. As her opponents, four generally average looking men in their mid twenties looked over and tried to hype themselves up, she began evaluating everything. She bounced lightly on her feet, and felt a lack of bounce from the mat. Meant the footing for the match would be more stable. It meant she could fight normally. She looked and saw that the length of the stage was about six meters on all sides, more than enough room for her to maneuver, and force a battle of medium distance positioning.

"And, begin!"

Two of the four rushed at her, both with their eyes directly focused on her. They probably thought it would be an easy win if they could take her out. But in rushing towards her, they failed to notice each other, and suddenly they almost collided, they stopped, and readjusted themselves, but that had been enough to allow Pyrrha to have her window.

She had rushed forward, no aura obviously, but clearly faster than almost anyone normally could, and aimed at both of them, one with and upper cut to the chin, and the other with a kick just above the knee, within a second, she heard barks of pain, as the one she hit in the knee fell forward. She had refrained from causing any breaking, but she had managed to give him a Charlie Horse, and left her laid out on the mat.

The one she had hit with the uppercut was falling backward, and Pyrrha took her chance to finish this one off quickly as the other one fell to the ground. She grabbed his shirt, and then pushed with all her might downward, slamming him down into the mat, causing him to cough as she knocked the wind from him. She then grabbed him, pulled him up and over her, and then slammed him downward again, on top of the other fighter she had previously sent to the ground. She stopped and looked at them both, noticing that both of them were slowly moving, but both were clearly not getting up for the rest of the fight. She turned, and saw the two other fighters grappling with one another, both clearly trying to catch the other in a throw.

Pyrrha sighed, and walked up calmly to the two. They were both so focused on beating the other that they completely failed to notice her. At least until she grabbed them both by the back of the head, pulled back, and then slammed their heads into each other, sending both to the ground, moaning.

It had taken approximately twelve seconds, and in that time, with no aura, she had dealt with four fighters with little to no problem. She sighed to herself, looking at the four fallen opponents, and came to the same conclusion she had had for so long about fighting.

'This is really boring.'

It was only now that she heard the crowd. They were booing. She could see out of the corner of her eye the announcer speaking with two people on a nearby table, both of whom were looking at her in shock while shaking their heads. The announcer turned back, completely in disbelief, and got back on the stadium.

"I...I can't believe it folks, but according to our refs...The Gray Cloak did not use any aura."

"THAT's BULLSHIT!"

"YOU'RE USING HER TO CHEAT ON OUR BETS!"

"I WANT MY MONE-"

Pyrrha got off the stage, and looked over at the remaining contestants. There were four of them, all terrified, and they stepped back in an attempt to try and stay away from her...wait four?

And then she heard the footsteps. They rumbled down a nearby hallway, and the crowd grew silent. With a kick, the door opened. There stood a giant of a man, well over seven feet tall. He was clearly overweight, though she could tell from the way he moved it was not from a lack of muscle. If anything, it seemed as though the fat upon him was simply a disguise for the muscle underneath. On the sides of his mouth were two giant tusks, both two inches long, and pointing upward. He was completely bald and he had a look of pure glee on his face.

"And without further ado!" the announcer was back, "Let me introduce you all to our two year reigning champion of the Vale Pit Fights, rater as the fifth strongest fighter in this great sport! THE PORKER KING!"

'That's such a stupid name," Pyrrha concluded, as the hulking mass grabbed the side of the stage, and threw himself onto the platform. She looked over to the remaining contestants. There were none. They had all ran at the first sight of the behemoth, and had already forfeited the match.

"Now weight just a minute there," his voice was loud and stupid. It was cocky and cocksure, full of a confidence that could only ever really belong to someone who had always been and always would be a bully. She had heard it more than a few times in Mistral, so she knew the sign. The Porker King had grabbed the mic from the announcer, and looked up to the crowd, "What's this I hear about the fifth strongest, "In this sport." I'm not the fifth strongest in this sport."

His smile grew bigger and stupider than before.

"I'M THE STRONGEST IN THE F**KING WORLD!"

The crowd began cheering, and Pyrrha felt a small tick at the back of her mind. Like this guy had finally actually managed to piss her off.

"See, here's the thing," the champ continued, walking around the arena, "So many of those idiots out there think that the strongest people out there are some Mistrali Tournament Fighters, or some Atlesian Military dope, or some stupid self absorbed huntsman!"

"Those idiots out there this that Toshinori Yagi is something more than some sissy with steroid induced muscles. That his whole "Symbol of Peace" Shtick is something more than a con for some many spineless little soft heads to make themselves feel better about themselves. All people like him are a bunch of little magicians using party tricks to push past human achievement," he flexed his arms, and muscles became clearly visible, "Those pieces of just hide behind their little magic fields. They aren't anything compared to the muscles of the people!"

"..."

The crowd was cheering. Pyrrha looked over at the announcer, and nudged her head back towards where the four others had fled. The announcer shrugged.

"Well Folks," he had retrieved the mic, "Looks like the Champ wins the first round by default. Now just one more match before we award this prize."

The crowd was a mix of cheers and boos. Pyrrha noted that she heard sounds of people beginning to make bets, though she simply ignored who or what they were for. She walked up onto the stage, and out into the ring, where she stood beneath the Goliath of a Faunus standing above her.

"Wow," Porker laughed, "This is all that made it this far. What kind of losers did you find for our reopening Vic?"

"Now Champ," "Vic" was cautious, looking directly at her, "She's a better fighter than you might believe. Don't underestimate her."

"HA!" Porker looked back down at her, "Looks like she'd be better serving drinks up stairs."

...

"Can we start the match please?"

"..." Vic was sweating while looking at her. He could tell this was not going to well, but he knew what he had to do, "Begin!"

"Ya," Porker King lunged his right arm forward, trying to rip into the smaller fighter. In response, Pyrrha sidestepped to the right, and allowed herself to roll up along his arm until she was to his elbow. She stopped for a second, and then aimed her knee directly to his groin.

"Oooff!"

She connected, and then followed it up with a solid uppercut to his belly button, the wind was knocked out of him, and within a tenth of a second, the champ fell backwards. However, this was a man with some years of fighting underneath him, and he was not going down as easily as the previous fighters. He caught himself and stood up about a yard and a half away, shock and then anger glowing from his eyes.

"Why you little," He charged again, keeping himself tighter and better protected against her attacks. So she simply fell to the ground and swept her feet underneath his. He jumped, but because of his trajectory, he sailed over her, and came to rest on his knees. While still low to the ground, he turned around...and found a knee colliding with his face.

"AACKK!"

He fell backwards again, and Pyrrha could tell from the blood flowing down his face that she had broken his nose. He was quickly up again however, and even Pyrrha had to give him credit for his persistence. He pulled back his arm, and threw a haymaker towards her head. She ducked down a few inches, smirked as his side opened up, and she threw a punch with her middle finger slightly extended.

"YIIHHHHAAAAAA!"

She'd broken a rib. A smaller one and weaker one, but probably the best she could do without aura. She stood tall once more, as the Porker King suddenly fell against the side of the arena. He was breathing heavily through his mouth, and Pyrrha decided it would be best to end this now.

"Toshinori Yagi could have taken that punch," she said aloud, and she could tell that the silence around her was deafening, "Even without aura, he would have laughed everything I've done to you off," he threw a wild swing, and missed her by three heads. She caught his arm, and threw up her knee into his chest, causing him to cough badly, "He certainly wouldn't be falling over himself after a few minor injuries like this."

"Because ya see," she grabbed him by the tusk, and pulled him to her eye level, "He's just better than you."

She then pulled his tusk, and tossed him to the other side of the stage, where he collided with the side. He coughed, blood from his nose and face being spat out beneath him as he tried to get up. She began to walk towards him, nowhere near the speed that Izuku forced her to race against in the morning.

"Not only is Toshinori better than you, but so are all the Huntsman I've ever met," she continued, the image of many huntsman dominating her sight. Ruby working in the weight room. Nora and Weiss studying aura. ...Izuku tearing himself apart so often, but being so filled with joy every time he gained better control of his semblance, "They are always seeking self improvement. Always trying to grow stronger. Always seeking to do the best they can for the people of Remnant," she then grabbed him by the back of his head, her mind not on him but of a young man with green hair and worthy drive, "So they will always be better than some big fat pig lording over some rat ridden sty."

And she slammed his face into the stage. He let out a low moan, and then she looked back at the announcer.

"I'd like my prize money please."

* * *

"Never going back there again," Pyrrha sighed as she got off of the train. She'd had to push back any offer for either more fights, or any call to call the police on her. She had been given around twelve hundred lien to do with as she pleased, and while she was glad to have it, she still felt grossed out by the whole thing. She looked over at her wig and cloak, glad that no one knew it was her.

"Welcome to Beacon Academy," the voice said over the intercom. Pyrrha sighed in relief. She was finally home.

She got off the airship, and was surprised when she finally spotted her teammates standing there.

"Pyrrha!" Nora shouted, running over to the champion and jumping on top of her, enveloping the taller girl in a hug, "We thought we'd lost you forever. Never to come back, lost to the sea of time."

"Nora, she was gone for half a day."

"That's twelve whole hours without Pyrrha Weiss! Twelve whole hours! Do you know how insane I was being driven by your antics over that time!?"

"My wh-Now listen hear you-"

As Weiss and Nora began their customary argument, Weiss having yet again bit at Nora's bait, Izuku walked up to Pyrrha, and looked at her worriedly.

"Are you okay," he asked, his eyes deadly serious.

"Of course."

"Oh thank goddesses," he collapsed on himself, holding his chest, tears beginning to appear around his eyes, "I was really worried you'd be-"

"I'm fine," she then stopped, and opened her bag, "Also, I think I solved our money issue."

"Wha-Pyrrha, where did you get this much money!?"

"An old fight had yet to fully come through, and the contract had a lot of money that was meant for me locked away till now. So, ya know, thought we could use this as a backup fund, so we can reload the kit faster if you want to train more."

"Pyrrha," Izuku looked up at her, a little worried, "You didn't have to speak with that ma-"

"Oh goddesses no," she waved her hand, at least this being a complete truth, "Not a single word with him."

"That's good," Izuku then looked back up at her, "I think you should keep it."

"Izuku, I want you to have it," Pyrrha pushed the money towards him. He looked down at it, before shaking his head.

"How about...we agree to save it as a backup fund in case the team needs something big?"

Pyrrha groaned. She'd gone through all this to get the money, but she sighed and nodded, "That sounds fair."

"All right!"

The money was suddenly out of Izuku's hands, and in Nora's.

"Let's go have a celebratory dinner!" she was running towards a nearby blimp, "Pancakes for everybody!"

"Nora!" Weiss ran after her partner, soon followed by Izuku and Pyrrha. But while Weiss was red with anger, both Izuku and Pyrrha smiled at one another.

Sure, it may have not gone how she thought, but today was a good one.

And hopefully, with more work and dedication, tomorrow would be even better.

* * *

 **E/N: Once again Wind might have something to say.**

 **-Shovern**

 **So...you all notice how Shovern has been talking about shipping in these notes, well this whole idea originally was born about a discussion about shipping in the thread.**

 **If you look back at the history of this story, and recognize that a lot of the events were chosen by different groups in the thread, you can tell that in the shipping war, there were two main contestants at this point. First was Yang, who was widely popular for her nights on the town with Izuku and being Yang. Then, as you can see with how fast her whole story happened, Blake also had an extremely devoted fanbase, one that was pushing for her every chance they had. Both had actually earned several flags in the story, special events that explicitly , meaning that there had some level of attraction had been built up between them and Izuku.**

 **And I didn't like either of them. Believe it or not, I originally wanted to do something with Ruby, but that never took off. So, by this point in the story, I looked at the two leading candidates, said no, and then turned to the only other girl with a single flag, Pyrrha. I looked her over, and basically said, "I'm going to write something with this character, to see if I can actually back her for the whole shipping thing." But that meant having to deal with the problem of Pyrrha.**

 **The problem of Pyrrha, as demonstrated by a great deal of fanfiction, is that she is one of the least explored characters in RWBY, and because of that she tends to be written rather...shallow. I mean, she's utterly likable, but there is not much on screen depth beyond the small bits beyond her whole destiny thing. This can lead her to often be classified as a simple plot device than an actual character, and that can be hard to write for. Which is why so many writers, even good ones, just shunt her off quickly and inevitably pair Jaune with whichever girl they find more interesting.**

 **So, I took a little bit looking over Pyrrha, and asked what would actually drive Pyrrha to push quit being a Tournament Fighter, cause I found the whole hates fame thing to be trite. I then pursued the idea that, while she does hate fame on some level, she was much more trapped because being a tournament fighter bored her. She became a fighter in her very young years, yet she's already the best. At 17. To enter a profession as a professional athlete, you are always seeking your next great challenge, your next obstacle to push yourself. But no one can even touch her, and she's basically smacking around the best of the best without breaking a sweat. She was "The Invincible Girl" and she got all the fame, the money, and other privileges that came with that.**

 **And she got bored. She got bored and it grated on her that while she was bored, she kept getting pushed into more and more of the stupid celebrity parts of being a tournament fighter, but now even the fighting was no longer engaging, making the less fun parts of her job just less worth it in all but a financial sense. She wanted to be challenged, wanted to keep feeling like she was growing. So she did what Michael Jordan did after his first three championships, and switched careers. Where Mike went to go play baseball, she went to go hunt Grimm. Finally, something new to conquer. She had an outlet for her skill, a way to alleviate her ennui, and to rediscover her drive.**

 **That drive is what she is looking to find again, this time while saving people. And along the way, she runs into a small, mousy guy who has so much passion for this whole thing that it LITERALLY TEARS HIM APART. Her conflicted feelings about Izuku's passion, his goals, and his idol seemed to be a rich backdrop to explore. Thus, I became a sailor on the SS Autumn Bell.**

 **Wind-Waker**

 **Told you he'd have something to say. Also sorry for the delay on this chapter, Went to visit family, and the laptop I brought couldn't even handle Google docs.**

 **-Shovern**

 **a/n:**

 **In addition, I hit some troubled times myself. I've been involved in a shit-flinging match with my University's Financial Aid Department that has consumed the better part of the past several weeks for me. It's the Fourth Week of school as of me writing this note and my loans have only just arrived in full today.**

 **I have been in a difficult space these past several weeks with bills and rent and, had things gone a different way, I would've been having to choose between letting some utilities go and eating.**

 **Thankfully that wasn't the case; my Patrons at the beginning of the month came through and I've managed to eat so far for the entirety of this month off of the . Thanks to them I didn't have to make a hard choice between eating and utilities (instead on just pushing off my utilities as long as I reasonably could) and for that I can never thank them enough. However little they or others might think of what they contribute, it can't be doubted that this month they were my heroes.**

 **Updates should resume normal schedule unless other stuff with the editors come up, as my financial situation has, at the very least, stabilized for the moment.**

 **-gorilla_fingers**


	78. Title Belt Match I

Izuku smiled to himself as he walked through the halls of Beacon, a handful of books stacked in his arms as he walked along heading back to his dorm room. The day's classes had been pretty exciting, in his opinion! Port had gone over some of the more interesting facts on the more common Grimm that they all would be encountering, he actually hadn't really been aware of the fact that Nevermore feathers 'actually' stuck around after the Nevermore itself died, he always just figured that 'Nevermore cloaks' were a nickname given to Dust treated cloaks, Doctor Oobleck had gone over some of the more interesting early history about Vale which he hadn't been all too aware of and everyone else had been a bit of a blast to get in with class too! Izuku knew, there were some days where he just had to take a step back and consider his situation; Izuku, a Broken Soul, had somehow gotten lucky enough to come to Beacon, the Greatest Hunter's Academy in the entire world! He smiled as he practically shook again at that thought; it made him want to pinch himself to make sure that, why yes, he still wasn't just dreaming.

Izuku was just so lucky to be here that he couldn't believe it sometimes.

"Oi!" Izuku suddenly froze in place, his body 'immediately' halting mid step as he heard an all too familiar voice call to him in an all too familiar tone. His blood practically froze over as his head slowly swiveled around in place so that he was looking down the hall he heard the voice. Sure enough, a ways down the hall was Bakugo, decked out in his more battle-ready Hunter's attire, his weapons firmly placed on his hands, admittedly mechashifted down into their less inconspicuous 'inactive' state, as he glared right at Izuku, his red eyes boring a hole into his head. "Stay right there Deku!" Immediately upon saying that Bakugo sprinted toward him and Izuku just couldn't help but internally scream.

...Maybe he externally screamed too.

'Okay so maybe I'm not 'always' so lucky!'

'I could probably outrun Kacchan pretty easily with Full Cowl now and, judging by the look on his face, Kacchan is seriously pissed off right now and that 'probably' means I shouldn't be standing here right now. Oh Gods, is he finally going to try to get back at me for that fight way back when!? Oh he's gonna cream me! I got to run or, no wait, he'd just hunt me down and make the beating worse-AAAAHHHH!'

Izuku put his books down while Bakugo approached, intent on at least standing his ground if nothing else. As Bakugo closed the distance Izuku winced as he threw his hand forward and...

... Pointed at Izuku.

"Get your shit Deku, we're going to Vale!"

...

"Huh?" Izuku practically deflated, some of that stress having just immediately left his body as Bakugo spoke, the explosive young Huntsman in front of him gritting his teeth as he looked at Izuku.

"What, you got shit in your ears, Deku?! I said we're going to Vale now get your Goddamn weapon and whatever else and let's get going. We don't have time to waste." Bakugo insisted, causing Izuku to just tilt his head in confusion as he stared after Kacchan.

"... Okay, but, why? I mean, Kacchan, school's out for the day sure but should we really be taking a daytrip to Vale-"

"This isn't just about some shitty daytrip to Vale, Deku!" A sudden explosion of energy went through

Bakugo as he bellowed that out, causing Izuku to scream a bit as Bakugo just grit his teeth. "There's this mute little girl we have to find in Vale and quick!" With that, Bakugo looked down at Izuku's books and grit his teeth, reaching and down and picking up a good number of them as he glared at him. "Get a move on Deku!" With that Bakugo started to quickly move to, going in the direction of where their dorm was generally, as he just blinked in surprise.

"Wait, a mute little girl? Gods Kacchan, is she in trouble or something!?" As Izuku quickly picked up his books, having picked up on Kacchan's intent on getting rid of them quickly before arming up himself, Izuku ran after him.

"YOU BET SHE'S IN FUCKING TROUBLE, BECAUSE I'M GOING TO KICK HER ASS!"

...

"WHAT?!"

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"Then that little bitch ran off with Roman fucking Torchwick of all people and that was the last I saw of her. Now, got any more questions or can we actually get on with this?!"

"... No, that... that does sound like a big deal, Kacchan... I mean, not all of it like your belt, but that last part, yeah."

The two had managed to dump their books in Izuku's dorm room, thankfully while the rest of Izuku's team was out and about doing their own things for today, before running off to the rocket lockers to pick up his own gear. The entire way there Bakugo had been giving him the rundown of the situation: about that ice cream eating competition that Bakugo usually took part in during the Hunter's Day Festival, no surprise that he won again this year, to the look and appearance of this 'mute little bitch' as Bakugo referred to her, to the fight that took place in the alley to... well, her somehow actually 'stealing' the belt off around his waist and walking away with 'The' Roman Torchwick of all people.

The guy who in a few years flat had managed to go from some local con regularly on the police's radar to a crime boss of Vale, with his fingers in a lot of the pies of Vale's crime going on these days. His most recent exploits, a series of rash nighttime Dust Robberies, having most recently grabbed everyone's attention as he's hit store after store after store with no one having managed to catch him or most of his goons. What goons they did catch could never give them great information on either Torchwick's plans or his base of operations, having either been hired third party or having been kept low on the totem pole of information. The guy wasn't a joke and, if this girl really was working so close with him to be 'there' in Mountain Glenn 'with him' then that just meant she must've been a big deal in and of herself...

'Gods,' Izuku shivered slightly as he quickly slipped on Emerald Gusts' boots. A guy like Roman Torchwick was in Mountain Glenn while it was celebrating Hunters, including the Greatest Hunter of all time, and he'd gotten in and out without 'anyone' noticing him. That was no mean feat and yet he somehow accomplished it.

"Tch, maybe not, but I'm still getting that fucking belt off that mute little bitch. First things first, we find her, then I beat the ever loving shit out of her smug ass, then we get the belt, then we turn her over. She doesn't look like some small-time toady so she's bound to know something more about that shithead than those grunts that the cops have been pulling in and wasting their Goddamn time with!" A grin formed on Bakugo's face as he thought over the plot, slamming his fist into his open palm as a cloud of black smoke exploded out from the contact thanks to his Semblance. "It'll be a good day all around. I'll get my belt, I'll kick some ass and we'll get some credit and actually make some fucking progress on this. Show these people why Hunters are the top dogs." With that, Bakugo turned to Izuku, his face evening out into just a normal frown as he watched his rival. "Oi, you almost done?"

"Yeah just give me a second, Emerald Gust doesn't really Mechashift into something small so I have to put the whole thing on at once." Izuku slipped on a gauntlet as he spoke, his mind going a mile a minute. "Kacchan, are you sure this is a smart idea? I mean, I get it, you don't want anyone else to know about your participation in the eating contest but... well, I mean, if you're right about how deep in this girl might be with Roman Torchwick, that has to mean she's a pretty dangerous criminal right? Shouldn't we bring some more help to try to make sure this goes alright? I mean, at the very least we should tell the police so they can back us up, maybe use numbers to try and track this girl down!" At that, Bakugo snorted as he looked Izuku's way.

"First off, even if I wasn't about to let anyone else know about that fucking belt, I still wouldn't drag anyone else's ass along with this!" Izuku flinched a bit at that as Bakugo crossed his arms. "We're going to be tracking down someone who along with her fruit of a boss has managed to elude police searches for upwards of three fucking years now, Deku. Think about that; if you want to grant that the police haven't been lazy fucks who've been sitting on their fat asses and not doing their job, that means that Roman and his main group have eluded a search by sheer fucking numbers for all that fuckin' time. If we get the police involved with it, guarantee that those assholes are just gonna stomp around and probably scare that little bitch right fucking off." Bakugo just grinned as he tapped his head. "But she's a cocky mute who can fight half decent, I'll give her that. If it's just a small group and we find and sneak up on her, then we might just get her to stick around because she'll think she can take me on."

...

Okay, that wasn't unfair. Actually, not even talking about it being unfair, that wasn't even technically wrong. The police 'had' been having a lot of trouble finding Roman Torchwick, or any of his actually well connected goons, in all the time he'd been an active threat to the City of Vale and its people. If all it was going to take to find them was sheer numbers, yeah, the police would've done it themselves ages ago. Kacchan was right; smaller numbers that knew what they were looking for probably had a better chance of spotting this girl out in a crowd and following her. Even if you two were spotted, if this girl was of the demeanor Bakugo described, she might not necessarily find two Huntsmen-in-Training to be any kind of a big deal and would probably not run off. It probably was the best chance to find her... still...

"Okay, but... well, why just the two of us? Maybe we should get some of our other friends to come along-"

"NOT A CHANCE IN HELL, DEKU!"

"AAAAAAAH!"

Bakugo heaved an annoyed sigh as he gritted his teeth. "Even if this wasn't partially about that fuckin' belt, who are we honestly going to bring along that'd wouldn't be a big draw on attention to get people to notice our group faster? Your partner or the Ice Queen? Yeah, I'm sure walking around with fuckin' Pyrrha Nikos or the Goddamn Schnee Heiress is going to keep us inconspicuous? Tenya would just rat out the entire situation to the authorities thanks to that fuckin' stick up his ass and the blonde bimbo would probably raise a racket about this shit too..." Bakugo grit his teeth as he put his hands in his pockets. "I'm 'not' letting my team know about this shit either. Icy-Hot has the same problem as the Ice Queen when it comes to his fuckin' name preceding him, Ren'd just be immediately useless actually going into a fight with this bitch and Red? Shit, I group her up with that loudmouth on your team in that regard, Deku."

'... Yeah. Okay, I can see it. Ruby and Nora 'would' go along with this and they'd be totally fine with not telling anyone, feeling like this was a legit Hunter mission they were doing to help the City of Vale. They'd be excited and ready to do whatever they could... but they'd probably be really ready to go off at a moment's notice. Nora would 'really' want to break some legs during their detective investigation, after all. Ruby probably wouldn't be that to the same degree but it wouldn't be hard to notice a girl in a red hood buzzing about the streets.'

"Well what about Blake and Tsuyu? They're both really good at tracking and sneaking around from what I've heard and... well, I'm not sure about Tsuyu, but Blake wouldn't say anything and I'm pretty sure she'd be willing to help." Izuku watched as Bakugo's brow furrowed.

"Deku, the more people I drag along on this little show, the more of a chance that bitch has to catch us out! More than that, the more people we have along, the more she'll probably look at it as a fight not worth fuckin' sticking around for! Now I'm already taking a big enough chance asking you along in that regard, but... fuck, I..." Bakugo seemed to actually be in some small amount of internal pain having to say it, but he forced his way through it. "... I need someone to help look for her..." He 'very' pointedly didn't say he needed Izuku's help, but even still our hero's eyes bugged out a bit. "As much as a small group has a better chance, there's no way one set of fucking eyes has that same chance. I need some numbers... and you're the asshole who actually knows about my belt 'and' might be able to help in this regard. Simple fuckin' fact of reality is four eyes are better, but that's 'it'! No one else is going to risk this and no one else is gonna know about this!'

"Now... that isn't to say I have to bring you along! If you're going to be a pain in the ass about this then I can go by myself and deal with this. I'm just asking you because it'd make it easier. So, are you onboard or not, Deku?!"

...

'Well, I really wouldn't be here right now if I wasn't onboard to some degree or another, right?'

"Alright Kacchan, I'm onboard... I'll help you find this girl." With that, Bakugo's expression evened out slightly as he nodded.

"Good. Now come on, you're geared up, we can get moving." With that, Kacchan immediately turned on his heels, while Izuku just looked down at his pocket which housed his Scroll. It was funny; he hadn't even brought up the idea of bringing on a more experienced Hunter. Probably because he was well aware that any sign of any of the higher tier Hunters he knew would immediately scare this girl off and also because... well, Izuku guessed he was like Ruby and Nora in that regard. As much sense as there was in the idea, there was a part of you that was excited over the prospect of doing something like this, not just as Hunter-in-Training but as an actual Huntsman.

'Still, maybe it might be a good idea to call up some help, I mean, Kacchan seemed to think this girl might be dangerous...but he'd also get really mad, especially if whoever I asked causes the girl to bolt…'

"Oi, Deku!" Izuku snapped from his thoughts as Bakugo called to him, taking one last moment to look down at his pocket before shaking his head.

"Sorry Kacchan, let's go!" Izuku immediately sprinted off after Kacchan, the pair of them making their way to the air docks.

'As much as I might want back up for safety reasons...Kacchan is right. If we want to find this girl, and maybe help take down Roman Torchwick, we can't possible risk alerting her to us. Plus…' he looked over at Bakugo, who was sprinting faster towards the air docks, 'Kacchan is trusting me with something...for the first time in such a long time. I can't just betray that trust, even if I would feel safer with Pyrrha or Yang or Blake to back us up.'

…

'Besides,' Izuku almost felt himself chuckle as he unconsciously began to race with the classmate in front of him, 'this feels like when we were kids, and Kacchan lead me on a half hundred adventures into the unknown.'

'It's honestly kind of nostalgic.'

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"Alright, we're here." Bakugo's gruff tone was immediately met by a slight shake of the craft as the airbus came to a halt, the doors quickly sliding open as the pair made their way out of the vehicle. Unlike with getting to the vehicle itself, the exit for the both of them was more even and slow. A silent agreement that rushing out with their weapons and gear on likely would end up drawing attention and so playing it at a slower tilt was worth it if only to not bring attention to the both of them. On the other hand, they both knew there was another good reason for them to play this initial part slow and steady.

"So, what's the plan for actually finding her, Kacchan?" Izuku started off, Bakugo having just frowned a bit as he looked around.

"That's what we're gonna start figuring out. Vale isn't exactly a small bit of turf; lots of places for that little pink and brown midget to be hiding. If we're gonna track her down, we're going to need to think about where she could be..."

Izuku brought a hand to his chin as he took a moment to think of what might help here. Unlike a lot of other situations, he actually knew a few things about his target thanks to Bakugo's run in with her. In a lot of search and arrest cases that Hunters or the police took part in, they'd have to make guesses, build a random profile based upon what type of people were more likely to commit a crime. However, in this case Izuku actually knew a few things about her. Not a lot, certainly not a lot, but things about her that would help in...

"We can try to narrow down where she might be by building a profile on her, like Professor Aizawa talked about. Put together what we know about her and then use that to try to pinpoint where she's most likely to be." Izuku lightly tapped his fist into his open palm as he suggested this, Bakugo just nodding as he looked around at the city's skyline.

"Yeah, that sounds about right. If we don't narrow it down we'll be spending all day with our thumbs up our asses while we try to fuckin' scan through the entire Goddamn city. Pull up a fuckin' map Deku, let's see what we got here." Izuku nodded as he reached into his pocket, digging out his Scroll as he brought it up. Izuku quickly tapped a few buttons and, eventually, he was able to bring up a map of Vale... well, half of one, anyway. He'd need to scroll back and forth on the map in order to see the entire thing as his Scroll didn't quite support the hologram functionality that the more high-end ones did. Just a screen for him to look at.

"Shit, school issue sucks ass..." Bakugo grumbled underneath his breath, annoyed but clearly in the same camp as Izuku was as they both looked down at the map, going back and forth over it as they both tried to take in as many details about it as they could.

"So, how do we start narrowing this down?" Izuku started off, placing his finger against his lips as he lightly tapped against them, Izuku's thoughts whirring as Bakugo looked down at the map along with Izuku.

"Let's start by nixing the Agricultural District altogether. Crimes in that area have been pretty few and far between when compared to the big fuckin' wave that's been crashing against most of Vale, so I doubt they're spending most of their time down there." Izuku nodded; reports of crimes coming out of the agricultural district had been few and far between, mostly there's just been a few vagrants who've been holding up in a few buildings that have been abandoned now that the City of Vale has been looking at expanding the agricultural district outside the walls into more valuable land. Aside from a few pockets here and there, most of the agricultural land inside the walls was pretty poor, if all were being honest, after all.

"Alright, that sounds sensible enough... for that same reason, I think knocking off the Upper Class Residential Area is also a good idea. It's gotten hit once or twice but with a lot of the really good cops in Vale concentrated there after those hits, I doubt anyone connected to Torchwick would want to hang around there." Indeed, while the city had 'districts' specialized in stuff, Residential and Commercial usually mixed. There were apartments in the Commercial District that people lived in and, likewise, there were stores in the Residential Districts. The Dust Stores that had been hit in the upper class area had gotten the attention of the police as they had been the suppliers of some of the more pure, more expensive material, which had drawn a lot of police presence into the area. It'd worked in so far as no more hits occurred there but... well, it limited the police's grasp in other districts.

"So with the fuckin' obvious out of the way, let's try and figure out if we can narrow down the rest..." Bakugo growled a bit as he looked down at the screen while Izuku nodded in agreement.

"Alright well... let's start with something obvious then" Izuku quickly tapped away on his Scroll, bringing up other tabs and pages that related to the Vale Police Department announcements and statistics. "You said she really seemed to enjoy fighting those guys right? Well if she's a criminal then she probably wouldn't have much of a gripe about getting into those kinds of fights whenever she'd want, especially if she's working for Roman Torchwick. Considering that she was able to get into Mountain Glenn in the first place just to take part in an eating competition, I don't think we have to stretch our imagination to believe that she'd be able to sneak around and do this kind of stuff." Kacchan nodded as he rubbed at his chin.

"Makes sense. I'm guessin' you're going to be looking to see what we can pull up off of the VPD's public statements and files, see what kind of conclusion we can add to the map." Izuku nodded his head in affirmation as he and Bakugo quickly scanned over the data, picking out this or that detail and going back to add it to the image of the map he'd downloaded onto his phone.

"Shit, can't really make heads or tails of this without some fuckin' computer up at the school..." Bakugo uttered as he impatiently tapped his fingers against his arms, grinding his teeth together slightly as he looked over all the data before the pair. Izuku did much the same as him... only his eyes were zooming across the screen as he quickly took in information and then recorded it against the map that he had downloaded using a simple painting program on the Scroll. Thanks to his time spent researching and trying to learn as much as he could, being so thorough in his notes and so thorough with whatever information he could gather, Izuku actually found it to be much easier than he might've otherwise expected. So much so that Izuku was quickly opening up entire charts and spreadsheets that the Police Department made available to the public in the past year to get their information. It was a lot, but by putting it all together you eventually...

"Got it." Izuku presented the map to Kacchan again, the explosive Huntsman-in-Training just giving him a quick grunt as they both poured over the map again. "So when I was looking this over I was ordinarily just plopping down a whole bunch of red spots across the map. While the Police Department hasn't officially cordoned off any areas yet, there are locations that they've referred to as... well, trouble spots where it might not be a good idea for people to linger around in just in case. Places where there were a lot of the violent crimes we were talking about in some excess... but I realized that might end up giving us too wide of a berth as it included 'a lot' of the violent crimes and I doubt that this mute girl is involved in any domestic disputes..." Bakugo gave a short laugh as he shook his head.

"Not unless she's the one beating the shit out of some dumb bastard." Izuku nodded his head as he brought up a spreadsheet.

"So I took a look at some more specific records the police have made available for the past year and used that to try and get a better idea of what the actual crimes concerning these areas are. I've even color coded them a bit. Purple are the aforementioned domestics, yellows are usually assault charges that are paired up with drunk and disorderly charges so no surprise they're taking place in areas majorly surrounding bars... and I left the red as charges of assault that take place in and around area where there are high reports of various robberies, although these days that mostly means Dust Store robberies... so no points for guessing what major store, or stores, are in the areas where the red is most apparent." Bakugo quirked his brow a bit, looking over at Izuku with a frown.

"Alright but that's looking like that's all the colors you've used, Deku. Why the fuck not include something specifically for assaults since that's what we're looking for." Bakugo seemed slightly aggravated at that, Izuku just frowned a bit himself as he pointed down at the map.

"I tried but, no surprise, most assault charges in the City of Vale already occur in these areas I've colored. Most other assault charges that take place outside of them are pretty well scattered, kind of like the domestics, so we really can't get much out of them. The only reason I included the domestics specifically is because otherwise this area down here-" Izuku quickly point toward a spot in the residential area where there are large clusters of the purple marks right next to a red blotch, "-would've ended up creating just a big red blotch across the entire area if I just funneled it all into one group, which might've been pretty distracting."

"That's one of those fuckin' slums, isn't it?"

"W-Well the police just refer to it as a poor neighborhood but, yeah, I guess..." Izuku sheepishly scratch at the head before continuing. "Anyway, given that the vast majority of reported assaults are taking place in these areas already, it seemed to fit our bill better. Where better to get your kicks if you want to fight than to do so in an area that the police have already pretty well plastered over with a broad brush and just said to not try and go to, right?"

"Fair enough... alright Deku this does narrow down our places to look..." He didn't follow it up with a good job or a nice work, but Izuku got the feeling that it was somewhere in the intent.

"Alright, next most obvious... ice cream places." Izuku nodded, already tapping away at the Scroll. "That cocky little bitch obviously loves the stuff, so I wouldn't be surprised that we might be able to narrow a few things down just by finding locations where we've got ice cream shops here in the city." Izuku nodded again as he quickly pulled up search after search. Honestly, compared to the last point, this was 'really' easy to research for him; CCT searches on popular spots around Vale for ice cream, or even just 'ice cream shops' brought up dozens upon dozens, if not hundreds, of results across the city, as a very large metropolitan area like Vale would have hundreds of shops in it to help sate whatever the millions of people living in Vale might want. So at first he was a bit overwhelmed but then he quickly did his best to eliminate a few obvious dead ends; ice cream shops that are actually closed down, either due to having been in areas of high crime recently that caused the business to dry up in the area or just because the business itself went bust. Then there was narrowing it down based on 'popular' or particularly good or well reviewed destinations.

By the time he was done he had several spots on the map where there were either large concentrations of smaller ice cream shops competing with each other or particularly large and well of shops that have become popular or 'Best Ice Cream in Vale' click bait searches on the CCT. With them scattered through the map, Izuku was given even more data to work with.

"Alright, we're probably gonna have to decide ourselves which of these areas to favor on our own as... well, we can't exactly dig up much more data on this point than what we've got here on the map. Still, I'd say that this was probably a good idea to help narrow down where we might search. No surprise, there's pretty much no ice cream shops in the Industrial Sector."

"Pssht, yeah. Who the hell gets off work on their 9-5 job working in a fuckin' factory and goes 'you know what's really going to hit the spot, a fuckin' ice cream cone'. Nah, those guys are probably heading for some shitty dive bar or something'." Izuku nodded, as he moved on.

"Even if we didn't already discount the Upper Class District or the Agricultural District, they don't have a lot either. The Agricultural has one right next to most of the dairy farms and the Upper Class ones are real upscale places or are just restaurants known for their fancy deserts." Bakugo nodded as he both poured over the rest of the map.

"So you're saying we're probably looking at the Residential Area or the Commercial District, then?"

"That's what would make sense to me... but we should probably keep our minds open."

"Because we both know how sneaky this girl is. She managed to get into Mountain Glenn without tipping anyone off and part of that might be because not a lot of people know she might be working for Roman Torchwick. You said it yourself, she's a small mute girl who seems pretty unassuming at first glance." Well he didn't phrase it using language that was exactly that kind but for Izuku it was easy enough to translate Bakugo's diatribes at this point. "So we've got to keep in mind that whatever areas we might think of as being off limits for a criminal or where they might not usually tread, it might be open for her."

...

"Alright. Doesn't exactly help us narrow this shit down."

...

"Ah, right, sorry." 'Yeah... actually, thinking about it, that pretty much did the opposite, didn't it?'

Widening their potential area of looking over rather than narrowing it down to specific points. Hopefully he'd find a way to use this idea to help narrow it down once he combined it with the rest of his research, but for now it was kind of dead weight on its own.

"Alright, let's take a look at what we've got Deku." Bakugo grumbled out, clearly agitated by the amount of time it had taken to get all this, but still waiting to see it. Izuku nodded as he closed the rest of the windows and fully opened the map back up again, he and Bakugo looking over it together as they scrolled back and forth across the screen to take the entire thing in.

"Alright, so we've got what we were looking for... now, where do we start looking for this bitch..."

"Alright, I think we should start from the right of the Commercial District and then move west, going from shop to shop and then doing our best to keep an eye out for her as we go. We'll give a low priority to places where there's mostly just drunk and disorder calls and poke our heads around everywhere else. Chances are she's either in or around those places if she's not already doing a job for Torchwick. I think this'll give us the best chance of finding her, given what we know. Otherwise we'd just have to poke our head around every alley and that probably isn't going to work if she's on the move." Bakugo nodded his head at that, a slight smirk on his face as he looked out to Vale proper.

"Well, that sounds like a plan I can fuckin' get behind. Let's get going Deku, I can already feel my belt back around my waist... it's going to be almost as satisfying as putting my boot up her fuckin' ass." Bakugo started to stalk off toward the first location on the map as he just nodded, packing everything up.

"Good idea. I was thinking that while we were doing this we could also use the coupons you got from the contest with her. I mean, after all, those were some pretty good coupons and she'd be able to get a lot of use out of them, so those would be good places to check out."

"Yeah, good point." Bakugo grinned a bit as he brought out the coupons. "Hell, I was actually a little surprised when we got coupons to a place this good. I mean, there's, what, only a few of them in the entire city. Shit's fuckin' ritzy." Izuku nod in agreement; the guy who ran those ice cream shops was a retired Huntsman with some ice-themed Semblance and he put it to use in combination with some ice dust to make some of the best ice cream in the entirety of the city of Vale.

"I know right? I mean, there's so... few of them... throughout the city..."

... Slowly but surely Izuku and Bakugo stopped, the smirk on the latter's face and the smile on the former's dropping as they both take a moment to think over what they'd been saying these past few minutes.

The coupons.

The coupons that they had a copy of and that they knew this girl had.

Of one of the more exclusive ice cream shops in Vale.

"... Deku..."

"A-Already plugging it into the map..." Izuku quietly mumbled as he brought out his Scroll, tapping away at it as he plugged the data about the ice cream shop in question to eliminate the rest of the spots on the map. Slowly but surely Bakugo stomped over to Izuku, both of their eyes settling down on the screen as they watched the device in his hand go to work. After a quick 'ring', the map updated...

There were just several minutes where Izuku and Kacchan just stared at the screen, their eyes glued to it as they both just took it in for a moment. The crowd passed them by, with only a few people stopping to gawk at the two students who have now effectively just frozen in place, a slightly worried expression having graced Izuku's features while Kacchan, brow furrowed and his teeth grinding together, kept staring at the Scroll.

...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHH! WE'RE SO FUCKING STUPID!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH, I'M SORRY!"

"COME THE FUCK ON DEKU, WE'VE WASTED ENOUGH TIME AS IT IS!" Immediately Bakugo sprinted off, his anger having fueled his running while Izuku just as quickly took off after him, the two of them making a hasty run for the first destination on the map.

* * *

 **E/N: Cliffhanger! All that build-up and no payoff... I am not a nice person.**

 **-Shovern**

 **Sometimes, the thread would just wander into things that changed the dynamics of a part of the story. This was one where someone just remembered the coupon on a whim, and suggested it, and it was added late. By doing this...well, you'll see.**

 **-Wind-Waker**


	79. Title Belt Match II

"Alright, we're fuckin' here..." Bakugo grumbled out, having calmed down considerably between the time of both of them leaving the airbus dock and arriving at the ice cream parlor. The both of them had made a mad dash for the parlor as they both sprinted through the streets and alleys of Vale. They both had ended up taking a look here and there to make sure if they could spot any clues but, right now, they both had bigger fish to fry; namely, using those coupons as a way of tracking her down.

Tracking down an ordinary customer who might just pop in to buy an ice cream? That would be difficult. Izuku'd have way better luck just canvassing the city or the area around ice cream shops in places that looked like it might house Neopolitan based on her interests. However, having the location of an ice cream shop they knew she'll get a frankly disgusting discount for with some of the best ice cream in the city surrounded by places where she could easily get her kicks? That alone made this first location a tempting place to check out first. Beyond even that fact though were the coupons themselves; the shop didn't just hand these out to every Red, Blue and Green haired person who crossed their path. They were a big shop and they would've known that they handed these coupons out to be given to contest winners over in Mountain Glenn. 'That' was distinct and that 'that' was something they could ask after in order to try and track down Neopolitan even quicker.

The shop itself was pretty large and given the time of day, it was still pretty active. Admittedly, business was much slower now than it would've been a few months ago; the summer heat had passed and now with winter's chill being felt in the air, people just weren't in the mood for ice cream generally. Sure some people would still be dropping by but, in the end, weather dominated the business somewhat. So the crowd was somewhat thin, though there was still a line of people in the shop itself, as Izuku and Bakugo approached, the explosive teen turned his head to look back at his classmate.

"Alright Deku, listen up. Just help me find this bitch and then we're set. I'll kick her ass, take my belt and then we'll drag her sorry ass back to the police or Beacon or whatever and have them turn her in. Then everything'll be just fuckin' peachy..." Bakugo spoke gruffly though it was clear that he was somewhat excited by the prospect as he looked back forward at the shop. Izuku blinked for a moment as he brought his hand up to his chin, resting it there as he tapped it. Admittedly, there was a part of him that very much did want to back off. This girl was a real criminal, someone who may have very well been dangerous. She enjoyed beating people up, even if she didn't exactly grievously injure them... but Izuku never knew how that might change when she's dealing with full Hunters.

There was the chance of he or Bakugo could get hurt... but, in all honesty, that was more a reason that made Izuku feel like he needed to come, to stay. Bakugo might get hurt by a serious criminal, or worse. While he was still struggling with this internally, between being nervous about fighting this person and being afraid that Bakugo would get hurt, Izuku looked up at his rival..

"Kacchan, I understand that you want to do this on your own but... well, we don't know what she's fully capable of. She's a criminal and apparently in good with the biggest Crime Lord in Vale right now. Who knows what she might be capable of. Even if we're here to try and apprehend her, I think we should be more careful about it and... well, if we're going to do this, we should probably do this together." Bakugo scoffed a bit at that, turning his head back to Izuku as red eyes bored into green.

"Forget it nerd. I saw what she was capable of. So she took on two small fries without Aura, big woop. She might be good but I have the training and the Semblance on her. Besides, this is 'my' problem, this fuckin' criminal stole from he and I just let it happen! I can't fuckin' call myself a Huntsman if I let that kind of fuckin' insult fly. So I'm going to kick her ass, take my belt and fix my fuckin' mistake without your help Deku." Bakugo's face darkened slightly as he looked at his former friend. "I needed your help because the logistics of finding this bitch would've been beyond just me by myself. However, don't think for a second that means that I need you to help fight 'my' battles for me. I can win on my own, Deku."

"Kacchan, I'm just saying that... that... ah." Izuku's eyes went a bit wide as they immediately spotted something out in the crowd of people. Bakugo just furrowed his brow at Izuku before looking in the direction he was staring at... and his jaw dropped slightly. Stepping right out of the shop, a very nice looking ice cream cone, specially crafted with a few sprinkles across the top, the machine that it was made from having blended a combination of strawberry and vanilla together, was the girl they were looking for.

'Neopolitan... holy woah, she is as short as Kacchan said.'

Not a midget, sure, but she was pretty small all things considered. The girl with pink and brown hair just kept her eyes on the ice cream cone, licking her lips slightly as she stared at the masterfully crafted confectionery in her hand. The cool autumn air was keeping it from melting, allowing her to just admire it for a second before glancing over at the two students...

Izuku watched as her eyes shift to white for a moment before turning back to pink and brown, the little criminal turning her head to look directly at the both of them as she just blinked a couple times, seemingly as surprised as they were. This staring contest with the heterochromatic girl broke down, however, as a smirk slowly formed on her lips, that surprised expression melting into a confident one as she just seemed to look right at Bakugo. She flared her hip out slightly and placed her other hand on it, tilting her head to the side as she took the both of them in.

'She seems a mix of amused and…'

'Impressed?'

"Yeah, that's right you little mute. Your eyes ain't lying, I'm right here." Izuku watched as Bakugo slowly broke out of his surprise, a wide, toothy grin stretching across his lips as he stepped forward away from Izuku, pounding one fist into the other. "You know what I'm here for..." Izuku watched as Neopolitan gasped a bit, bringing her other hand to her lips as she looked surprised at Kacchan. Then, afterward, she pressed her hand to her chest, tilting her head to the side. "No, not you... well, yeah, okay you, BUT NOT IN THAT WAY YOU LITTLE SHIT! YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN, I'M HERE FOR MY FUCKING BELT!"

"... Why would that girl have his belt?"

"Kids today, I swear, they're getting more and more indecent as time goes by. Talking about this kind of thing in public..."

"And the mouth on him..."

Immediately both Izuku and Bakugo went red in the face as they both heard the crowd murmur for a moment, Neopolitan meanwhile just looking like she's having a ball as she went back to her confident expression before she knowingly nodded. Izuku watched, and blushed, as Neopolitan raised the hem of the black undershirt she'd been wearing. However he relaxed as she only lifted it ever so slightly to completely reveal, what Izuku assumed to be, the belt she'd taken from Bakugo. At first Bakugo seemed surprised... before grinding his teeth together as he stared at her.

"So what, you've been expecting me or something? Or do you think that fuckin' thing just looks like good fashion?" If Bakugo's taunts were having any effect, Neopolitan certainly wasn't showing it. In fact, she looked downright amused as she just nodded her head at Bakugo's words... though, she did shake her head side to side, causing Bakugo to raise an eyebrow. The young woman points to herself for a moment and then to him, causing Bakugo to just scoff. "What, you honestly thought that I was just going to wait around for you to find me? Please! You're lookin' at the Huntsman who's going to surpass The All Mighty Huntsman! Of course I'm going to track you down and kick your ass!" By that point the crowd, either out of disinterest or disgust, just went about their business, Neo still very much amused as she raised her eyebrows a bit, a slight smirk on her face.

"So... how about you go ahead, hand over my belt and then hand yourself over to the police. Make it easy on us... or not." Izuku watched as small trails of smoke formed out of the palms of Bakugo's gauntlets, a wide, devilish grin on Kacchan's face as the explosive young man shot an excited glare at Neopolitan. "I'd honestly much rather kick your ass up and down this street if I'm being perfectly honest. Way more fun to shove my foot up your fuckin' ass!"

...

If Bakugo looked scary with how excited he was about this, then the girl was just creepy. A similarly excited expression was on her face as she just took a big old bit out of her ice cream, smacking her lips ever so slightly as she licked them at Bakugo...

...

'Wait, is she-'

Izuku and Bakugo watched as Neopolitan immediately opened up her body language. Even lacking Bakugo's odd knack for reading her, even he could immediately tell what it meant: 'come at me'.

'We can't fight here!' Izuku's mind instantly began to snap to the situation, 'There's still a lot of people around that aren't even paying attention. If Kacchan fights her here...no, we can't let that happen!'

"Kacchan, we can't fight here, it'd-"

"Raise a fuckin' panic, I know. You don't need to tell me the obvious, nerd." Izuku'd flinched a bit, an aggravated expression on his face. It was beyond clear that Kacchan wanted this fight. He was excited for it. Even if he's been belittling how good the girl might be in a fight, Izuku thought even he might be aware that he's intentionally putting her down. No, Bakugo thought she was good and he wanted to fight her, to prove that he was better than her, to prove that he was 'the best'...

But Bakugo wasn't just going for the best fighter. He's going for the Best Huntsman. The Best Hero. That carried some stipulation...

He wasn't going to let loose explosions in a crowd of civilians, not for nothing. Not if he didn't have to.

"What's wrong you little shit? Suddenly got cold feet so you want to use a bunch of civvies as protection? Come on; if you were half a woman, oh I'm sorry, half the woman-" Neopolitan just grinned at that, a silent chuckle escaping her lips, "-you act like you are, then you'd fight me one on one, right?" Izuku saw Neopolitan just nodded slowly, giving Kacchan a slight grin as she took another bite out of her ice cream cone.

Izuku was confused, 'was she just testing him there? Toying with Kacchan or something?' Whatever the case, Bakugo just grinned as she nodded her head, motioning for him to follow her as she started to sashay off, her hips swinging side to side.

Izuku immediately swallowed a lump in his throat as he looked over at Kacchan, frowning. "Okay so we've gotten her to agree to get away from here... Kacchan, we're going to have to be careful though. She might call in some other thugs or something in the fight in order to take us down. This is her turf after all, not ours, so we have no idea if she's-"

"Please, did you see the look on her fuckin' face. No way she's handing off this fight to a bunch of fuckin' lackies." Bakugo just grinned as he stalked forward after Neopolitan, Izuku following in behind as Bakugo looked back at him. "If you're that worried nerd, then go ahead and follow us. If anyone does come, well, I'm sure you can handle a few stragglers... right?" Izuku watched as Bakugo gritted his teeth slightly at that, as if reminding himself of Izuku's combat prowess reminded him of their last fight.

"Listen, Kacchan, you don't need to fight her on your own! Heck, we should be looking for a way to exploit this entire situation, to make it turn to our advantage. It could be two on one-"

"I don't need your fuckin' help to 'win', Deku." Bakugo growled out, causing him to flinch ever so slightly as the red eyed young Huntsman turned to look at him. "This isn't some half-assed fight like the spar where Glynda'll bitch out if we make a wrong move." Bakugo moved his hands together, cracking his knuckles as he stared at Neopolitan's back, the girl still chomping away at that ice cream and the cone that housed it while he grinned.

"This is a fight against a criminal associated with Roman Torchwick and not just some fuckin' pieces of trash that those shitty' League bastards pulled off the bottom of their shoes to throw at us. This is about me doing what I should've done back at Mountain Glenn when I saw these two together. But hell, if you're going to be here... I guess it'll be a show of exactly where you and I stand too, Deku. When I put her down for the count, you can help me make sure she gets to a police department. Then everything will be just fuckin' perfect." Izuku grimaced as Kacchan spoke, his eyes going back forward toward Neopolitan who, by this point, has turned her head to watch the two of them. She seemed more amused and excited than anything and, as she noticed Izuku looking over at her, she just offered a quick grin before turning back forward, heading deeper and deeper into the commercial district.

'I've got a bad feeling about this.'

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

It turned out to be a longer walk than either he or Bakugo were expecting. The small journey through Vale ended up actually taking them across the river that separates the Commercial District from the Residential one and several more blocks. It ended up being something like twenty, maybe more, minutes before they all stopped and the only reason the time was so short was because of the pace they all were keeping, essentially hurrying along as quickly as they could while being as inconspicuous as possible.

The small journey ended up taking them to... some abandoned construction yard in one of the more rundown areas of Vale. Immediately Izuku's hair stood up on his neck; the situation seemed like a set up and, to be honest, at every passing moment while he and Bakugo followed Neo by hopping the fence, Izuku just couldn't help but keep his eyes about. It seemed like too much of a set up to be anything 'but' a trap. If Bakugo had the same worries though he didn't show it. Either he was confident that the girl wasn't springing a trap on them or he was confident that even if she did, it wouldn't matter. It was hard to tell with Bakugo sometimes which way he was thinking but... well, knowing him he really wasn't worried about a trap and was just anxious for a good fight.

Eventually they all stopped a good ways into the building that was being set up; mostly it was just a frame of metal supports having been set up into the vague shape of a building, with the tall fences surrounding the property mostly blocking off vision of it aside from the locked chain fences that made up the entrance to the lot. Izuku and Bakugo looked around and Izuku, for one, noticed some signs of fighting. Apparently so did Bakugo, as the explosive Huntsman just scoffed.

"What, you hang out here often or what?" The ice cream themed girl just grinned over at him as she stepped across the mostly concrete floor of the set up building, turning with a flourish as she shrugged her shoulders. "Well whatever, I guess it'll at least be good that you're some place comfortable while I kick your ass. Do you at least that much courtesy." Bakugo just grinned as he cracked his knuckles, Neopolitan just grinning at him as she... wait...

'Did she always have that parasol?' Izuku's eyes blinked in wonder as he looked at the accessory. 'No... no she hadn't, right? Or at least, I didn't see it. So where did she have it? It is way too ornate and nice looking to not have seen it before.'

While Izuku was confused, Neopolitan just presented the parasol with a twirl, bringing it back around as she lightly placed the tip of it against the ground. A cocksure smirk on her face, she rolled eyes at Bakugo's taunt before pointing over at him.

"Come on. You took on two small fries because the wide load was too much of a meal for you to take on. Trust me, if you thought lard ass would've been a pain then, trust me, I'm way more than you'll be able to handle." Neopolitan gave a mock, silent gasp as she brought her hand to her lips which caused Bakugo to just growl. "Fuck off and get ready to fight short stack!" Annoyed with her prodding by that point, Bakugo got down into a fighting stance while Neopolitan... well, she just remained relaxed. As Izuku stood there, Bakugo just turned his head to look back at Izuku, an intense look in his eyes.

"Just stay the Hell back Deku... I don't intend on holding back here. I'm going all out if that's what it's going to take to bring Shorty down." Izuku braced himself a bit at that, sweating as he imagined just what Bakugo meant. If his spar with Izuku was still him holding back... jeez, this could get pretty messy. Izuku just nodded as he walked back, getting some distance to allow him and Neo space for the fight. While Izuku did so he surreptitiously drew out his Scroll, flicking through its functions before he found the record one. While he wasn't exactly thrilled... it was a fight between a Huntsman and one of their foes, a criminal in Vale. If she was as good as she was confident, then there was no way that the fight was going to be a simple one for Bakugo... which meant that understanding how she fought and recording it for further research wouldn't be a bad idea.

The fight started as a stare down, Bakugo looking across the... well, for lack of a better word, 'arena' at Neopolitan, his hands flexing and relaxing as he took her in. Neopolitan, for her part, still seemed incredibly casual and relaxed. She even did a mild curtsy toward Kacchan, as if inviting him to try and take the first hit.

An invitation Bakugo was 'all' too eager to accept.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" With that Bakugo burst forward into a quick dash of motion, his fists reared back as he roared out. The little ice cream girl just rolled her eyes as she waited for him to approach. Izuku was not sure what exactly he was expecting to occur; really, knowing how good of a fighter Bakugo was, Izuku knew that he 'should' be able to at least land a punch on her. Maybe not take her down but maybe get one hit in. However, to his surprise and as the camera rolled, Izuku watched and recorded as Kacchan landed 'nothing' for several seconds. In between his flurries of blow Neopolitan practically 'danced' around Bakugo's fists, a cocky grin on her face as she ducks and weaves between them. After a couple punches were thrown, for good measure, Neo reached out with the handle of her parasol, using the slight hook in the pommel of it to hook around Bakugo's elbow and pulled a punch away from her, making him miss his next one entirely from the shift in his weight. Eventually Bakugo broke off the initial assault, to Izuku's surprise and Neo's bemusement as she tilted her head to the side.

"... Dammit..." Kacchan growled to himself as he flexed his hands, his mind going over the fight. There was no question who was faster here; Neo was practically able to move circles around Bakugo's assault, none of his punches coming even close to allowing him to strike her. However, that hadn't been the biggest surprise; what had been was the fact that Kacchan hadn't really tried to cause any major explosions with his hands, no eruptions of fiery force having accompanied the punches like Izuku'd seen in his initial moments fighting Ruby, himself and all their old classmates from back in Mountain Glenn. It was a surprise but it doesn't take Izuku long to piece together why he did it. "Why am I getting stuck with the runts who move so Gods damned fast..."

He didn't want to waste his Aura just in case he couldn't land any of his hits. Before he'd been abundantly confident in his ability to end a fight, owing to all the times he'd so easily done so back at Mountain Glenn. Here and now though, he'd only gone so far as to test the waters, to see if he could even dependably lay a hand on her. Finally Izuku watched as Kacchan grinned as he brought his fists back up. "Ah well, not like it matters. I've had a trick lined up to fix something like that for weeks now." Izuku had a good feeling he knew what it was, even as small sparks of explosions erupted from Bakugo's hands. Neo just seemed intrigued as she looked over at him, nodding for him to hurry up while she spun her umbrella around.

Finally Bakugo bolted forward, a loud roar accompanying his charge as he brought his hands back, the palms of his gloves lighting up with building energy. An excited, gleeful expression crossed Neo's face as he approached, getting ready to duck or dive or maybe even counter the hit...

Up until a tremendous cloud of black smoke ended up erupting in her face, that irritant being the only thing to erupt from Bakugo's hand as his half explosion went off. Again, same as with Izuku, Bakugo used the force of the explosion to propel himself away from the direct line he had been taking while charging Neo, causing the young woman to hack and cough as the tremendous cloud of smoke blew up in her face. Bakugo just growled low under his breath as he brought his fists back, using Neo's lack of movement or action as his opportunity to charge back into the fray. However, while they both might've expected Bakugo to punish Neo for having fallen into this technique, Izuku's eyes went wide in shock and, presumably, so did Bakugo's as Neopolitan still managed to duck one hit and quickly use her umbrella's handle to smack another away.

Still, for a moment, that seemed like it'll be that; Bakugo was getting 'very' close in and Neopolitan didn't seem ready to dodge again or to use her umbrella. It seemed that Bakugo had her...

Up until the umbrella popped open, Bakugo's fist colliding with it and exploding against it. Bakugo ground his teeth together, a shocked expression on his face, and on Izuku's, as the umbrella not only took the explosion but completely protected Neopolitan from both it and Bakugo's fist. Eventually Kacchan jumped back and away again, his face turned into a scowl while Neo continued to cough slightly, waving the smoke out of her face as her slightly red eyes looked over at Bakugo, quirked in some interest.

"Fuck... I got that shit right in her fuckin' eyes and that still wasn't enough. Plus, that shitty fucking parasol... Goddammit, only one way that thing didn't get fuckin' torn apart by my explosion." Dust treatment. That really was the only way, which caused Izuku to shiver a bit. That girl, on top of her natural speed and her ability to swing that umbrella around, also had a shield she could use to bounce Bakugo's attacks back. Bakugo ground his teeth together as Izuku watched his hands light back up with building power. Izuku blinked in surprise, wondering what Bakugo was up to exactly while Neopolitan did the same as she cleared the smoke from her vision. Bakugo dashed forward and, for a moment, it looked like a typical attack... but Izuku noticed it and, judging by the look on Neo's face, she noticed it too. Despite the way Bakugo was trying to hold himself, his battle stance made his intentions clear. He was not positioning or swinging himself to attack Neo head on, no, Bakugo was going to try to tear her Umbrella apart.

Neopolitan promptly closed her umbrella and, as before, the ice cream themed criminal and the explosive bully went at it for a moment, with Neo 'still' just dancing circles around Bakugo while he did his best to land a punch, to no avail. Eventually Bakugo let out a slight roar of frustration as he jumped back, his hand having recently gotten jerked about by its elbow by Neo's umbrella.

There was no way Bakugo could land a punch on her. Even if he got lucky and every punch he threw was a threat, Neo could just pop open her umbrella and bounced his attacks away before closing it again. Hell, the only time she had to open it was when Kacchan seriously threatened her... which, with how the fight was going, seemed unlikely.

Though if ever there was going to be a time where Bakugo really did threaten her, it'd be now as he allowed his gauntlets to slip past his hands, bringing them inside his weapons.

"Well... looks like I'm actually going to have to put in some effort to kick your ass, munchkin. Let's see how well you do once you've actually got me throwing everything I've got at you!" If Neo seemed threatened by his words, it didn't show. Quite the opposite, she seemed quite excited, that excitement only having built after Bakugo surprised her with that explosive feint.

Bakugo kept the openings of his gauntlets pointed down to the ground, even as Izuku could tell from the flexing of his muscles and the veins in his arms that he was channeling Aura down into the palms of his hands, ready for an explosion. He was trying to play this cool, trying to feint her into comfort... but apparently Neopolitan saw the obvious effort too as, when Bakugo finally swung his arm in an arc through the air, a spark of flame dancing across it and into the ground in front of Neo, the short girl was all too ready to immediately jump out of the way from the spot and, with only a foot or two to spare, avoided being caught up in the initial blast. Kacchan grit his teeth together as Izuku watched him flex his legs as he stood in place, Neopolitan seeming all too excited by the prospect of instant explosions. The girl pantomimed a baseball player for a moment, bringing her umbrella up in a motion to swing it as if inviting him to hurl another at her... but Bakugo just stood there, grinding his teeth as he poured more power into his... wait, something wasn't right. There wasn't the glow around the mouths of the gauntlets. He was not channeling it into his hands.

Neo, similarly, seemed confused and more than a little disappointed, the mute girl frowning as she stood up and placed her umbrella on her shoulder, tilting her head to the side as she quirked an eyebrow.

"Alright... I should've expected that you'd be able to dodge a small little thing like that... so if I can't an explosion concentrated..." Bakugo leveled his gauntlet at her, keeping on hand on his side as he seemed to aim it. "THEN LET'S TRY A LITTLE COLLATERAL DAMAGE, SHALL WE?!" Both Izuku and Neo flinch as, all at once, a powerful explosion fired out from Kacchan's gauntlet in a large, and growing, pillar of flame, smoke and force, spreading out and wider as it headed towards Neo. The girl blinked but quickly did her best to move out of the way but it seemed Bakugo calculated right; Neopolitan ended up engulfed in the explosion's edge.

Bakugo grinned for a moment and, well, so do Izuku actually. Seeing him finally land 'something' was a bit of a relief... though that relief was short lived as Neo almost immediately jumped out from the explosion as it struck one of the walls surrounding the property, the flames dying out before they can seriously catch something on fire. Neo just looked at Bakugo for a moment, her brow furrowed ever so slightly as she looked over at her shoulder. They both followed her gaze and, when Izuku saw it, his blood went cold as a sudden sensation of worry overcame him. Kacchan, however, just seemed pleased. On Neo's shoulder a small little flame sparked and shuddered against Neo's Aura, causing it to glow slightly. Dusting off her shoulder Neo killed the flame quickly enough... but a slight burn in her coat remained as proof that Bakugo's attack landed.

...

That's when the biggest grin Neo had on her face the entire fight spread across her lips, her eyes switching colors from pink and brown to brown and pink and then back as she hefted her umbrella. Before Bakugo could even properly react Neopolitan was right on top of him. Bakugo did his best to avoid the incoming flurry of blows. He knocked one swing of her umbrella away before he dodged another that was sent more toward his groin, even as Neo continued to close the space between them. Bakugo, with a burst of his Aura, managed to smack away another hit... but then it happened; the handle of Neo's umbrella was driven into his gut and, even as his Aura lit up to protect him, he gasped from the blow. Immediately following that Neo spun around and, with a solid swing, struck Kacchan across the collarbone with her umbrella. Bakugo let out a shout of pain as the hit caused him to spin back and away from Neo, who just stood there in place, a wide grin on her face as she just stared at Bakugo with a confident look. Izuku thought he understood exactly what that last blow meant, and fear beginning to creep far up his spine.

'I can beat the shit out of you. This fight is only going on as long as it is because I'm having fun'. That, beyond a shadow of a doubt, was the message that Neopolitan had meant to impart with that effortless display. Bakugo just stood there, lightly gasping for breath as he rubbed at his collarbone, his jaw shut tight as he glared at her. Finally, he put his hands out to the sides and both Izuku and Neo watched as, slowly but surely, he built up his Aura in them.

If Neo was just dandy with letting Bakugo charged up before, the time for that bit of fun was clearly over now. Izuku watched as a deeply amused Neopolitan rushed forward, Kacchan baring his teeth as he kept his stance light. Good thing too as, rather than try to attack him, Neopolitan started swinging for his legs with the handle of her umbrella. He managed to avoid one swing but the second connected... and did so by immediately pulling Bakugo's heel back up and into the sky, causing him to scream as he fell flat on his back, the force of his Aura dissipating in his hands as it happened. Neopolitan gave a silent little laugh as she did that, looking down at Bakugo with a grin while she, immediately, put her boot on his neck. Izuku's eyes went wide, worried for a moment but it seemed like she's mostly just keeping it there for show, not actually holding Bakugo in place.

'Okay, screw this. A hero doesn't just let something like this happen!'

"KACCHAN!" Immediately Izuku started charging up One For All, Neopolitan's eyes moving over to him as she seemed amused, a slight roll to them as she waits for him to-

"I TOLD YOU TO NOT GET FUCKING INVOLVED DEKU!" Both Izuku and Neopolitan were surprised by Bakugo's sudden shout, both of them looking down at Kacchan as he glared up at Neopolitan.

"K-Kacchan! She has you down on the ground! If she wanted to she could stomp on your neck! You can't actually be serious about-"

"I am serious, Deku! If you get involved with this I'll kill you!" Izuku flinched a bit at that as Bakugo glared over at Izuku for a moment. "... This is my fucking fight Deku! Mine to win or lose, you hear me... and I'm not done yet! I'm nowhere near fucking done yet! I'm not going to lose to this little bitch!" he turned his gaze back up at Neopolitan, who just stared down at him curiously. "... I'm going to be a Hunter even greater than Toshinori. A Hero who'll never lose... I'm going to win this fight on my own, dammit! I don't need your help, Deku! I DON'T NEED ANYONE'S HELP!" After a moment, the ice cream criminal rolled her eyes at Kacchan's declaration.

'The way she is looking at him, it's a weird mix of things. Amusement obviously. Disbelief at his stubbornness is there to…'

…

'Empathy?'

That moment passed though as surprise and anger filled those eyes when, out of nowhere, Bakugo bit down on her boot. Neo immediately pulled her foot back, allowing Bakugo to easily get up off the ground... and started running away from her.

'What?'

Both Izuku and Neopolitan just stared after Kacchan for a moment, surprised by that decidedly out of character action on Bakugo's part, as the blonde bomber made a break for it. After a moment Neo just started to silently laugh, shaking her head in disbelief as she watched him run, a wide grin on her face. However... that grin began to fall when Bakugo, again seemingly out of nowhere, took a moment to jump off a few pieces of long abandoned construction equipment before making a jump for one of the metal pillars...

The grin then entirely disappeared when Kacchan 'launched' himself off the pillar with both his feet and an explosion as he started soaring through the air towards Neopolitan.

"NOW FUCKING DIE, ICE CREAM BITCH!" With that roar echoing through the air Kacchan began to rapidly spin about, propelled by an explosion in one hand even as the other practically started to glow red hot with power.

When that heat in his hand turned white, so did Neo's eyes as a look of surprise comes over her. Izuku himself immediately started to hussle away from Neo, his Scroll still on the fight as he watched the scene play out from over his shoulder.

" **HOOOOOWITZER! IMPAAAAAAAAAAAAACT!"**

 **KA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!**

Even being so far away from the source of the explosion, Izuku was almost thrown off his feet by the sheer force of it. He threw his arms back, accidentally tossing his Scroll behind him while he turned to watch the explosion, its source having been from around where Bakugo had been heading and where, last he saw, Neo had been. Bakugo himself was thrown back by the force of the explosion, the young man practically riding it away from the flames as he dug his boots into the ground to bring himself to a halt. Bakugo breathed deep, exhausted breaths, his skin glistening with sweat as he stared up at the explosion, his eyes darting across it for any sign of Neopolitan. Soon enough the explosion dissipated, the flames go out without a source of fuel to keep them going and only black smoke remained. They both watched carefully, waiting for any sign of Neopolitan to show...

It isn't until the smoke clears when they saw it; Neopolitan's body, burns across a lot of her skin, her hair singed heavily and her outfit burnt across most of its surface, laying in a heap next to a very hot metal support beam, her umbrella in pieces next to her. They both just stared at her for a moment, both of their jaws slightly unhinged, mouths open in disbelief and surprise.

'He... Kacchan…'

"Hahahaha..." A tired laugh escaped Kacchan's lips, the young man too exhausted to give much more as he turned to Izuku with a cocksure grin, an honest to goodness smile on his face as he looked over at his old friend. "You see nerd... you had nothing to worry about. Short stack got herself a little too cocky and... well, heh..." Bakugo shook on his legs for a bit and, for a moment, Izuku thought he's about to fall over.

"Kacchan... you look exhausted."

"Heh... yeah... but fuck, if that wasn't a fucking good fight. Took every last trick up my sleeve... I swear, if you squeal about 'any' of them to anyone, I'll kill you Deku." Despite his words, Bakugo's good mood seemed to take the teeth out of them. "Now... how about you go ahead and pick her up so we can turn her in. I'm a little too tired to-"

Whatever smile had been on Izuku's face immediately dropped as, apropos of nothing, Bakugo's entire body jerked as a loud 'crack' rang out against the back of his head. His emerald eyes went wide as Kacchan immediately dropped to his knees, his eyes fading slightly as the light went out of them. Finally, it seemed as though Kacchan dimmed a bit as, he had to imagine, his Aura shattered...

Right alongside the visage of the broken and beaten Neopolitan.

'And' the empty air that had been behind Kacchan.

Revealed to him was what you can only assume to be the actual Neopolitan. Though she did look a bit worse for wear, she didn't look nearly as bad as... whatever that visage had been looked. Some of the ends of her hair were indeed singed and some parts of her skin were indeed lightly burnt... but her Aura was already going to work on healing those burns and making them disappear. Her Aura shined around her body as stray flames tried their best to stick to her, though they slowly died as Neo kept her hands on her umbrella...

Hands that pulled the handle out of the umbrella to reveal a hidden blade.

Izuku's breath hitched for a moment, his throat closing as Bakugo's body collapsed forward. Izuku knew what to expect; a large gash on the back of his head from where Neo had just clubbed him across the back of it, blood spilling everywhere as Neopolitan prepared to finish the job, stabbing Bakugo right in the back. Izuku stepped forward, already calling One For All forward as he moved to save Bakugo...

Only to hesitate again.

Why?

'No wound.'

There was no copious amounts of blood pouring out of the back of Bakugo's head, no serious, grave injury to be seen. Izuku also hesitated because, rather than move the blade down to stab his bully, Neo... cut at the dead bits of her hair, getting rid of the singed bits as she continued to look down at Bakugo, a thoroughly, thoroughly, pleased grin on her face that he hadn't noticed before. After a while Neo's eyes caught sight of something... his Scroll that he'd lost track of thanks to the force of the explosion. Izuku watched, slightly dumbfounded, as Neo reached down to pick it up, the girl's pink and brown eyes widening in delight as she, likely, found that he'd been recording the fight...

...

'It's seriously like she's not even paying me a second thought, as if I'm the furthest worry from her mind' She sheathed her blade and tapped around on Izuku's Scroll, that satisfied, confident grin still on her lips.

"Uhhh... h-hi?" Izuku started out nervously, not exactly sure how to talk to a person he just watched fight Bakugo and come out with only some burns. Those pink and brown eyes quickly glanced up at Izuku, the confident grin still on her face as she met his gaze. She raised up a solitary finger, an easy enough 'wait a moment' to read before she went back down to his Scroll. "Uh... can I have my Scroll back? Please? I kind of need it... I can send you the video of the fight if you want?" Again, Neopolitan just raised a finger to Izuku, hitting a few last keys on his Scroll. After a small 'blip' and a smile Neopolitan deactivated his Scroll and, with some grace, tossed it back over his way. Immediately he started fiddling over it, trying to see exactly what she'd done to it.

Izuku was expecting a few things after having his Scroll handed back to him by them criminal. He was expecting to find some kind of malicious software downloaded onto it with a quick scan through of files, he was expecting a lot of his texts or other information to have been sent off his Scroll to another location, heck, he was maybe even expecting his entire Scroll to be utterly wiped so that he didn't have video evidence of this meeting at all. There was even a distant part of his mind that wondered if she hadn't somehow set his Scroll to explode. However, as he went through it he found, more and more, that everything seemed to be in order. No files downloaded, nothing really sensitive, not that he'd be stupid enough to keep something like that in your Scroll, sent off and everything he had in here was where he left it. All in all, he only noticed two things.

First off, a CCT message had been sent to another Scroll with the video file of Bakugo and Neopolitan's fight having been attached to it and that, thanks to that, he had a new contact in his Scroll's list. Anonymous but...

 ***Bring***

 _"You're kind of neurotic, aint'cha Deku?"_

When a message rang up on his phone following Neopolitan having brought out her own, it was easy enough to figure out. She looked over her Scroll and, after its own ring, seemed quite satisfied with the results. Presumably she'd just received the message that the video had been attached to.

"Uh... actually, my name's not Deku, it's-"

 _"Izuku Midoriya, right, saw that on your Scroll. Deku suits you more."_

...

That felt more like an insult than how he might've taken it from either Ruby or Coco. Though that's not really much of a surprise as the ground he was currently on is a bit... weird.

 _"Thanks for recording that fight by the by. It's so rare that I get to see my own fun from a third person perspective that I know I'm going to enjoy watching this."_

"Uh... no problem. I didn't really do it for you though, I-"

 _"I get it, I get it. Making your neuroticism work for you rather than against you in this case. Roman would approve... I mean, generally speaking. He probably wouldn't be 'super' pleased with a Huntsman having it."_

The casual way she brought up Roman Torchwick really just made the weirdness of this conversation sink in for him. This girl, who had just beaten up Bakugo so easily, was associated with the top criminal in all of Vale and was apparently close enough with him to have him on a first name basis. It made this entire conversation really bizarre but... well, then again, this entire situation was bizarre. She and Roman snuck into Mountain Glenn in order for her to participate in an ice cream contest of all things, not to steal secrets or to kill someone higher up, and now that she was confronted with two Hunters... well, she could've killed Bakugo easily and he doubted he'd be able to take her on without a 100% Smash...

"Not that I'm looking a gift horse in the mouth or anything but... well, you do work with Torchwick and Kacchan and I did come to bring you in... why are you... you know?" Neopolitan gave a quick grin as she nodded, tapping away on her Scroll.

 _"Killing you?"_ Izuku nodded slowly at that as Neopolitan just shook her head, amused by his question. _"Please, you two aren't exactly big threats and, well, if you two 'were' big threats I'd probably have booked it around the first time I spotted you two; I'm not going to get into a stupid fight I can't win for no reason."_ Izuku watched as Neo, rather mirthfully, placed her boot on Kacchan's torso and used it to shake him a bit, as if to indicate him. _"Besides, even if I thought you guys might be some kind of a threat in the future it'd be waaay too much hassle to actually kill you. Sure, having Beacon Students coming down here making noise like they own the place is annoying but having Full Hunters, including the Symbol of Peace, stomping around here because a couple got killed? Yeah, I'm 'not' stupid."_

That did make a certain amount of sense, coming from her perspective. While she seemed really capable, he had no doubt that Toshinori probably could've taken her, even with her pulling off stunts using what he presumed to be her Semblance. That she admitted it pretty much confirmed that fact Still...

"If that's such a concern for you, then why are you letting me have this video? Why not delete it off my Scroll and then hand it back or, I dunno, just not hand me back my Scroll at all." Neopolitan listened to him for a moment and nodded.

 _"What, is that what you want me to do or something? Bit weird, but I suppose if you willingly take this guy's abuse then it must be some kind of-"_

"NO, NO! IT'S OKAY, I'M ACTUALLY REALLY GRATEFUL!" Izuku watched as Neopolitan erupted into silent laughter, slapping her knee slightly at you as she brought her Scroll back up.

 _"You're a mess. Anyway, I guess I really just don't give enough of a shit to do so because your higher ups probably won't give that much of a shit. A couple of Beacon Students walk into Vale looking to pick a fight with a criminal and then come out of it alive if a little battered and bruised? Yeah they might send people down to try and find me but, Hell, they aren't going to care enough to waste the time of the big guns to cover that. After a while they'd probably stop caring all together and the heat would be off. Trust me, it wouldn't be hard for me to avoid it all together or, if I had to, wait it out."_

At this point, Izuku really don't doubt it.

 _"I figure you'll get into more trouble if people find out than I will, so hey, why not let you keep that video to look over. Might be handy for you and..."_ Neopolitan scrunched up her face a bit for a moment before shaking her head. _"You've said Kacchan so many times by this point that I've actually forgotten what his real name is. Ah, screw it, it'll probably be more amusing to call him Kacchan. Seems like it really annoys him. Anyway, might be handy for you two."_

"Wait... you're letting us have this? Even though you know we'll probably use it to try and figure you out?" Neopolitan shrugged before going back to tapping on her Scroll.

 _"Look, you're 'going' to come back and find me. You're Huntsmen, those of you who actually give half of a shit about your job have this annoying tendency to be persistent. Plus, fuck, look at this guy?"_ Neopolitan nodded her head down towards Bakugo, an amused grin on her face. _"You honestly think he's 'not' going to try and fight me again? Yeah right; it was one thing to have his belt... or, well, 'my belt' now, but now after I've kicked his ass? Yeah, Kacchan here doesn't seem the type to just lay down and die. He'll be back... and you know what? I want another good fight. This was 'fun', like, really fun. If I'm going to be seeing you two again, I want the next fight to be even better, even more fun. If I give a bit of a helping hand, hey, that just means I get to enjoy myself while this guy repeatedly blows his load."_ Izuku's face went red as Neopolitan phrased Bakugo's Semblance in such a manner, causing her to silently laugh.

"Well... in that case... why don't I keep your contact information, then?" Izuku saw Neopolitan raised an eyebrow for a moment as he looked down at his Scroll. "You're absolutely right; Kacchan's going to want to fight you again. Not just for the belt but because you beat him. So... well, it'd just be easier to arrange for that if we could directly contact you, right?" Izuku saw Neopolitan brought a finger up to her lip, tapping against it a couple times before smiling as she went back to her Scroll.

 _"Hey, not a half bad idea there Deku. I was gonna just keep popping up every now and then just to have some other kicks from time to time but this would be easier... Hell, screw it, I'll probably do that anyway just because it seems like it'd be a laugh and a half."_ With that Neopolitan started to walk away... though it seemed her eyes caught sight of something in her Scroll. After a quick 'bleh' expression comes over her face he watched as Neopolitan's form shimmered a bit and then, suddenly, she looked like nothing at all had happened to her. While for a moment Izuku freaked out, thinking she'd just managed to entirely fix herself, he soon let that panic slide as he realize she probably just stuck an illusion over herself to not look quite as beaten up.

 _"Alright, I'll see you boys some other time. Don't worry about getting a move on too quick; it'll probably be a half hour before the cops send someone out to check on Kacchan's explosions and then they'll probably drag their heels for a while after that."_ Izuku blinked in some confusion as that message popped up on his Scroll, watching as Neopolitan just walked right past him.

"Uh... thanks?"

 _"You're welcome."_

With that the tiny girl jumped the fence and then, from the sounds of her heels hitting the ground, kept a slow pace as she walked away from the construction yard. Izuku just blinked at that before, finally, snapping to his senses.

"Kacchan!" Izuku immediately turned on his heels and ran over to him. While Neopolitan had seemed nonchalant about it, he couldn't be sure of how bad Bakugo was off! That hit to the head looked really bad and the just passed out immediately! For all Izuku knew he could be seriously hurt! He quickly sprinted over to Bakugo and immediately dropped to his knees beside him. Now wasn't the time for panic, now was the time for him to put what he learned in Peach's class to good use!

'No time to panic!'

'No time to panic, just, just remember what Peach taught you!'

…

'No time to.. to…'

'PANIC!'

"Kacchan! Are you alright?! Are you breathing?! KACCHAN, CAN YOU HEAR ME?!" Izuku couldn't help but start yelling as Bakugo didn't respond.

'Oh Gods, what if he's brain damaged or something?! What if he isn't breathing?! He couldn't die like this! He couldn't just die like this!'

"KACCHAN, PLEASE, WAKE UP! KACCH-"

"FUCKING SHIT DEKU STOP SCREAMING IN MY FUCKING FACE YOU ASSHOLE!" After shaking Bakugo by his shoulders in order to try and stir him and, indeed, after having yelled right beside his head, it seemed Kacchan had been pretty well stirred from his state of unconsciousness. Bakugo reached an arm out, as if trying to push him away from him, but it was a bit slow and missed the mark slightly as Kacchan grabbed at his head with his other arm, groaning. "Fuck... my head feels like it got hit by a fucking truck..."

Izuku watched as Bakugo dabbed around the back of his head for a moment before bringing it back to the front. "Fuck... well... I'm not fucking bleeding... and you have two fucking eyes..." Bakugo finally leaned his head back down onto the ground, taking deep, exhausted breaths as he stared up at the sky. "So... good... I'm not fucking... shit, my fucking head... concussed or whatever..." Bakugo's eyes slowly came back into focus as he woke up little by little, though the explosive teen was still lacking in his, well, explosive energy and vigor that defined him as a person. "What the fuck even happened Deku... last we saw she was on the fucking ground and then... shit, I can't even remember..." Bakugo rubbed at his head again as he just frowned.

"Well there wasn't much for you to remember... almost immediately after she popped up behind you and hit you across the back of her head with her umbrella. Turns out that her on the ground was just an illusion, probably one she made with her Semblance."

"... Fucking Hell, are you serious? That's some Goddamned fuckin' bullshit if I've ever heard any..." Kacchan rotated his head around to look, his eyes going a bit wide as they snapped back to Izuku. "She's not here though... fuck, don't tell me you ran her off..."

"Oh, uh, no she... wasn't really interested in fighting after that. She just kind of left after she spared some words is all..." Bakugo stared at him carefully for a moment before he saw what he believed to be relief pass through his eyes as he relaxed again.

"Alright... good..."

"She wants to fight you again, by the way."

"Pssht, as if she'd get a fuckin' choice about it. I'm definitely tracking her ass down sometime later so I can fucking... kick her ass and then get my belt back..." Bakugo went woozy for a moment in the middle of that sentence before he shook out his head. "Gods, it still fuckin' hurts... first I'm gonna have to get better... she fuckin outclassed me and I can't just keep throwing one Howitzer Impact after another at her and if I go back to fight her now..." Bakugo groaned as he placed a hand against his head. "Dammit, I'm not just gonna lose again..."

"... Well... I recorded the fight so that I could study what she fought like later. That'd probably be useful for you to figure out how to fight her, right?" Izuku suggested slightly, causing Kacchan's gaze to shift over at him again. Izuku saw... a lot of conflict in Bakugo's eyes. On the one hand, there was a lot of pissed off irritation. It was clear that it wasn't necessarily something he was eager to think about or do, whatever it was, and that was reflective of the agitation he saw building up in his red eyes. It was mostly directed at him, no surprise, but it was tempered somewhat by the secondary source of conflict in his gaze. A hunger. That look in Bakugo's eyes when he was excited or presented with the opportunity to prove how good he was or to get stronger and better. A look Izuku saw a lot back when he was kids whenever there'd be some news segment of Toshinori on or the look in his eyes before he got into a fight that he was sure he'd win in or would be a good shot for him to show off.

"... Deku..." He saw Bakugo's doing everything he could to keep from biting his tongue off.

"Hey... uh, it'd probably be better for both of us if we could both study that fight right? Obviously we're probably going to try this again later so... well, I have the video of it and her contact info so... I could give them to you. What do you think?" Izuku preempted Bakugo's attempt to thank him, the explosive young man just raising an eyebrow as he looked at him. For a moment, Bakugo hesitated... but the agitation of him trying to worked up to saying it himself clearly died off as Kacchan just nodded.

"Yeah, I guess that's a good idea. I'll take you up on that." Izuku almost found it amusing that Kacchan was willing to let Izuku call it his idea... but he understood. It was either that or ask for help himself and Bakugo... well, he just wasn't one to do that. Asking Izuku to come out here had been hard enough on him as it was, so having to do so again after he'd gotten stomped would've probably really been hard for him. He was more willing to let Izuku 'have' the idea than he was to ask Izuku for his aid. It was weird but still he just nodded as he started writing up a message to send to his Scroll across the CCT, Neopolitan's contact and the video of the fight attached to the message. "Surprised no cops have shown up yet. Howitzer Impact is about the biggest blast in my arsenal, you'd figure someone would've heard it."

"That's something Neopolitan mentioned offhandedly before she left; apparently the police shouldn't be expected to send officers out this way for a half hour and that even then they'll drag their heels." Bakugo scoffed as he heard that, a grimace on his face as he looked off to the side.

"Yeah that sounds about right for Vale cops. Useless pieces of..." Kacchan cut himself up as he started to force himself up onto his feet, Izuku flinching a little as he reached a hand out... before keeping it to himself. Izuku could already guess what Bakugo's reaction would be if he offered to help so, instead, he watched as Bakugo struggled to a standing position. After a few wobbly minutes of shaking, Bakugo seemed to find his footing as he placed his hand against his head.

"Fuck, my head... that little shit really does hurt... it's going to take a lot of work and a lot of thinking to try to come up with something to take her ass down a peg..." Bakugo grumbled as Izuku nodded in agreement, putting his Scroll off to the side.

"In the meantime, how about we get out of here. We've got a bit of a ways to go before we get back to the air dock so we might as well get started." Bakugo grimaced as he rubbed his head, though the two of them did started slowly walking off.

"Fuck me... I think we can take our fuckin' time. I work myself to the bone most days but I think my team'll notice if I come back looking this fuckin' haggard, not to mention everyone else who might notice. I think we can take our time getting back." Izuku nodded in agreement as they both slowed down. Part of it just because the two did have time, but... well, slowing down the walking pace would be good for Bakugo. He was still unsteady on his feet and clearly exhausted from the fight. Taking it slow and one step at a time would hopefully get him back into good enough shape to where it'd at least look like he wasn't on the verge of passing out for whatever reason. Still, speaking of taking things slow, Izuku slowly reached a hand up to stroke his chin as he considered an idea.

"Well... in that case..." Izuku started off by muttering, drawing Bakugo's attention back to him. "... Well..."

"Out with it Deku."

"R-Right. How about... we go get some ice cream then? With those coupons you won." Izuku watched Bakugo arched an eyebrow at that, causing Izuku to swallow nervously. "I was just thinking that if we have time then we might as well spend it relaxing a bit and maybe doing something enjoyable. Plus the ice cream's bound to help with your headache and... well, we did come all the way out here, so..." He gave a slightly nervous laugh as he finished, Bakugo still giving him a disbelieving look.

"You fuckin' serious, Deku?" Izuku flinched a little at Kacchan's tone, figuring that to be a no. Bakugo's hand reaches up to grip his head again, wincing as another pound of the headache seemed to swing around and slap him upside the head. "Fuck... you know what, screw it, I need something to help me get over this fucking headache. A little bit of ice cream will probably do the trick... alright fine, let's get out of here. No use in spending our money when we don't have to either, that'd just raise questions if people wonder where it went." Izuku 'really' doubt it would but he just nodded in agreement with Bakugo, a smile growing on his face as he allowed him that. As Izuku followed in behind his former friend and... well now he didn't even know what to make of all it, but the point stood, as he followed behind Bakugo he realized a few things about today.

'Things could've gone worse than they did. If Neopolitan had been the kind of criminal with nothing to lose or, perhaps more specifically, with no care in the world for what she could lose, me and Kacchan could've been way worse off. Still... things also went better than I expected. That seemed like such a weird thing to say in conjunction with the idea that me and Kacchan could've been seriously hurt but... well, it is what it is. While I can't know anything for certain about Neo, this fight did give me a better idea of what I and my friends will be up against in the future. And also...I can't say me and Kacchan are friends again, but he and I are in a better place now than we've been in a long ti-'

"... Just don't eat too much, I'm saving most of the money on these coupons."

'...Well, that is a surprise,' Izuku tilted his head to the side as he looked at the explosive teen curiously.

"What are you saving it for Ka-"

"NONE OF YOUR DAMN BUSINESS NERD!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

'Well... a baby step in a direction, at least. Right?'


	80. A Sundae With Roman

'Sweet Dust, this was boring.'

 _"Roman, how far out are we?" "Just another mile or two. Hang on, ok?"_

Roman used every bit of his willpower to keep from yawning as he leaned on his cane, idly watching Cinder and her little toadies examine all of his hard work. No doubt in a few minutes she'd come back his way, looking smug as shit before telling him he either needed to step up his work, get it done faster, and probably give her a foot rub. Like he could just snap his fingers and magic up some more Dust for her majesty. With herculean effort he managed not to roll his eyes, instead deciding to focusing on the crates, which only made him slightly less depressed.

 _"I'm cold, Roman." "Then stop using your damn semblance!"_

All he could think of was the waste in profit. They currently had a stranglehold on Dust, the most consistently valuable commodity on this planet. He had the connections to sell every last flake and make enough money for him and Neo to disappear and retire quietly in Mistral..of course that was before his new 'boss' set fire to half the organized crime in Vale when they refused to bend the knee. Yeah, a lot of competition was well and truly gone, but a lot of folks in their work either went dark or left the city entirely, meaning he was the undisputed king of the ash heap.

 _"If I do, they'll get us." "I can protect you. Just stay with me!"_

Fan-fucking-tastic.

 _"Do you think Romulus and Remus are ok?" "If they are, I'll blow their brains out!"_

"Roman."

 _"Roman..." "No, Spumoni! They left us to die!"_

Her rich voice made his ears twitch, the condescension made them burn, and the disapproving frown was the perfect balm. "Yes, my glorious overlord?" He kept his tone airy and pleasant, letting a leisurely smile curl his lips as he quietly pretended he didn't dream of smearing that pretty face across a few blocks of pavement. He'd be a liar...more of a liar...if he didn't say she was beautiful. She was, but after a little bit the pretty just got tedious. If you throw a rock towards Beacon, you'll probably hit five smoking hot Huntresses, and about fifteen Hunters that have some tragic backstory.

 _"They got scared.." "Like we weren't after that crash? Instead of helping, they ran like the bitches they are!"_

"I don't appreciate your tone, Roman."

 _"Heh. That's not..polite to call Faunus that." "Moni?"_

"And I don't appreciate all this waste." His free hand gestured towards the crates the White Fang mongrels were loading up, ignoring how she was trying to intimidate him with a quirked eyebrow. "Especially when you don't tell me what the plan is. I can't be more efficient if I don't have specifics." In his mind, a plan needed to have at least a loose framework with lots of wiggle room for when things went to shit. Because every plan goes to shit if it hangs around too long. And this plan was taking Too. Damn. Long!

 _"I'm sorry, but I'm...getting so tired.." "Don't you dare!"_

Cinder's sigh was melodramatic, but the way she was straightening her posture told him she didn't appreciate the snark. "You don't need to know the specifics to do your job, Torchwick." Ooh. Last name. She IS getting impatient. "When you have enough, I'll let you know, and that's all you need to know." She leaned in and let the aura flare from her eye, and he smartly leaned back in case she actually started shooting bitch lasers out of it or something. "Understood?"

 _"Could you..*cough*..me a favor and look after Neo? She's gonna be so mad at me."_

"Right, right." He tried to at least look intimidated by her as he held up his hands. "I'll be good." As the flame receded and her little monkeys snickered, he reminded himself that he wasn't afraid of her.

 _"Moni.."_

He was afraid of her Boss.

 _"..yeah. I'll keep an eye on her."_

Too many things didn't add up for there to be any other explanation. She had Atlesian Paladins, not cobbled together crap mechs, but the genuine article with that new car smell still in the interior. According to the mongrels, she came to them with Dust and lien to spare. But she didn't have her own help aside from the Blunder Twins, no actual concern for income, and is waaay too vague about the plan. To him that meant she had enough resources to get started, but had to bully her way into getting more mooks to do the heavy lifting, and was probably getting orders for the actual plan. She was middle management, but scary powerful middle management, which meant her boss was probably several magnitudes bigger and scarier than her. And that was the person he didn't want to upset.

Like the little princess she probably imagined she was, Cinder brushed some imaginary dirt from her dress and smiled. "I'm glad we could see eye to eye on that. Speaking of eyes," She looked around, her little gophers doing the same. "Where's that quiet sidekick of yours? Not getting into trouble, I hope." If that was some kind of threat, it was sad one. He'd put fair money on Neo against either of her two henchmen, even if that mint-haired sycophant has some illusion semblance like Neo said. Of the two of them, she just plain had the better way to get away.

But she probably wouldn't.

She'd do something to help him, probably merrily beating everyone she could along the way. Fun as it would be to see her juggle the pickpocket like a hacky sack, survival was the number one goal. "She's off scouting the next hit." He lied with a roll of his eyes. Overly dramatic gestures were good for hiding any actual tells. "I wasn't sure if we had enough Dust for 'the plan', so I've got her looking around in case we needed more."

 _"Ya know, I think I learned something after the other day."_

"How very astute of you." Her condescension at this point was more tedious then anything. "We do need more, so I suggest you get it as quickly as possible." Well at least she hadn't asked for a foot rub. Just an ass kissing. "Don't disappoint me." With that half-assed warning made she decided to just turn around and leave, though he did take a moment to admire the fact she really did have an extraordinary rump. Roman was in the midst of want to write a ballad about dat booty, when he saw the green one glaring daggers at him. Grey one was looking amused in general, but they were both still hanging around like they thought they were intimidating. It was cute.

 _"I don't like being a Huntsman."_

Better send the kids off too, or they'll start to think daddy doesn't love them as much as mommy. "Go on, kids. I'm off to do grown up stuff." He made a dismissive gesture, when they finally got the message and slinked off after their boss. When the door finally shut, he rapped his cane on the ground three times and waited for a response. The three soft taps on the back of his coat put a smile to his lips. "When'd you get back?" He looked over his shoulder as Neo finally revealed herself, the world peeling away in almost hypnotic fractal patterns that had every color of the rainbow before flickering away to reveal the Neopolitan underneath.

 _"It's what happens at the end, ya see."_

As she gestured, something took his notice that most wouldn't have even been able to tell about his little illusionist. "That's faascinating, but how about a debrief in private?"

 _"Even when we save the day, the people won't remember our names, no matter how much blood and sweat we shed."_

That seemed to surprise her, blinking several times before slowly nodding and following him up the stairs into the ramshackle office he'd claimed in this dump of a hideaway. He missed his old place of work. Leather chairs, some really nice art, mahogany wood, it was tastefully classy but still rubbed in now much better he was then most people. Now here he was, slumming it like he'd just peeled himself out of the transport from Vacuo. Not that he missed home or anything, but seeing how far down they were being dragged actually galled him more than pretty much anything that'd come out of Cinder's pretty petty mouth. He just couldn't get comfortable in the ugly office chair he was stuck with, and Neo actually wiped at the desk before hopping up. Good girl. All about presentation.

 _"And when we die, they say we'll be remembered at some pissant memorial statue?"_

Which is where this little quandary took him. "Take off the illusion, Neo." She gave him an innocent stare and gestured at herself. He rolled his eyes. "Do I look as stupid as anyone else in this operation? I can tell when you're trying to pull the wool over my eyes." He hoped the 'get on with it' gesture would convince her, but she still seems hesitant. As he prepared to explain that yes, he's been sweeping the place for surveillance crap, the illusion began to fracture. Not as fast as the last one, but little pieces at a time, like she was hesitant to let it go. Just that errant thought was putting him on edge, and he could feel his blood pressure spike at the bruises and mussed clothing that she finally deigned to show him. Rather than stammer out something or get worked up, he took a breath and sighed loudly. "What happened?"

"..." She quickly explained with a mix of sign language and understandable gestures.

 _"Fuck that!"_

He quirked an eyebrow at her explanation. "What the hell is a Kacchan?"

 _"I'm not dying in the dirt for some ignorant schlubs."_

She rolled her eyes and pulled out her scroll, thumbing around before finally playing some video she had.

 _"I'm gonna survive, no matter what!"_

"..." She gestured to the screen for emphasis.

 _"You two? Not so much."_

Oh this was hilarious!

 _"Oh stop crying, Remus. You dumb animals brought this on yourselves."_

"Holy shit, he actually made you take him seriously." Just thinking about it made him chuckle, which turned into an actual laugh when she glared and pouted at him. "Oh come on. I never get to see you actually pushed for a change." He brought his amusement down to a chuckle when he noticed she looked ready to drop kick him. She never cared for how hard it was to get boot prints out of a white coat, the cheating little pain in the ass. "So, considering there was someone else there to actually take the footage, you already took care of things right?" As he spoke, he was reaching for his scroll to get someone to clean up whatever mess she'd left. It wouldn't be perfect, considering how sudden it was, but he could make sure no discernible parts could be found anywhere nearby.

 _"Thanks for waiting out here Neo. I'm done with the trash."_

The silence she gave him was deafening.

 _"..." "Better you hadn't. Your sister never would'a forgiven me."_

"Neo..you didn't just give some goody two-shoe kids your contact information, description, and semblance..and let them walk away, right?" Oh gods she not looking him in the eye. Why did she like making his life more difficult? "And what makes you think they won't tell their teachers, give them all this info, and put this entire operation at risk?" He knew better then to yell at her, since it just made her more stubborn, but he really wanted to know what the hell she was thinking.

 _"..." "Yeah. I miss her too."_

"..." Neo like to think her retort was succinct and perfectly believable.

Roman didn't. "All of that is bullshit, but I'm willing to go with it." Not like he had a choice at this point, setting his hat on the table and sighing loudly after considering her explanation. "If you'd just admitted you thought he was too cute to murder, I'd have gone with that."

And that's when she drop kicks him.

 _"Welp, it's you'n me now kid. You watch my back, I'll watch yours."_

* * *

"AH-HAHAHAHA HAAAA! It is good to see you again, young ones! For some of you it's been a little while since the last time we had one of these exercises! Well, I'm happy to have you all back here and am glad to see that you're all ready to take that next, important step to becoming Heroes of Remnant, Huntsmen and Huntresses!" Everyone immediately brightened up as Toshinori spoke up, a grin on the man's face. "Now then... as I'm sure you've noticed, behind me is a large obstacle course roughly made to look like a large chunk of downtown Vale-"

"Kind of hard to not notice..." Yang had whispered under her breath, sounding mighty impressed. Yang had just vocalized what most of the class was thinking as they all stared up at the very large buildings that had made up this particular obstacle course. Toshinori nodded.

"Indeed. For today's exercise five of you at a time will be put into a group! Now, this is an individual exercise so no surprise that you all will be competing against each other... however, the competition will be indirect in this case." With that, Toshinori produced a sash with the words 'THANK YOU' embroidered on it in big old letters. "I'll be going to the very center of this obstacle course where I shall be in need of your rescue! Now then, your goal is to start on five far-flung corners of the course and, with what talents you have, get to the very center of it and save me before your peers do! As you start off on the far edges I imagine most of you will be too far apart from the others to meaningfully impact their progress but, as you grow closer to the center, you may just end up seeing each other more and more to do so!" They all nodded in understanding at the implication at that if one of them didn't build up a solid lead, they'd be in the thick of it going into the center of the race. "Consider each other obstacles on the way to saving a civilian, as you'll often have to face those in the case of Grimm attacks or terrorists plots.

"Now then, I'll be using my Scroll to randomly select groups for this exercise! Once your group is selected you all will be ordered by first name. Whoever's first name comes first gets to take first pick at one of the five starting points in the course, second picks second and so on! Is that clear?" Toshinori fished out his Scroll and pushes a few buttons on it. "Very well! The first group to go is..."

After some time, it actually turned out that Izuku was among the first groups of students to go. He got excited as he ran forward, even as some of the other competitors in his group started to mozy on forward. More than a few familiar faces joined him; Ruby and Shoto walk up to stand beside him, Ruby seemingly chomping at the bits in order to get her chance at the course while Shoto just calmly nodded at both of them. Owari Meisai, of all people, ended up joining them all... after his team got done waking him up first, of course. Finally, some Izuku had immediately recognized him from the security tapes from way back during his investigation into the bathroom bombings strutted forward; he was the guy with all the girls trailing after him. Even now several girls in the crowd called out after him and the guy just blew a kiss their way before standing with the rest of the students.

"Very well then! Mr. Midoriya, with your first name falling first as an 'I', you'll get first pick of the starting points in the exam! Make your choice carefully... it might not 'just' be about your strengths in this if you wish to get there first, after all." He nodded slowly, a bit confused, at that as he took a look at Toshinori's Scroll to pick a starting point.

"The back alleys, that's what I'll pick as my starting location." Toshinori gave a grin as he nodded, patting him on the back and sending him off toward his starting location. Izuku took a deep breath as he stretched out his fingers, cracking them slightly as he walked along.

"What about you Mr. Meisai, what will you choose as your path to come and rescue me?" Izuku'd expect someone who, during their own fight, didn't seem to have 'much' in the way of movement abilities to look somewhat distraught, having been paired up against Ruby of all people in what basically amounted to a race. However, Owari still just looked sleepy, that parrot squawking a bit on his shoulder as he rubbed at his chin, as he pointed up.

"I'll start behind the tall buildings Toshinori, sir." Izuku saw Toshinori tilts his head slightly to the side, as if a little confused, before he shrugged.

"Alright, suit yourself young man. Go get them!" Toshinori, nonetheless, did his best to cheer on his student as Owari immediately walked off, yawning as he headed off toward the building. Izuku watched as, from a pack on his, Owari readied his sniper rifle and... a grappling hook with a length of rope? Well, Izuku couldn't say that the guy wasn't prepared or didn't have something for the occasion. Toshinori then turned to Ruby, the young girl super excited as she practically hopped in place.

"The straightaway on the street, Miss Rose?"

"YOU KNOW IT!" Immediately Ruby sprinted off towards the open street, Toshinori just laughing as he looked over at Shoto and the last guy.

"I'll take the last starting point. I'll find something that works for me there..." Toshinori nodded in understanding as Shoto immediately ran off, just leaving the last guy.

"Seems like you're last pick this time around." The young man just smiled and sighed, shrugging his shoulders a bit.

"Too bad, so sad... ah well, not like it matters. The plan remains the same as it did before." With that, the guy turned on his heels and blew out another kiss to the girls in the class. "Wish me luck, my beautiful hunnies!" Izuku just blinked in confusion as he continued walking, watching as the red haired young man walked off, his, er, 'hunnies' crying out for him and wishing him good luck.

'You know...Beacon can be weird sometimes.'

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

"Alright everyone, I see you've all made it to your starting positions!" Izuku took a deep breath as a megaphone goes off from deeper within the training grounds, Toshinori's voice booming out as he calls to each of you. "Now then, on my mark I want you all to really give it your all and make a dead sprint for me! Remember, in this scenario I'm a civilian who is in desperate need of your saving, so please hurry! My life is in your hands at this moment!" Izuku tensed his muscles as he called upon 5% of One For All, pushing it throughout his entire body as he activated Full Cowl, feeling the power course through his very being.

"On your marks!"

Izuku bent down, fingers just barely brushing against the ground as he got down into a sprinter's position.

"Get set!"

Izuku raised up a bit, coiling energy into his legs.

"GO!"

With that he was blazing through the alleyway. Without a direct line of sight in front of him, Izuku was depending on two things in order to get through this maze of buildings; first and foremost being his own natural sense of orientation. Izuku knew, roughly, where Toshinori was in comparison to where he had started and so he generally knew what direction to run in so that he would reach him straight away. The second was the sky; by looking up from time to time to find small signs in the clouds or just in how the sun was shining down on the alleys he was running through, Izuku waw able to additionally orient himself in the case of an emergency. Furthermore he could use this orientation in order to help him figure out if he was heading down the right path or if he might be heading out for a dead end.

Admittedly even Izuku was aware of the fact that he may very well be faced with a flip of a coin in some cases; there were some breaks in the alley where it would be very hard to tell which way was the right way and which one wasn't. Izuku was just going to have to do his best and, should the situation arise where he ended up hitting a dead end, he'd just have to do his best to make sure whatever mistakes he made didn't cost him too much time! He practically bounced off the walls as he navigated through the maze in front of him, quickly ignoring some obvious detours that would lead nowhere fast while bouncing and running through the various alleys. Time and time again it seemed like luck was on his side as he made his way through the alleys, gritting his teeth as he pushed his body forward in an attempt to make the time he needed!

As he ran through the alleys, Izuku noticed something out of the corner of his eyes; up in the sky above some of the buildings in the vague direction of the industrial park area was... was...

'Is that... is that the one guy with the girls?'

'IS HE FLYING?!'

Yes, as unlikely as it seemed, a pair of shimmering shapes, molded in the vague look of sets of wings, shined on the guy's back as he just casually flew through the sky. Izuku could hear his laughter ringing out as the guy effectively soared over any and all obstacles. From what Izuku could tell... those wings looked like solid Aura constructs, similar to Weiss' Glyphs. Was he using Dust at the same time? Perhaps Wind?

'ACK, WHY AM I FIXATING ON THIS GUY AND HOW HIS SEMBLANCE MIGHT WORKED! HE'S GOING TO FLY STRAIGHT TO TOSHINORI AND IF YOU DIDN'T STOP HIM THEN WHO ELSE-'

 ***BANG***

'... will?'

Izuku flinched as a tremendously loud shot rang out from one of the nearby rooftops and, though he couldn't see it, he'd swear he saw the trail of it passing through the sky as it soared right towards the flying guy. At first Izuku thought the shot missed as the vague trail he could just barely pick out didn't seem to be on course to hit the guy dead on. That impression is quickly smashed along with the guy's wings as the bullet smashed into the solid Aura constructs, an explosion of Flame Dust going off in conjunction with this as the pair of wing-like shapes shatter. There was a moment where the guy just hung there for a moment, as if held aloft by the momentum his Semblance provided.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

That was all too immediately brought to an end when the guy dropped like a load of bricks, immediately falling down and out of sight. Izuku winced as he kept running, hearing the sound of a human body smashing against several steel objects, some of them ringing out for quite a while. Well... good thing he was in these alleys. Something he hadn't considered was how all these buildings were keeping him out of sight and out of mind of everyone else. That made it safe for him to just keep running without worrying too much about being caught out... though how long that would keep up would be hard to say.

'Judging by the positioning of that shot and where it came from, I'd guess that was Owari... wow, I was really glad that this time it wasn't me in his sights.'

Taking a deep breath Izuku focused back on his running, continuing to bounce through the alleys as he continued sprinting. The odd sniper shot here or the sound of... something shattering, probably Shoto's ice, was heard there but, eventually, Izuku did finally make it to the building Toshinori was at the top of! He blinked slightly; the windows of the building had a sign on them... 'stand back'... huh, wonder why-

 **FWOOSH!**

Izuku nearly screamed as suddenly the various windows light up, flames on the other side bursting to life. He heard a similarly surprised cry coming from another side of the building, sounding like it was Ruby, as Izuku watched the flames consume the paper signed on the other side.

Okay, so they didn't want Izuku to get to the top just by going inside and climbing a staircase or an elevator or something... fair enough.

This still seemed kind of dangerous though!

Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves he took a look at the fire escape before him, the only way Izuku saw up the side of this building that he could reasonably take. Sure there were windowsills that Izuku might be able to grab on and try to hop up but... well, with the fire now on the other side of those windows, that didn't sound like a good idea.

'So the fire escape... how to handle it…'

Taking a deep breath he charged One For All through his body, feeling Full Cowl quickened his steps as Izuku immediately threw himself at the fire escape. Quickly grabbing onto the ladder he immediately pulled himself up the ladder, climbing run after run, outright skipping some, as Izuku made his way up a flight, getting onto the next level and immediately running around to do the same. So low to the ground with the metal bars of the fire escape keeping him sheltered, Izuku felt free to keep moving at a quick pace with minimal awareness of his surroundings, knowing that, for the moment, he was safe.

 **BAM!**

At first Izuku flinched, thinking that Owari'd fired off another round of his sniper rifle... but then he paused when he realized that the sound was a lot closer than it had been before and, more importantly, coming from around his level of the building. His mind quickly snapped two and two together and Izuku realized that the shot fired wasn't Owari's but Ruby's, the hooded young girl firing it off... she was probably using it like she said she did before, to propel herself forward in conjunction with her Semblance. Izuku shuddered as he imagined the ground Ruby must be covering right now as she climbed up the building, hearing her footfalls a ways up above him as he swallowed a thick lump in his throat. If something didn't happen to stop her, Ruby would 'easily' reach the top of the building before anyone else.

Thankfully it did seem like someone moved to stop her... it just so happened to be a pain in the butt for Izuku as well. Izuku felt a sudden chill overtake him as, all at once, the terrain around him just shifted. A wave of sheet ice crawled around the sides of the building, enveloping it as it came his way. Izuku yelped as it ended up covering every last inch of the fire escape, coating the metal bars and floors in several inches of thick, blue ice courtesy of Shoto Todoroki. Immediately he felt his footing worsen as he nearly slipped and fell on his face, taking a moment to ease himself as he heard a similar cry of surprise from Ruby from the other side of the building.

Still, Izuku couldn't give up now just because Shoto's made it a bit harder... and Gods, did he make it harder. Izuku now had to be extra careful on the climb as every other step threatened to send him slipping, sliding and falling off this fire escape. Izku grit his teeth as he did his best to overcome it and, amazingly, he made headway! It's slower headway than before just because it was so hard to keep a grip or keep his footing but, nonetheless, he was making his way up the side of the building. Judging by the fire of a sniper rifle and Ruby's cried of excitement, it seemed that Ruby's not being deterred either. Eventually he heard the telltale crackling of ice, the sign that Shoto's using his power in a big way. He looked around but, finding no way to see him, he figured he'd just continue his climb...

 **BAM!**

'Okay, THAT shot was DEFINITELY Owari.'

It erupted from a nearby rooftop, a loud gunshot being fired out across the sky and Izuku could 'hear' the explosion and the shattering of ice erupt on the other side of the building. A short 'ah' could be heard distantly, likely Shoto, as he heard the cracking of ice from somewhere below him on the building. Izuku couldn't be sure of where Shoto hit exactly or if he'd managed to catch himself using his powers, but it sounded like whatever plan he had just got shot out from under him.

Not taking a moment to rest he kept going himself, surprisingly keeping his grip and his footing. Still, at this point he was getting really nervous; even making progress as he had been, it still took him a few seconds to get to the top of the building even with how quickly he was running and climbing. Ruby was just making so much more progress than Izuku was and he wouldn't be surprised if-

"SHHHHHHOOT!"

-if she beat him?

Izuku heard the distinct sound of slippery, wet ice as he heard Ruby cry out suddenly, a loud crack accompanying this not long after Ruby had fired Crescent Rose again. It sounded so close to the roof, as if Ruby was 'right there' just barely within its grasp when that all occurred. Izuku heard Ruby give a few cries here and there and there's a moment of silence... right before he heard the sound of someone losing their grip.

"WITH MY LAST BREATH, I CURSE SHOOOOTOOOOOOO!" Ruby's voice fell beneath his ears as she cried out, Izuku's eyes went wide as it did. Izuku couldn't believe it, he actually stood a chance! All he had to do now was keep climbing and-

 **CLANG!**

'-clang?'

Izuku looked up to the top of the building and see that, on one end, a metal grappling hook with a long length of rope tied to the end of it just got tossed to the top of the building he was climbing, the rope being taught so that the hook would secure itself nice and solidly. A tropical looking parrot immediately fly down onto the hook and, jumping on it and the rope a few times, it gave a little squawk. Realizing what was going on, and the fact that the rope was pulled tight and horizontal across the gap above him, Izuku looked over to the neighboring side of the building just across the alley from the one he was supposed to climb to see Owari. The sniper Huntsman-in-Training was securing the rope he held in his hands to something on the roof with him, giving it a good solid tug before nodding. The sleepy sniper looked down at Izuku, giving him a quick salute before he pulled something out of his coat...

An all too familiar little black ball.

'No.'

'No. No. No, no, no, no no no no no no!'

'I am NOT doing this again!'

Quickly bringing his hand up and flexing his finger against his thumb he built up a tremendous amount of One For All into it, easily reaching up to 100% of it in the blink of an eye.

"GLENN SMAAAAAAASH!" Izuku flicked his finger in the direction of the black ball and the rope, a rush of wind and power flowing forth from his Smash as it rushed up. Some of the metal of the fire escape that had been unlucky enough to be in the way bent under the pressure but didn't give while, as the black ball is struck it popped open...

To Izuku's surprise, rather than a whole bunch of caltrops like had been in the previous one he'd dealt with during Izuku's fight with him, this one had some kind of... inky black liquid inside of it that all splashed around as it was sent flying through the air. Izuku watched as the material smacked onto Owari and the part of the roof he's standing on while his shock wave very easily sent the hook and grappling rope flying. As the goop dripped down off of Owari and across the various areas it was splattered... the way it ran making it seem familiar to Izuku...

'Wait... is this... an oil slick?'

'Wait!'

'Is he actually going to throw an oil slick down onto the fire escape while I was already having such a hard time navigating Shoto's ice?!'

'WHAT A JERK!'

"Hmmm..."

Izuku snapped out of his thoughts as he heard a humming from Owari. Izuku looked up to see the young man rubbing at his slightly bearded chin, his eyes watching as his grappling hook and rope flew through the sky, the rope having been snapped by the force of his Glenn Smash and then carried again. "Hmmm..." Owari repeated, looking down at the slick substance that now coated him and a good part of the roof he was on. Izuku had to imagine it got over a lot of the place after having been carried by Izuku's Smash. "Hmmm..." Owari then glanced up to the other rooftop.

...

"Well... I don't see how this could 'possibly' lead to me falling off the roof and breaking my neck..."

Izuku couldn't help but blanch a little bit at that... yeah. Now Owari's only way to get across to the other roof was to make a jump for it and, compared to some of the other buildings, the gap between these buildings was a little larger. Plus, not for nothing, but the building was covered in ice; Izuku imagined it would be hard for anyone to keep their footing on this building after they made a jump for it. Provided Owari'd have any kind of footing at all from his own jump with the oil still slipping off of him. He was kind of in a no win scenario, even if he was physically adept which... well, Izuku didn't doubt that he had capabilities as a Hunter, but it seemed like moving around and jumping great distances might not be his forte.

Izuku did his best to ignore him while he climbed a bit more up the fire escape, doing his best to avoid the bits that had been bent by his Glenn Smash. The very cold nature of the ice actually ended up helping numb the pain in his finger as he kept on climbing up. Izuku heard Ruby's scream end after a moment before a loud shout of frustration could be heard from way below him, presumably Ruby was now doing her best to get back to climbing up the building against after having lost 'a lot' of ground. Eventually he looked back up to Owari, wondering just what he was up to. Izuku saw that his parrot's actually landed on his shoulder, the little tropical bird having picked at its wings to clean them. Owari himself.

"..."

Snoring. Izuku blinked in surprise as Izuku tilted his head to the side, disbelief probably very clear on his face.

'He's... asleep? Now of all times?!'

"... The people in this school are nuts..." Izuku remarked to himself, once again reminded of that fact as Izuku looked up to the top of the building, now so tantalizingly close, as Izuku resumed his climb.

With a lot of careful effort he eventually slapped his hand against the edge of the rooftop, groaning slightly as he pulled his way up the slippery surface. There were a few close calls here and there as Izuku threatened to slip and fall right off but, eventually, Izuku managed to fully pull himself onto the roof which, after a certain point, actually got pretty easy once he was able to just slide across the top of it while pulling himself. Izuku heaved a huge sigh, taking deep breaths as he, slowly but surely, force himself up to his feet.

"Ah, good to see you young man!" Izuku flinched for a moment, perhaps thinking that someone else, like Shoto or that wing guy, had actually managed to beat him up here. He looked up to see what laid before Izuku... and notice the sash being presented to him. "Thank you for rescuing me, young Midoriya! My life is saved thanks to you!"

...

Toshinori's theatrics only end up adding to this for Izuku as, with a shaky smile, he took the sash from Toshinori, smiling up at him as he nodded his head.

"Also..." Izuku look a little surprised as Toshinori's voice suddenly dropped to a whisper, the giant of a man reaching into one of the pockets of his Hunter's Outfit before pulling out a Scroll. On the screen was Izuku as he ran through the alleyways... Full Cowling on full display. "Excellent work, young man... I'm proud of you." With that, Toshinori even offered him a thumbs up as he gave his student a wide, proud smile...

Izuku did his best to hide his tears as he reached up his arm to wipe at his eyes.

As the sounds of other people approaching reached Izuku's ears Toshinori put the Scroll away and, in short order, Ruby ended up finally popping up onto the roof, taking large, gasping breaths as she put her hands on her knees. Shoto soon appeared shortly after, a small bit of ice having supported his journey up that he then stepped off of. The wing guy eventually found his way onto the rooftop, a few bruises on his skin still and his hair disheveled, but okay. Owari? Owari was still asleep on the rooftop after.

"The winner of this group's exercise is Izuku Midoriya! Good job to you all though! You each showed your skills and abilities to a great degree and I am reasonably satisfied with your showings!" Izuku smiled at that while the others just either groaned or, in Owari's case, his parrot squawked a bit.

'This was a good day.'

* * *

 **E/N: Starting us off and ending the Neo debacle (for now) is A Sundae With Roman by Preventer Squall.**


	81. Every Book Under The Sun

_"Hey Izuku."_

 _"Oh Blake, hey, what's up?"_

 _"Nothing just noticing I'm a bit short on books. Gone through all the ones I've brought to my dorm room to read."_

 _"Oh I see. Going to get more from the library?"_

 _"I usually get through those pretty quick when I'm just out and about... I like to keep a few books in my room for myself to occupy down time."_

 _"I see. You really do like reading, huh Blake?"_

 _"I guess."_

 _..._

 _"I was going to go to a bookstore in town that I usually buy my books from... would you like to come?"_

 _..._

In so many words, that conversation is what got Izuku out to the City of Vale with Blake, the two of them well on their way to a bookstore that the black haired Faunus apparently liked to visit. Izuku had to admit, it was a bit of a first for the two of them in a lot of ways. He had previously reached out to Blake on the Scroll before to set up a book club meeting but it had been the first time Blake had actually initiated a conversation with him over a Scroll. Second, it would be the first time the two of them hung out in the City of Vale together. Sure, Hunter's Day was a bigger occasion in his home town but it would be the first time Izuku and Blake as friends just hung out in Vale together without anyone else since... well, since Izuku first met her, he supposed!

His friendship with the Cat Faunus really had come a long way since he first ran into her with Ruby and pretty much immediately stuck his foot in his mouth, huh?

Next was the fact that Blake was taking Izuku somewhere to show him something that interested her. Now, the two had been reading books she was interested in reading before but that was more a mutual exploration of new reading material than anything else, but this would be Blake opening up about a place she liked to go and spend time at. While not as major as her revealing her secret to Izuku it was further proof that Blake really was intent on doing her best to open up more. Little by little, Izuku's friendship with her was getting more and more cemented.

Thankfully Blake didn't seem to be making a big deal out of it in the same way Yang might've. The golden eyed young woman was just looking ahead at the streets of Vale, occasionally engaging in small talk with Izuku to pass the time on the way to the bookshop, before the conversation would die down. It was a bit of a relief; as much fun as it was to hang out with Yang, and it was, Yang's trips tended to have a way of raising his pulse and leaving him red in the face. Here the only thing leaving them both red in the face was the slight bite of the approaching winter wind including both their ears and hers... well, just her human ears obviously.

Before long the both of them ended up turning a corner around a street and, with a slight smile, Blake pointed out a store down the way a bit. "There, that's the place." Izuku turned his head, his eyes following Blake's finger before finding the store in question. 'Tukson's Book Trade' huh?

"Looks like a pretty nice shop." Izuku offered, never having actually been to the place before, as Izuku looked at the lettering on the window as the both of them approached. "New and used books. Nifty."

'Who knows, maybe I can find something in here for me if I find the opportunity,' As Izuku began to approach the door, he felt a quick tug on his sleeve, his head wheeling around slightly to look behind him. Blake was standing a bit stiff in place, the young woman's eyes glancing down to the ground before she looked up at Izuku.

"Izuku... Tukson's a good guy but he can be a bit nervous about... new people. He usually takes a little time to get situated with strangers but he'll try his best to be friendly. Just... don't be too nervous if he acts a bit weird, alright? It's not you... necessarily, but it's just how he is. Just show him your best face and he'll warm up to you, for sure." Izuku smiled a bit as he scratched the back of his head at that, Blake's nervous expression having been cut with a slight grin at his reaction.

"Thanks Blake... but... well, why tell me this? It shouldn't be anything too big right? We're just strangers." Blake's gaze fell to the side a bit before she looked up at Izuku.

"It really isn't in my place to tell you much about Tukson. Let's just say that." Blake nodded slightly and, after a moment, Izuku got a slight idea that he might know what Blake meant.

Izuku thought for a moment... he was curious if Blake seemed to feel the need to actually stop him outside the store to warn him.

'Just what could be up with this Tukson guy? I mean, knowing what I know about Blake now, of course I have suspicions, especially if Blake was going to make a big enough deal to warn me about how nervous this guy could be in the first place,' Izuku's mind, so usually inquisitive and prone to asking all the questions he needed answered, or thought he needed answered at least, was of course pressing forward, wanting to know more.

However Izuku just smiled at Blake as he nodded in understanding at her. "You're right Blake. If Tukson ever wants to tell me about... whatever, he'll do it himself. It's not my place to ask and it's not your place to tell me." Blake smiled slightly, ever so slightly, as he spoke. The Faunus Huntress just sighed a bit as she reached up a hand to her elbow, rubbing at it slightly.

"You're too good Izuku." Izuku chuckled a bit at that as Blake nodded appreciatively. "I will say that I can promise you that Tukson's in no way dangerous. I can say that much at least." Izuku nodded; if he'd already trusted Blake enough to concede to her previous point, then it was beyond easy to trust her now. Blake wouldn't lead Izuku into a dangerous situation without telling him in whatever fashion she could, after all. So with that the two of them turned and entered the shop.

The two of them entered the shop and, with the ringing of a bell, Izuku heard some solid foot falls. As they approached the counter Izuku saw a hazel eyed man with-

'Holy crap look at those mutton chops! I mean sideburns, but still, woah!' As the man approached the front of the shop and took notice of Blake first Izuku saw him smile.

"Well, if it isn't Bl-" His eyes soon enough caught Izuku just off to her side and the man fidgeted for a moment, "-ake Belladonna and company. Well, uh, welcome to Tukson's Book Trade, home to every book under the sun." The man nervously clapped his hands together, a smile on his face despite his initial trip up. "Now, what can I do for the little lady keeping me in business and this... young man?" For a moment Izuku watched as he brought up his arms across his chest lightly and-Gods, his forearms.

'It's like a forest of black hair! Did this guy just eat red meat his entire life? I can barely grow a beard and I'm seventeen!

"Hey Tukson, good to see you again. This is my friend, Izuku Midoriya. I met him up at Beacon." Izuku did his best to give a not nervous smile, something not easy to do considering how tall this guy was and how intimidating he could be just through presence along, but it was something Izuku managed. Tukson looked him up and down for a moment, his hazel eyes keeping a close look on Izuku as he gave his own smile.

"Well, well, well, Beacon must be a Hell of a school indeed. The stoic Blake Belladonna goes up there and not even a semester in she's made herself a new friend. A little... er, man at that Miracles never cease." Blake shook her head at that, sighing with a slight frown as Tukson gave Izuku a grin. "So, Izuku Midoriya huh? It's... nice to meet you fella."

'Okay, okay, okay, Tukson is clearly just as nervous in the moment as me. Whatever I might speculate about this, it is clear that he was pretty much on the same ground I am. It isn't an agitated or aggressive nervousness either, more of his own kind of nervous energy when around strangers. So... really, the both of us are just in the same place but, well, I guess he had it worse; this is his shop after all and I am the one walking in with a friend of his,' Izuku took a deep breath, steeled his spin, and gave his best smile as he spoke.

"A pleasure to meet you too, Mr. Tukson." Izuku offered a quick nod of his head, his own nervous demeanor buried just enough under the surface. "Izuku Midoriya... uh, that's my name... uh oh right, Blake already said that... uh, Hunter In Training. First Year. Same as Blake... uh, right, she said she met me at Beacon already, so that would probably already be pretty obvious..." Izuku saw Tukson's nervous energy seemed to be growing as Izuku's own introductions fumbled about, the man's eyes narrowing slightly as Izuku scratched the back of his head. "Uh... well so, Blake's told me she really likes this bookshop! Seeing as how Blake really knows her literature, I have to guess that means that this is the best book shop in Vale, right?"

...

'Gods, that was 'awful'.' Izuku was not sure what was worse; repeating basically everything Blake said or his own delivery of it, but jeez. Tukson himself didn't seem that much put at ease, the man's hazel eyes still narrowing as he looked at Izuku.

"Uh huh... thank you. Yes, it is the best book shop in Vale, I'd say. Every book under the sun and all that..." Izuku saw Tukson lightly tapped his fingers against his bicep, his arms still crossed, as he looked at the younger man. Before that little mess could go on, Blake put a hand on Izuku's shoulder in a reassuring manner before stepping forward herself.

"Come on Tukson... I think it's pretty clear he's just as nervous as you are. Don't be so hard on him... he's a good guy. He's my friend. I 'trust' him, okay? You have nothing to worry about." Tukson glanced at Blake, seeming a bit surprised before his eyes go back toward Izuku, suspicion clear in them. "He's just nervous when meeting new people is all. Trust me, he's 'terrible' with first impressions, he was actually just as bad when I first met him."

"It's true, I'm pretty bad at it." Izuku admitted, sheepishly, as Blake's lips momentarily break into a slight grin at that before she looks back to Tukson.

"So come on... cut him a little slack? For me?"

The silence hung heavy in the air for a moment. Tukson at one time seemed surprised and in disbelief, as if he's actively trying to break whatever illusion's been cast over Blake by staring intently at her. After a moment, that expression broke into honest shock. After that Tukson shook his head and sighed, looking back over at Izuku. He doesn't seem friendly in his gaze but, at the very least, he didn't look suspicious anymore.

"Sorry... business has been having a bit of an odd couple months. Lot of... weirdoes, let's say, have been passing through here lately. Neighborhood's gone to shit." Izuku blinked slightly at that but understood; given what he saw on the map with Kacchan concerning the crime rate in various parts of the Commercial District, he could understand that kind of sentiment coming from a store owner.

"Yeah, crime in the last year's been really spreading around, huh? I... didn't know much about it before coming to Vale. I'm actually from Mountain Glenn myself..." Tukson chuckled a bit as he shrugged.

"Lucky you. I hear that people don't even dare to take a piss on the side of a building because the police are so on top of things there."

"Well I wouldn't say it's that extreme..." Izuku muttered as Tukson shook his head.

"Sorry, meant that more as a compliment but... urgh. Listen, you're just kind of a weird kid so I was a bit worried about you strolling in here behind my best customer." Izuku flinched a bit at that but again nod.

"No, I get it. Sorry, I really messed it up..." Izuku looked down to the side at that and, after a moment, Tukson heaved a heavy breath as he scratched the back of his head.

"... Look, let's just... ugh." The man shook his head as he looked between Izuku and Blake. "Let's just forget that nonsense happened, alright? So, what are my best customer and her, uh, friend looking for, exactly? Like I said, we have every book under the sun and, by some poor fortune, if we 'don't' I can usually place orders pretty quickly." Blake just smiled and nodded and Izuku start to feel better at Tukson's intent on just moving on.

"I was actually running short on books for my dorm room, Tukson. I thought I'd stock up and I invited Izuku along just to see the shop." Tukson nodded at that, the man chuckling ever so slightly.

"Didn't I see you just before the semester started picking up a whole bunch of books for that, Blake? You go through books like a..." Tukson's prep for a metaphor seemed to die for a moment as he glanced over Izuku, before he quickly continued, "-like a fish goes through water. Nice and quick, yeah."

"What can I say, got more time to read these days than I used to." Tukson nodded in understanding.

"What about you, Mr. Midoriya?" Izuku was at first surprised with the formality he was referring to with but, understanding it as his attempt to move on, Izuku just shrugged.

"I thought I'd just browse for a bit, see if anything caught my eye. It's my first time here so I don't know exactly what to look for." Tukson nodded in understanding; it was easy enough to accept and hey, it was true. Izuku really didn't know if he wanted anything yet so why really lock himself into buying something? After a moment Izuku heard Blake hummed to herself as she stepped forward.

"Also, Tukson, I was wondering if you had anything new come in? Like, some good new books I could read?" It'd figure Blake would want to keep on top of the newest literature being published, given how much she consumed. Izuku watched as Tukson nodded his head, the man stroking his chin slightly as he moved up to the counter.

"Yeah, yeah I have some new books in the back. Been getting some interesting material in lately. Some good, some bad but nothing outrageous in either direction. Come on, I'll let you come back here and take first pick, like usual." At that Blake nodded as she walked forward to the counter, Tukson having lifted a small section of it to create a path through behind the counter. Izuku smiled slightly as he moved to follow them though that smile was replaced by slight surprise as Tukson lowered the counter. He didn't slam it but there's a definite 'click' as the mechanisms lock back into place.

"Er, sorry Mr. Midoriya. I don't actually do this for most of my customers. Blake here's just a good friend, we go back a ways, so I usually let her have first pick of the new stuff before I actually put it out on the shelves... please don't tell anyone about that, by the way, I wouldn't want customers to think I was playing favorites..." Tukson seemed to say that last part almost as an afterthought, like he was coming up with it on the spot. Izuku blinked slightly, his lips dropping into a slight frown before Blake waved for his attention.

"It'll only be a few minutes Izuku, probably not even that. We'll be right back out when I see if he's got any new books that'd be good to read, okay?" Izuku watched Blake for a moment and then nodded understandingly.

'If she said so, you supposed that'd be alright,' Blake gave Izuku an appreciative smile as she and Tukson disappeared into the back of the shop, leaving Izuku out in the front all by his lonesome.

'Well... I supposed if I were here to browse, now is the time to get browsing,' Izuku lifted his spirits as he looked throughout the front of the shop, carefully scanning his finger across rows and rows of books as he took them all in.

'Oh hey, _The Thief and The Butcher_ , that is pretty neat. The shop had _Violet's Garden_... not just that, it had it in paperback 'and' hardback. Options are nice,' It wasn't just real, honest to goodness books either, but the front actually had rows of a lot of the current running comics like X-Ray and Vav and, no surprise, quite a few of the comics that people have made about Toshinori. 'Huh, no copies of _The Third Crusade_ though. Not even in the history section. Guess if you wanted something like that you'd probably have place an order for him to import that in.'

'Ah well, even if it isn't every book under the sun, it would be pretty silly to take something like that literally, especially for a shop as small as this one. The guy clearly did have a lot of what was good and even some more obscure stuff anyway.'

With that Izuku tried to decide whether he was just wanting to browse and what book he'd want to buy... and what he'd want to buy it for.

In the end he just started loading up about as many books as he could fit in his arms. He started going through the shelves, looking for books that particularly caught his eye as either interesting in and of themselves or that were of interest to his as far as understanding various topics that he'd wanted to know about. Izuku ended up picking up The Violet Garden and The Thief and The Butcher as just books of interest to read on his own time, interested in the kinds of stories that are bound to be in their pages...

'Gosh, I guess I really have gotten more interested in reading ever since I started to hang out with Blake,' Though he could not sure how much Blake would be into the comic he picked up, a pretty thick volume called 'The Hunt', some kind of re-imagining or some kind of dramatization of Toshinori's early years at Beacon Academy. Izuku was honestly curious about how other people who didn't know as much about Toshinori as Izuku himself thought about his hero or what they thought Toshinori was like. It could be cool!

Izuku picked up a quick puzzle book, knowing that it was probably the best way for him to consistently train his perceptive abilities in order to help him out in the field and Izuku picked up two rather hefty tomes from another shelf. One being on the more basic principles of Dust and handling it, which just seemed like the best book on the topic judging by the size of the tome and the rather positive words written by other scholars on the back of the book and then pick up a book on Semblances. Izuku did so wondering if it might help him better understand his Semblance but, even if it didn't, it sounded like an interesting read just from the title alone. Now then... for Blake's gift. Izuku really wanted it to be nice so he was definitely going to buy her a hardback copy of the book but, more than that, he wanted it to be something she'd like. So he started glancing about the bookshelves, managing to raise a finger to his chin to rub at it thoughtfully even with all these books in his arms.

Izuku eventually found his way into the fiction segment which, honestly, did seem like it would be one of Blake's favorites. Izuku scanned through the rows of books and tried to center down on something that Blake might enjoy... which was a little harder than it seemed because Blake was such a well read person. She didn't seem to have a lot of book types she didn't enjoy as the ones they both read were pretty varied, all things told. Still, fiction was definitely one and it seemed like she liked more adult books or, at least, books that dealt with adult themes. Little To Do With Something did show that she could enjoy lighthearted books and even romantic ones to a certain degree provided they were well written and, despite the slight bit of red it put on Izuku's cheeks to do so, these thoughts ended up dragging him over to the romance genre section of the store.

Squirming just a little bit as Izuku wandered what someone might think if they saw him scrawling through this, especially if they found out it was supposed to be a gift for a girl, Izuku's eyes trailed through titles. Some looked really cheap and kind of doofy, which probably wasn't Blake's kind of romance so Izuku generally took to avoiding those.

'Man, if only there was a book series that combined stuff that Blake liked; adult themes, dark tones but something with a little romance tossed in to make it a more complete package.'

...

'Oh, hey. Tukson's labeling is really helpful; a part of the romance genre section has a little section for adult books, so that might work!'

After a while, because Izuku had to browse through more silly looking books which seemed odd given that it was the adult section of the romance genre, he came across a pretty interesting looking book that, apparently, was some kind of hot commodity given the little stickers and rewards on it. _Ninjas of Love II: Electric Boogaloo_.

Ordinarily he'd have been pretty put off by the title as it seemed a bit silly; what even 'was' an electric boogaloo anyway? However, given the accolades the book had apparently gotten judging from its cover, Izuku decide to pick it up and look it over.

'Oooh, apparently it is a real mash up of genres;' the back of the book described the continuation of an adventure story featuring a ninja protagonist from the previous book, a female one at that, who had fallen in love with a member of an enemy clan. Now that they'd gotten together they had to deal with the fallout of it, managing the relationships between their two families while ensuring that their love didn't destroy everything.

'That sounds exactly up Blake's alley!' It even has some recommendations and awards for having been a great adult book, according to the sprawl on the back. Izuku decided to crack it to take a look, wanting to make sure it was actually quality before he ended up getting it to Blake.

Izuku flipped through some of the pages and came to a part somewhat earlier in the book. The two main characters have secreted away into a small section of forest, looking to get away from their families and spend time with each other without the watchful eyes of their clan judging them and keeping them from acting upon their feelings. Izuku blush as the scene gets, admittedly, a little heated. It wasn't anything major, it was definitely clothes on stuff all the way through but... well, it was a little more than what he was used to reading, to say the very least. Izuku quickly close the book and put it on top of the pile, having solidified his decision about buying this. Yeah, he was pretty sure Blake would like this! It had serious themes, adventure, adult tones and a romance that seemed to take itself pretty seriously! At least, he hoped she'd like it.

Finally, after having spent the past several minutes looking through books and picking out your selection, Izuku heard the door to the back open as Blake and Tukson walked back out. They're whispering slightly at the last moment before they both turned to look at him, your arms full of books. Tukson gives a short laugh while Blake sighed a little, a small grin on her face.

"Hah, didn't know if you were buying books huh? Well, can't wait to see what you look like when you 'do' want to buy some of my books." Izuku chuckled nervously as he scratched the back of his head, carefully balancing the books in his other arm.

"Y-Yeah, I guess I just got a little excited with everything that was on display. I just really wanted to buy some..." Blake shook her head slightly at that, walking up.

"Well wouldn't do to leave you standing around waiting. I'll go ahead and pick out my own books and then we can go back to Beacon." Izuku nod with a grin, though he immediately gave a quick 'oh' as he rebalanced the books in your arms.

"Speaking of, Blake, I... I actually thought I'd go ahead and buy a book for you, as a gift." At that, both Blake and Tukson perked up, both their eyes opening up slightly and blinking in some surprise. Izuku watch as Blake's expression settled into one of her calm ones, though a look of pleasant surprise is on her face, while Tukson just looks flat out surprised and... well…

'Amused?'

"O-Oh. Well... that's a surprise." Blake remarked as she brought up a hand to rub at her other arm. The black haired Faunus tilted her head to the side, a curious expression on her face. "What's the occasion Izuku?" Izuku shrugged as he looked down a bit, admittedly finding this situation a little embarrassing now, though thankfully the grace with which Blake was handling this was helping him along... though it would only get more embarrassing when he revealed he was gifting her a romance.

"Oh, uh, no occasion Blake. I just thought, you know, since you went through the trouble of bringing me out here and showing me this shop that it'd be nice if I got you a book you'd like. A way for me to say thanks." Blake actually chuckles slightly at that, shaking her head slightly.

"Of course, I shouldn't be surprised..." The girl reached a hand up to carefully comb a strand of hair behind her ear while watching him. "Izuku, you don't have to buy me a book to thank me. I... asked you along so you could see this place and so that we could, you know, hang out. I don't need a present for that..." Izuku nodded in understanding. He got that, really, but...

"Well... I just kind of want to get you something, then. Even if you don't think you need a present for doing this, I'd like to give you one." At that Izuku saw that Blake's human ears went ever so slightly red, her mouth making a slight 'oh' as she looked down to the side for a moment.

"Ah, well, if that's the case then... I suppose there's no sense in saying no." Blake said before looking back up at him. "So... what book did you get me?"

"Oh, it's great, I think you'll really like it! It has all kind of accolades on the front and it seems like a mix of the stuff you've liked to read. It's got this pretty interesting narrative about this relationship that splits these families apart and the politics that goes into that, them trying to be together despite it all, and it takes the romance pretty seriously! It seems like a pretty good book with the kind of adult themes you like." Blake just smiled at that, somewhat perked up by seeing he was so excited to present this book. Izuku fiddled around with your grip and then, finally, pick Ninjas of Love II off the top of the stack to present it. "It's called Ninjas of Love II. I know the title sounds a little goofy but I cracked open a part of it and it looks like a good read!"

...

Izuku watch as two things immediately happened simultaneously. First, Tukson immediately brought his forearm up to his face and Izuku hear choking and chortling sounds hidden behind it as the man coughed aloud into his arm. "Sorry, allergy season, you know how F-Fall is..." The man barely got it out between rapid, shallow breaths as his eyes threatened to water and, to be frank, Izuku knew a stupid excuse when he heard one...

Especially because of Blake's reaction. Immediately the usually stoic's girl face turned a deep, cherry red, all the way from her neck to the very tips of her ears as an embarrassed expression plastered itself on her face, her eyes immediately going wide.

'Oh Gods, I knew it!'

'It really is some big embarrassing thing to give a girl a romance novel for a gift!'

Izuku immediately go red in the cheeks yourself from this reaction, scratching at the side of his head as he looked down to the side. "I know it's probably a little weird to get a romance novel as a gift-" Izuku heard Tukson again choked as he threatened to burst into laughter, causing his blush to deepen. "But... you know, it's like I said, it really seemed like it'd be up your alley. It sounds like it's got a good plot-" Tukson sounded like he was going to stop breathing at any moment, "-interesting characters and, well, the romance seems well written..." Blake's face just went a deeper and deeper shade of red at that, the girl's mouth opening and closing like a fish's before she seemed to gain some resemblance of control.

"A-Ah... I-I see... I-I-Izuku, um, the... 'romance'... what... what did you read, exactly?" Blake seemed like she was sweating at this point and, well, his face was more and more resembling hers in terms of how red they both were.

"O-Oh, uh, well, they were going off into the woods in order to be away from their families. It wasn't anything explicit or anything just some... ah, heavy petting and kissing. It was all clothes on but it was... well, it was a little more intense than w-what I was used to reading... but I guess that's why it's in the adult section, right?"

Tukson at this point actually bit into his arm, his cheeks practically inflating as he did his best to stifle himself. Blake finally brought her hands up to her face, covering it as it seemed like her 'entire body' is actually turning red. Oh jeez, he really overstepped here. Now she was gonna think he was a creep!

"I-I understand, um, if it's not exactly your taste... uh, sorry, this was awkward... like I said, it read like something you'd like and I thought... well, I guess it doesn't matter. It's a sequel anyway s-so it's not like you'd be invested in the story of this. I'm sorry, this was dumb..." Tukson finally worked his way away from his arm, taking a deep breath as he looks over at him, the man thoroughly tickled as he started to speak.

"Look kid, it's fine. You know, Blake here, she-" It seemed like Tukson was getting ready to sweep it away for the both of them, to try to make things less embarrassing. To try and just get past it...

"Umm... actually, Izuku..." Tukson stopped and Izuku raised their head, Izuku's diatribe broken as Blake slowly shifted her hands; they're still covering her eyes but now they're moved in such a way that it's not covering her mouth. "I... I actually do have Ninjas of Love... it's... a good book, yeah, one that I like..." Both Izuku and Tukson looked surprised, though Tukson was 'definitely' more surprised than he was by a 'wide' margin. Izuku gave a quick 'oh' as he looked off to the side.

"A-Ah, I see. Well, that's good then, I guess I didn't get it quite so wrong..." Blake nodded slightly, taking a deep breath as she lowered her hands.

"I was... actually thinking of buying this for myself but... well, it doesn't... really fit my image. Plus..." Blake stopped herself, her face still very red and her eyes still practically wide as plates as she glanced off to the side.

"Well... I think it sounds interesting, and it sounds like it has good themes and a cool story... so I think it fits you just fine Blake." Blake's face went a darker shade of red at that. "Look, I know it's probably really off-putting for me to get you a gift like this but... well, I just thought you'd like it..."

"I don't think you'd be wrong... and, it isn't off-putting because you're getting me this book Izuku... uh, it's just, like I said, kind of a weird thing for how people usually see me." Blake's mouth seemed like it was dry at this point as she scratches at her arm. "It's just... you know, I can buy this myself, that'd be fine. You don't have to buy it for me..."

"I know, like I said, I just wanted to get you something Blake..."

...

"Okay then." Blake said, surprisingly firmly, as the girl took a deep breath. She was still 'very' red in the face but she did her best to give Izuku a friendly smile. "Then... thank you Izuku. I'll... enjoy reading this." With that a wave of relief flows through him, glad to see that Blake at least seemed genuine about that as Izuku nodded. Soon enough, with Tukson still looking at the both of them with that surprised and unreadable expression on his face, Izuku rang up his books and pay for them. A moment later, with only a little embarrassment, Izuku handed Blake Ninjas of Love II and she took it; embarrassed as she is about it, she was also pretty clearly excited to get her hands on it.

"Thanks Izuku, really... um, listen, give me a minute while I pick out my books? You don't have to wait here just, I dunno, you can go outside and get a head start? I'll catch up with you in a moment." Izuku nodded slightly as he put all his books into a bag, giving Tukson a polite nod as he waved goodbye.

...

Indeed, not even a minute later, Blake was outside of the bookstore with Izuku, a full bag of books hanging in one of her hands with, presumably, Ninjas of Love II placed squarely in there. The trip back to Beacon was decidedly more quiet than the trip to Tukson's Book Trade, with there still being definite signs of red on Blake's human ears which matched that which still dusted Izuku's face. Still, he and Blake did still manage to have a bit of small talk on the way back and she did seem pretty happy.

So, hey, embarrassed as they both were, it looked like it all worked out well.

* * *

 **EN: This chapter is filth.**

 **FILTH!**

 **-Wind-Waker**

 **You just don't like the ship.**

 **-Shovern**

 **a/n: In fairness a lot of people didn't by the end of the Shipping Race, it seems like. Catnip just had a core of diehards that ended up managing to form a pretty impressive voting block from update to update. The race itself... well, the readers will see in good time.**

 **-gorilla_fingers**


	82. Born In The Bayou

"So then Toshinori totally jumps in just before he gets to the part of the video where he says his catchphrase and it's just pure silence for a moment! Then the smoke clears and he and the video say, like, right at the same time 'I AM HERE'! IT WAS SO COOL!" Izuku gushed for a moment as Tsuyu Asui just nodded beside him, the two taking a couple bites of a couple snacks they'd bought while walking around the school.

"Yeah, Yang and the others had said it was really exciting too... though your enthusiasm probably makes it sound even 'more' exciting, I'd guess. Pretty much sounds like a pretty great evening too on top of it, like everyone had a lot of fun. Almost wish I was there to see it all, ribbit ribbit." Tsuyu's tongue whipped out to wrap around the last bite of a small candy bar she'd held in hand as she quickly swallowed it whole, causing Izuku to chuckle a little as he nodded. Seeing as how Tsuyu had gone off on a family trip over Color Week, that had left her pretty much out of the loop as it concerned everyone's activities during the festival. While Yang and the rest of her team had taken it upon themselves to fill Tsu in on a lot of what had happened, when he and Tsu had finally run into each other with another chance to talk, Izuku decided to take advantage of it and tell her more about the Hunter's Day Festival.

"Well I know we were really missing you. Oh! Did you get that frog doll that Nora won for you?" Izuku saw one of Tsuyu's rare grins stretch across her lips as he mentioned that, the frog Faunus just nodding as she looked back toward the dorm buildings.

"I did actually. It was really nice of Nora to do that for me... I wish I'd brought home a souvenir or something from home to give her something in return... hmmm, maybe I could make a run back out sometime during the Solstice Break? I'd hate to wait another entire year for next year's Color Week to get her something nice in exchange... heck, I'd be able to get something for everyone else too while I was at it... if I had the money, ribbit." Izuku chuckled as he momentarily put his own snack to the side, scratching at his cheek as he did so.

"Yeah, I hear you. Thankfully we all had money for the stuff around the Festival that actually cost to go to or participate in, though it was cheaper on account of, you know, Hunters." Tsuyu nodded at that as she looked forward.

"Yeah it really does sound fun, Izuku. Though I had a pretty good time heading back out to the bog myself, ribbit ribbit." Izuku smiled as Tsuyu mentioned that, a grin on his face.

"Yeah, your family vacation! I've been talking about the Festival for so long that I didn't ask how your trip went. Sorry, that was probably a little rude..." Tsuyu just shook her head side to side as she looked over at Izuku.

"Hey, think nothing of it. It's not like I haven't enjoyed hearing about how the Festival went." Izuku nodded and followed that up with a smile.

"So... how did it go? Did you see a lot of your family there? How many relatives showed up?" Tsuyu grinned ever so slightly at that as he asked, the frog girl curiously putting a finger to her mouth as she seemed to count in her head.

"Let's see... it's getting a little hard to count these days but from I think my best ballpark estimate would be something like... 80, 90 folks showed up?"

...

"Holy woah that's a lot of family." Izuku muttered slightly as Tsuyu just looked over with a slightly amused grin.

"You're telling me. A lot of them were tadpoles too so it got a little chaotic. Still, it was fun to have most of the family back together, ribbit ribbit!" The croaks at the end of Tsuyu's sentence were quite enthusiastic that time around while, admittedly, curiosity got the better of him.

"So...you call them tadpoles huh? Is that... I mean..." Tsuyu just shrugged, understanding what Izuku meant.

"Eh, it's not really a big deal so long as you don't say stuff like that like Cardin does... or if you use it as part of a bad pun like Yang does." He chuckled a bit as he looked over at Tsuyu.

"Oh man... how many frog puns?"

"Too many, ribbit ribbit. I think I've heard 'Frog in your throat' as a joke so many times that I can't count it on my fingers anymore. It's funny... usually this kind of treatment works but it's 'almost' like someone's been encouraging Yang on the side by letting her make her puns without consequence..." Izuku sweat a little bit as Tsuyu said that, her deadpan expression staring directly into his soul as he watched her tongue stick itself out of the corner of her mouth.

"Uhhh... m-maybe Yang's just stubborn is all? I mean, she's got a pretty strong will and she really likes her puns..." Izuku laughed nervously at that while Tsuyu just nodded slowly.

"Maybe..." The tone of her voice, even if it did mostly maintain its deadpan, left Izuku feeling like he was in danger.

"Uh, uh, so, you went out to the bog? I know you said you only go there for these reunions so you're bound to notice if things are different each year, right?" Izuku couldn't say for certain if that got her mind off of Yang getting along as it concerned her puns or not, but it did at least seem to get her tongue back in her mouth.

"Yeah I suppose. Really the biggest thing that's been changing has been the fact that people have stopped really leaving for Vale finally. I guess the current that took people out of the bogs and sent them to Vale has finally lessened now that everyone's feeling a bit safer, ribbit, ribbit. Some people have even started to move back... though a lot of them are weirdoes for having chosen the bog first and foremost, if you ask me."

'I bet,' Izuku'd always heard that people and Faunus lived in Vale's bogs a little ways into the interior of the Kingdom, but the way he'd heard it they were either backwater hicks that'd as soon shoot you as say hello and Faunus who were of the specific animal varieties to thrived in a place like that. While Tsuyu and her family having been frog's somewhat substantiated that, Izuku didn't want to go just off that. He had to admit, he was curious about what that... well, it was odd to call it that but given how long Tsu said her family had lived in the bog before moving to Vale, ancestral home of Tsu's and the Asui Family.

"Well... you've seen Mountain Glenn yourself so you have a bit of an idea of what it's like to live there. What about the Boglands? I've never been there so I don't even know what it's like. I'd be pretty interested in knowing." Izuku mentioned offhandedly, Tsu nodding in understanding as she brought a finger to her lips.

"I can get being curious about that. Do remember that my family and I have lived in Vale for pretty much my entire life, so I only know about the Boglands from what time I've spent there and from what mom and dad told me. Grandma Asui also has a few interesting stories but... well, I've always wondered if they're a bit farfetched." Tsu stuck out her tongue slightly in thought before turning back to Izuku. "So, no surprise, the Boglands are huge collections of a lot of peat bogs, yeah... but they're more generally the wetlands area way down in the South of Vale, bordering the mountains separating us from the Vacuoan Desert on their eastern side. Heck, that's why it's so wet down there from what I've red; most of the weather ends up catching on the mountains, leaving Vacuo's side dry and ours... wet, very, very, 'very' wet."

"Most of it is peat bogs but there's still your marshes, your fens and your swamps bordering around... you can mostly tell where you are judging by the number of trees that are around you; more trees there are, more likely it is you're in a swamp, ribbit ribbit." Izuku nodded, pulling out a little book and pen he kept on hand and keeping notes. "That's what makes it hard to describe it all; it's really just kind of a diverse place but generally there are a few things I can say about it; it's cold, it's wet and you generally wanted to be careful of where they were standing." Tsuyu put her hands to her side as they both continued to walk around. "The peat can be really deceptive in that regard. While it covers solid ground well enough a lot of it can float on top of the surfaces of lakes or water that gets built up over time... and there's a lot of water. I think my grandma said that it rains pretty much all year round with only a couple months of confidently dry weather to be counted on.

"So there's a lot of deep bodies of water hiding around because the area just doesn't drain out... and because of the peat, it can be hard to see it coming. So you take one wrong step and then suddenly you're dunked into several feet deep water. Way up in the mountains... and if you're close to a peat bog than anywhere that actually sustains trees, you're not likely to find wood for a fire. Even what wood you might find will probably end up wet..."

"... Sounds miserable."

"Miserable's a word I'd use to describe freezing, I guess, ribbit ribbit." Izuku shuddered a bit at the idea before Tsu went on. "There's some wooden paths that people built way back when the Boglands were more densely populated but most of them have either rotted away entirely or are in the process of being swallowed back up by the wetlands themselves. People who live there try to keep the most commonly used ones under constant repair but it's hard without the proper resources, so most people just get used to traversing the bog as it is. That means being careful about where you step... real careful. Don't bring anything you don't want to get ruined; the water's more acidic than the lakes and rivers up around this part of Vale because it doesn't drain well, the soil in the bogs themselves is kind of bad and a lot of dead stuff just kind of floats around in it, so your stuff's bound to just get kind of ruined if you stay in it. Also... bring a dry pair of shoes and socks if you're going to travel through a bog. You'll need them."

"A-Acidic?"

"Oh it's not like super violent, you can stick your hands in it and you'll be fine and even swim through it... just, you know, if you're going to drink any water from the bog boil out the bad stuff first. Or just bring bottled water that other people have boiled first." Tsuyu stuck her tongue out. "Thankfully it's supposed to get easier to traverse in winter... but only because it gets so cold that a lot of the water can freeze over in winter."

"... I can see why your family moved away." Izuku saw Tsuyu crack a smile at that.

"It isn't pleasant, yeah, but you can still live there. Lots of wildlife lives in the bogs, it's pretty diverse actually. Plus if you can move peat to soil that's actually worth something, the fact that it's a climb of decomposing plant matter makes it pretty good fertilizer. Plus Faunus who have traits that help them move through water pretty much love the fact that the terrain usually stays so wet; they can just move through the entire area and pick a lot of the plant life for themselves... though I wouldn't recommend the cuisine. Skunk cabbage stew isn't fantastic tasting."

'Yeah, I'd imagine not.'

"It can also be really pretty when you're not shivering cold." He looked a bit stunned as Tsuyu nodded her head. "I'm serious. The wetlands there... well, I'm not sure what it is with Vale and it's affinity for red plants, but the peat and other plants there grow in looking red or pink, like raspberries or cranberries. Plus with the mist and the mountains kind of sheltering the area makes it all look pretty... though only one of those things really helps with another problem." He quirked his eyebrow. "You see... the mountains keep out a lot of the Grimm species that are more common up here in this part of Vale, plus a lot of them would probably sink and drown in the bogs themselves given how careless they are. There aren't a lot of people living in a tight space there anymore so it's not like there's even a lot of prey for them... but... well, I did say that the wildlife in bogs is pretty diverse. That goes for plants, animals... and Grimm. In fact, the Grimm take after the abundant carnivorous plantlike in the bog; a lot of them are more plant than animal from what I've seen and heard."

"... Like?"

"Like... well, there's this sedentary Grimm that tend to live at the bottom of bogs. They're rooted into the very bottom of it and they have animal-ish heads that are rooted into the ground but their arms are more like vines and roots and weeds that spread up to the surface. Now, this is how the mist isn't helpful... it hides Grimm like this. You'll be walking along, minding your own business and then, next thing you know, this things limbs will wrap around your ankles and pull you down under the bog. Most Grimm try to kill you quick but... well, this particular vine... it just feeds off of your panic and desperation while you drown, holding you under the water as it does so. Apparently it can last for years off of the death of one person while they wait for some other soul to pass by their part of the bog."

"... That's horrifying." Izuku was pretty sure he'd gone pale white at that point.

"Yeah... I didn't want to lead with its name because it'd make what it does pretty obvious but, no surprise, locals call it the Drowning Vine. There's a lot of Grimm like that which take after carnivorous plants but you also have more typical kind that occasionally roam around." Tsuyu looked over at Izuku, a sheepish look on her face. "That combined with the wild stories Grandma Asui tells about these calls she's said can be heard out in the bog and you can imagine that wetland communities usually stay pretty close knit and keep an eye on each other to make sure nothing happens to anyone. During the reunion there was pretty much never a time where I didn't have some adult looking after me and my siblings."

"I bet!" Izuku answered; he knew that the forests around Mountain Glenn were really dangerous and that most people were pretty strictly forbidden from going out deep into them unless they were, or were accompanied by, Hunters, but that was just a fact of life that he got used to. To hear Tsuyu talk about the Boglands though, well, it all just sounded so alien to him.

"Yeah... I can kind of get why my mom and dad were really eager to have me look over my siblings or to make sure that someone was looking out for us while we were growing up. They lived there for a lot of their lives even while they were members of the old White Fang, so that's the kind of environment and family structure they'd have gotten used to. Honestly, I never paid it much thought myself; it was just the way I was raised. I never really understood why, but I just thought it was cause cities were dangerous... and they are but, well, you understand." Izuku nodded slightly as Tsuyu placed her hands behind her head.

"This time though... I dunno. I was actually a little annoyed with the attention I was getting, ribbit ribbit." Izuku aw Tsuyu blush slightly as she said that, being a bit surprised at that as she looked over at him. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not ungrateful or anything. They're worried about everyone and they have a reason to be... but it wasn't just when we got back to the Boglands. It was even when I first got home. My mom and dad were glad to have me back and my siblings too... but the attention they gave... mmm, it was weird now."

"How do you mean?" Izuku ask, tilting his head to the side.

"Like I said, I understand my parent's over-protectiveness given what they grew up with and I didn't question it growing up... but being at Beacon, being away from them... it just kind of gave me my own life, if that makes sense. I decide where I go, what I'm doing and who accompanies me or not most days. Even with responsibilities I need to take, it's... small compared to how it was when I'd have to watch over my younger siblings growing up, being the oldest and what not. When I got to spend time with my family and during the family reunion though... a lot of that just kind of vanished. It's not that I disliked it but... I dunno, it took some getting used to after having been here at Beacon for weeks on end... just kind of being my own person."

"I guess the way Yang put it is right; here, I'm a lot more independent than I was back with my family and... I guess I kind of like that. I love my family and I was more than happy to help when needed but it really has been different being here at Beacon."

"I have to guess the same goes for you, right? I've heard from Nora that your mom is sweet but really protective. So I have to guess you're a bit more independent here than you were back at home"

"I guess so? I mean while I am arguably more independent now, that's because now I can actually afford to train longer then I used to be able to. For the most part, my mom let me do what I wanted to as she trusted me enough not to do something terribly stupid and to know my own personal limits, which I adhered to most of the time... a lot better back then compared to now." Admittedly, Izuku might be being a bit hard on himself here... or, too easy on his past self, depending on how he'd look at it. For all the pushing he was doing to go beyond his limits, he'd never pushed himself as hard or as far as he'd done when he was training under Toshinori. No three hours of sleep for several nights on end, no serious secret training that he was doing even after the official stuff... probably most importantly, he was passing out or falling face first into the dirt from exhaustion. Heck, Toshinori had to physically stop Izuku and change up his plans to make up for the damage he did. Something his mom didn't even know about.

'So... hey, at least that isn't happening anymore.'

"I mean, I can cook now and no it's not just pancakes or cakes-" Izuku watched as for a moment Tsu opened her mouth to speak up, only for her to close it immediately upon his retort, "-and I've always done my own chores and tidied up my own room since I became a teenager so if I had to say, I'd say I'm a bit more independent now I guess. Just maybe not to the same degree you are now."

Tsuyu nodded at all that as she looked forward, a slight slip of her frog tongue peaking past her lips. "I see and I think you're right, it does sound like you were given a bit more space than I was." Izuku nodded. "Again, not that I think it's a bad thing it's just... different. It feels really different to be in this place in my life now." He also nodded at that, thoroughly understanding that feeling.

"Well... do you feel prepared for it?" Tsuyu actually took a moment to think about that.

"... Yeah, I guess I do. A lot of stuff I learned helping to take care of my siblings or that I picked up from having my parents around has come in handy when it's come to helping my team and generally hanging out with them. Yang's got that going for her too... though admittedly Blake and Tenya are also pretty responsible themselves..." Tsuyu continued to think for a moment, before a slight smile came to her lips.

"Oh, remember something?"

"Not remember, just contextualizing. I guess I'm not as past the big sister mentality as I thought I was now that I think about what I spend some time doing." Izuku tilted his head to the side, curious, before Tsuyu dropped back to her usual, flat expression as she looks back over at Izuku. "I'm sure you had another question, right?"

Izuku nodded at that as he pointed to the little notes he was taking. "Well you know I'm always interested in updating my journals and it would make sense the bog would present challenges unknown to urban Huntsmen. Can you tell me about the Huntsmen and Huntresses around and what challenges they face? Information about the outskirts or Faunus Huntsmen tends to be a little sparse on the CCT Network." Tsu dropped her head for a moment, thinking on that before she looked back up to Izuku.

"Well sorry to say but, again, I didn't spend most of my time growing up there so I wouldn't know a lot myself... but I do know that there's a reason why information on outskirt Hunters usually tends to be sparse, especially when it comes to the wetlands." Izuku nodded at that, opening up a new page. "You see... most Hunters who stay out of the immediate reach of the major cities actually don't teach or bring up new Hunters through the Vytal System. They do so using the old ways, master to apprentices and the like."

...

'Oh!'

"Really? Why would they do that instead of sending them to a Hunter's Academy? They're pretty prestigious these days and they do a good job of teaching people." The Vytal system, as it was known, was supposed to be a way to help more easily coordinate the actions of Hunters with that of some of the more newly formed Governing Councils. Traditionally Hunters had just been allowed to roam without much regulation or direction from either the various Kingdoms; even the old Monochrome Empire had kept a loose grip on them. The only time cooperation or coordination become common was when a large Grimm horde was identified that presented an extreme threat. After Vytal, and with the establishment of the Academies, that was meant to help standardize Hunter training and to bring the various Kingdoms and their Hunters together in jolly cooperation.

"Simple; what have you learned either at Beacon or at Birch about the Boglands, Izuku?"

Izuku opened his mouth...

He paused.

And then he closed his mouth.

"Well, like I said, nothing." With that, Tsuyu nodded.

"Precisely. Now, Beacon'll probably fill you in somewhat on some stuff about traversing the bogs but, well, Beacon expects you to be able to travel and go lots of places as a Hunter. That's the world we live in these days. So highly specialized training isn't usually on the menu for the major academies unless you happen to apprentice under a Hunter or group of Hunters who do specialize in it, another holdover from the pre-Vytal settlement." Tsuyu brought a finger to her mouth as she stuck out her tongue. "So because the Academies don't really teach everything that you need to know, the best way to learn to be a Hunter in one of these areas is to learn 'from' a Hunter who's spent their entire life handling the Grimm and geography in a region. So... I really don't have anything for you myself Izuku because I don't fit that bill, ribbit ribbit. Sorry."

Izuku nodded; it made sense. It was pretty natural to assume that there were still Hunters who passed on their trade secrets and, heck, he'd already met two who were specializing under other teachers in the form of Mirio and Mei. It was just not something he commonly thought of.

"Well, don't be sorry. That's actually some pretty interesting information in and of itself. Thanks Tsu." Saying that caused a slight smile to popped up on Tsuyu's face as the Frog Faunus nodded.

"No problem Izuku, ribbit ribbit." With that the conversation died down from either such serious or such scary topics as the Boglands and what might live in there as Izuku and Tsuyu slowly passed the time just chatting away, discussing this and that about both of their vacations with each other, before Tsuyu bluntly ended the conversation, heading off to 'help the hopeless'. Which served to remind Izuku of his own responsibilities.

* * *

"Hu-hu-hu...oh-hu-why?"

Weiss was laying on the bench, her arms flopped downward. Tsuyu stared at the weight above the Schnee Heiress's head, and looked over to Ruby. In response, Ruby looked back at her.

"I-I-was I this bad when we started out?"

"Yes."

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

 _It had started only a few hours ago. It was a Thursday, and thus one of the days that they got out of class in the early afternoon. Professor Kayama had just finished up for the day, and almost everyone had already gone home. Tsuyu was one of the only people that was still in the room, looking through the last of the notes of the day. They were getting close to the end for the semester, and Tsuyu was starting to prepare for the finals that were already looming._

 _"Um...excuse me, Miss Tsuyu?"_

 _Tsuyu looked over, and was relatively surprised to see Weiss Schnee fidgeting next to her._

 _It was odd, how little they had actually interacted with one another, considering how often their teams were around one another. Though, she supposed, with the...history that Weiss's family had with Faunus, she could understand the awkwardness._

 _"I was...hoping I might ask favor of you," the other girl coughed, "I have recently been observing the skills and physical feats of our group of," Weiss paused for a second, "Acquaintances. And, I have unfortunately found myself in terms of raw strength and endurance...lacking. I was hopeful that I might be able to-"_

 _"Hold it," Tsuyu raised her hand, "You think you're a lot weaker than everyone else we hang out with, right?"_

 _"Bu-wa-that-wa-"_

 _"And because of that, you are hoping that I can try and help you get a good weight lifting schedule in, right?"_

 _"Th-a-Yes, that does seem to be a neat summation of what I was asking for," she looked down, "I suppose I have only myself to blame. I've been following the guidelines that my sister laid out as she wanted. But, it seems that that workout schedule is...restrained in comparison to what everyone else is attempting."_

 _"No kidding. Considering what monsters like Bakugo and Izuku are up to, I'm not surprised you've fallen behind," Tsuyu had been obsessing in her spare time making sure that Ruby kept up with her rivals. It had taken careful planning, but she had arranged the schedule in such a way to attain maximum muscle growth and increase her stamina the greatest amount she could truly hope for._

 _"They're not really monsters."_

 _"Ribbit, they sure are," Tsuyu continued, "But we're huntsman. Our job is to slay monsters, so it kind of makes sense what they do," Tsuyu's finger rested on her chin, as she adopted her 'thinking' pose, as Ruby called it, "But I can also see why you wouldn't ask them for training. They'd probably overwhelm you with the first day."_

 _"That-is more accurate than I wish it was."_

 _Tsuyu kept thinking for a second, before simply nodding her head._

 _"Sure. Why not come with us before dinner tonight, and we'll try and gauge what you need to do to catch up."_

 **xXxXxXxXxXx**

The answer to that was "a lot." Weiss was further along than Ruby had been when they had started, but she had several drawbacks in comparison to Ruby that were going to make sessions...difficult. For one, Weiss was two years older than Ruby, and that meant she had developed further than the younger huntress. While it did give her a natural advantage, it also meant that she had less room to grow, and her potential would already have to be measured out in a way that Ruby would not.

"Here Weiss," Ruby handed the Schnee girl a cup of water, "Will help you get a hold of yourself."

"Tha-thank you." Weiss guzzled the water down. She had finished most of her reps, but it was clear she was going to have a great deal of growing pains. Still though...it was nice to have someone else around. Admittedly, Weiss had not been very talkative through her wheezing, but there was a new dynamic to the conversations that had not been there before. Still though...

'Something just doesn't feel right,' Tsuyu for all of her bluntness, and learned at least a little bit of tact over her life, at least dealing with one certain issue, 'A Faunus who is the daughter original White Fang member trying a Schnee Heir.'

She, on some level, knew she could not blame Weiss for all that had happened to Faunus kind over the centuries. That for her entire life, Weiss had only had the power to actually leave Atlas, rather than run any of the harsh measures that had given the SDC such a bad reputation. Still though...something just didn't feel right about it, no matter how much Tsuyu knew objectively it was wrong of her to think that way.

And well, they'd really never interacted that much. For all that the two had been in each other's orbits, well they'd never crossed paths really. At best, it could be said that they were friends of friends, with Weiss having a close relationship with Izuku and Shoto, and Tsuyu having a close relationship with Yang and Ruby. There had never been any animosity, which considering the history that always hung over their backgrounds was a minor miracle in its own way, but no-one could have ever called them close.

And part of that was the simple fact that Tsuyu was jealous of Weiss. She was glad she hadn't really brought it up, and whatever conversation that she and Weiss had had always avoided the topic of Tsuyu's personal opinions of Weiss. If not, she might have blurted it out, and that would have just made everything very...awkward.

The worst bit about the jealousy was that, if Tsuyu was being perfectly frank, it is that her jealousy was quite petty. Weiss comes into Beacon a star from the second she arrives. She's beautiful in a way that Tsuyu could never really hope to achieve, her face had always been something of a hurdle to overcome. Even worse, Weiss was rich. Weiss could afford far more clothes than Tsuyu would ever have, despite Tsuyu having to switch out clothes very often do to the wear and tear of the bogs. Weiss also had what she wanted a short time from her. She had heard about the cake butler from Nora one day, and remembered a couple of her own birthdays where weather had conspired with the bogs to make sure she didn't have a cake.

It just felt like Weiss had been given life on easy mode.

At least, it seemed that way to Tsuyu.

"Oh dear," Weiss had finally caught her breath, "that was...intense."

"You did come into the middle of another program with only a few hours notice, Ribbit. Kind of workin' on the fly here," Tsuyu internally winced, glad to be pulled back to reality.

"I understand that," Weiss probably wanted to say a few harsh things but...she was far better at tact that Tsuyu at her best could ever really hope to obtain, "I must thank you again for letting me take advantage of this opportunity."

"No problem," Ruby laughed. Ruby had been mildly giddy for a while. Weiss had not quite picked up on why, but Tsuyu had noticed it the first time the two had stood next to each other. Ruby had indeed gotten just a hair taller than the older huntress. Poor girl was a bit stunted, at least height wise, and she could just imagine the...issues Weiss probably had with people bringing it up.

"Still, it is very kind of you to take your time to assist me when...well we really haven't been that friendly with one another," Weiss sipped a bit more, "Especially when it's so close to the end of the semester."

"Well, it's not too big of a problem," Ruby stretched backward, trying to pop out the kinks that had developed from the workout, "I mean we already have all of our home work done. Heck, you wouldn't know it, but Bakugo is obsessed with getting his homework done. He made sure we were done with that presentation on Ursa Majors for tomorrow like two weeks ago."

"That does seem out of-wait," Weiss stopped, and then looked back at Ruby, "Wh-what are you talking about. That paper isn-that's not due till next week, right?"

"...No," Ruby almost seemed to step back, recognizing that it might be a dangerous road that they were going down.

"Bu-bu-"

"Yeah, Yang and I finished it up over last weekend," Tsuyu rubbed the back of her head, "She chose Beowolf of course. But yeah, we finished it up," she looked at Weiss, "How did you forget?"

"It's Port's class!" Weiss appeared to be about to tear out her own hair, "He doesn't announce homework until the end of class, and by that time, well I just don't know what's going on," she began to shake her head, "I-I-I've barely started," she stood up, "I'm going to have to pull an all nighter. I will have the scrolls open, books on Nevermore poetry and...and Nora. She should have remembered the due date too!"

"You were relying on Nora to remember the specific date for a major project to be due, ribbit? That isn't very smart at all."

"I was-come one," Weiss had already pulled out her scroll, and then smirked as she pressed a button, and brought the scroll up to her ear, "Nora, it's me. We-"

 _"We're sorry, the number you have dialed is current-"_

"NORA!" Weiss nearly tossed her scroll at the ground, before sighing, and pulling it back, "She-must-be-at-her-job," she seethed through her teeth, "and probably turned off her scroll so she wouldn't be distracted."

"So...you going to go get her?"

"...No, I have to start working on this thing right now," she turned towards the window, and at the library tower, "I have approximately fifteen hours to get this done, and I can't waste a second of that time if I'm going to get a ten page-"

"Fifteen page, Ribbit."

"...FIFTEEN PAGE REPORT done," Weiss seethed, "But, I can't just do this on my own."

"...Well, why don't we help you?"

"That'd be cheating Ruby," Weiss groaned, "I can't just have you write-"

"Well, I know where most of the books on more obscure Grim stuff are in the library from all the time Bakugo made us stay late studying," Ruby offered, "And I can go get you some food so you can work through dinner. I can also see if Izuku would let you borrow his notes, and maybe go pick up some stuff to help you get through the night."

"Yeah," Weiss groaned, "I probably am going to need a lot of coffee," she massaged her temples, "That still leaves Nora though. She doesn't get back on Thursdays until after ten, that's over four hours from now."

"..." Tsuyu simply shook her head, "I'll go get her for you, make sure she gets back as soon as possible. Do you know where she is?"

"She's...she's...," Weiss began to twist her fingers around, before snapping them, and pointing at Tsuyu, "Off of Dale station in the Agricultural district. An old processing plant is being renovated, and Nora's been working on it the last week."

"I'll go get her, that's about a two hour full trip back and forth if I hurry. I'll bring her back before anything happens, and we should get back pretty soon."

"...Thank You Tsuyu," Weiss nodded at the frog girl, "This means a lot to me. Now if you'll excuse me," she rushed toward the entrance to the gym, "Library here I come!"

"Call me Tsu, Ribbit."

"Wait Weiss," Ruby was sprinting behind her, "You are forgetting your bag in the locker room. AND YOU STINK!"

"I what!?"

"Well," Tsuyu shook her head, "There goes my night."

She walked towards the shower. It'd only take a few minutes, but she at least wanted to be clean for the flight over. As she opened the door to the locker room, a dirty thought formed at the back of her mind. She knew it was the wrong sort of thought, that she would act like that for any of the group. But she couldn't help herself, and she felt a bit worried by the fact that the thought came at all.

'Once again,' she mused to herself, 'A Faunus's life is made harder by a careless Schnee.'

* * *

"Okay... Toshinori, I think I can do it this time. I think I've got it!"

"I'm glad to hear that young man... but don't just say that you think you can do it! Show me you can do it! Show me you've got what it takes!"

"Yessir!"

Toshinori, shrunk down into his skeletal form, cheered Izuku on as they both got pumped up towards the end of a round of training. They'd both been at it for hours now, Toshinori having spent most of that time in his shrunken form, while Izuku did his absolute best to learn the Patch Smash! Izuku took a deep, shaken breath as he kneeled down, pushing One For All throughout his body in order to activate Full Cowl and then, beyond that, pushing a greater amount of it into his legs, readying them for what would ordinarily feel like a 5% Smash. Izuku gave a quick shout as he dashed across the makeshift obstacle course, heading straight for a while. Izuku took a deep breath and jumped as high as he could, getting a good distance into the air... but it wouldn't be enough on its own.

Not without-

"PATCH SMAAAASH!" Izuku kicked the ground beneath him, as if trying to batter the very air itself as he sent a small, 5% shockwave out beneath him. As if he was kicking off the very air itself he did manage to propel himself up even higher than he could on his own, his eyes going wide with joy and excitement as he finally managed to pass over top of the wall. He gave a loud cheer as he felt that extra 5% leave his leg, leaving him flying through the air...

Leaving him flying through the air.

'Oh man, this is going to hurt!'

Before Izuku could hit the ground, however, a rush of air swept past him as Toshinori, in all his heroic glory, immediately appeared just underneath him, catching him before he plummeted face first into the concrete floor. Izuku heaved an exhausted sigh of relief as he was caught, Toshinori just giving a loud, boisterous laugh as he gave Izuku a thumbs up.

"Well done young man, well done!" Izuku couldn't help but grin at Toshinori's praise; between how proud he seemed at the exercise and how jubilant he was now... well, Izuku was practically glowing.

It was a good past few days, all told.

* * *

 **E/N: Once more a Schnee is only kept afloat by the unpaid labor of a Faunus in "Born on the Bayou" by Wind Waker.**

 **-Shovern**

 **Of all the relationships that could have been explored in the story...I was really surprised no one had really taken on the Tsuyu-Weiss dynamic before this point. The very nature of who they are, a prim and proper young socialite, and a blunt practical tomboy should be a very fun dynamic to explore. And that's without bringing in Weiss's family and Tsuyu being a Faunus. So, I decided to try and explore this relationship, while also moving forward Ruby in her quest to get stronger. This post is part of something larger, though that is a while off.**

 **-Wind-Waker**


End file.
